YouTube wants to implement a content-filtering system this fall. It also (presumably) wants world peace and free energy, and it’s anybody’s guess which of these three outcomes is most likely to occur.
Word on the filtering front comes from a lawyer; “hopefully in September” is when Philip S. Beck thinks the technology will be in place, according to the Associated Press. Beck, who is defending Google against Viacom, Bourne, and the Premier League, is reputedly an excellent lawyer, but that declaration might have had a little more weight coming from a CEO, a spokesperson, or an employee in the R&D department.
And even then . . . iTWire’s Stan Beer notes, “Last year, YouTube was supposed to implement a copyright filtering system by the end of the year. Then early this year a rumour surfaced that YouTube would license content filtering technology from Audible Magic. Then in April, Google CEO Eric Schmidt said YouTube would soon release a copyright filtering system soon.”
Even assuming that the filter does get implemented in September – and that it works exactly as Viacom and other content holders want it to – the technology isn’t likely to solve YouTube’s problems. CNET’s Greg Sandoval quotes another attorney (Louis Solomon, “interim class counsel at the hearing”), who said, “If in fact Google puts this (system) in place, it is obviously way too late.”
Hmmm. For all the good that the filtering system’ll do, perhaps YouTube should concentrate on that world peace thing.
