YouTube's Solution To Unauthorized Japanese Videos: A Warning Written In Japanese

from the well-that-will-solve-everything dept

Earlier this month, the Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers sent a nastygram to YouTube demanding they cease allowing copyrighted materials to be uploaded to their site. This came soon after the same group demanded the removal of approximately 30,000 videos from the site, and was disappointed to find that many were put back on the site some time later. Of course, since YouTube just provides the platform, it’s pretty much impossible to completely prevent such uploads. However, YouTube has responded by promising to put up a warning in Japanese about copyright violations and to send a delegation to Japan to meet with JASRAC over these concerns. So far, it seems like JASRAC is satisfied by the response, but at some point they’re going to have to realize that there is no real way to prevent the content from being uploaded. Should some sort of magic bullet ever actually show up that YouTube could use to block uploads, the content would simply migrate to sites that just don’t care as much about copyright violations. In other words, it’s a time-consuming and totally ineffective game of whack-a-mole. One of these days, they’ll have to realize that there are ways to benefit from letting people upload shows — and the whole “problem” goes away.


Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “YouTube's Solution To Unauthorized Japanese Videos: A Warning Written In Japanese”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
13 Comments
`Zidane Tribal (user link) says:

whilst there may be a benefit of sorts, i suspect its more likely a banefit that comes from “fair use” uploading. namely, allowing people to upload individual skits or short-ish segments (like, 5 minutes of a 30 minute show). personally, i fail to see why anyone should be allowed to simply grab an entire show and upload it. i have become a regular watcher of “the today show” after seeing several skits on youtube, but i still watch it on my tv (yes, with adverts), rather than scouring youtube for it.

and before anyone calls me a troll, i do agree with sharing media, but i also agree with fair use principles (i.e. i can buy a cd, convert it to mp3 to play on my iriver, lend it to a freind etc, but i shouldnt then upload it to a hundred people on the internet).

Mike F.M says:

I don't agree

Personally, I don’t agree that watching a TV show on-line necessarily motivates people to watch the same program on TV. If you can get the content whenever you want without adverts interrupting your viewing, (Although there are a few amusing ones around at the minute), then why would you watch it at a scheduled time?

The only reasons I can think of are if you can’t find the full episode on-line or if you happen to catch it on TV.

I do watch some TV, but mostly I download TV content as I am never in when a program I want to watch is on.

Going Japanese says:

Not So Neat

Here’s the problem with the ‘sample, then watch on TV with adverts’ argument. If you’re in the US, that’s impossible.

I personally enjoy a lot of the Japanese dramas that have been subtitled in English by fan-groups. And, yes, often end up on YouTube. Unlicensed, fan subtitled, Japanese animation often does as well.

These are programs that currently have no licensed, english-language release, and certainly don’t air on Western TV. Considering that the quality of Youtube is in no danger of approaching DVD level, how is it anything but fair use to share shows that way?

Old News says:

Because it looks prettier

Why would I watch it on TV instead of downloading it?

Because I have a 61″ wide screen TV and it looks alot better in high def. I have a high Def DVR and I record and watch at my leasure.

My DVR hosed up and i missed 2 episodes of battlestar galactica. I had to download them and watch them on Itunes to get caught up and it was like poking myself in the eye over and over, the picture quality sucked and the sound was aweful.

The Internet has a long way to go before it comes close to HDTV quality.

JS Beckerist (profile) says:

SCRUBS!

I have a list of shows I never watched before having seen a downloaded copy, yet I now consider myself a fan and either watch them or have purchased (*) dvds:
Firefly *
Scrubs
South Park *
Family Guy *
Futurama *
American Dad
Star Trek Voyager *
Aqua Teen Hunger Force *
Squidbillies (I so cannot WAIT for the DVDs for this show)
The Office *
My Name is Earl *

Note: prior to my introduction to downloaded episodes, the only TV I watched was the occasional South Park and the Daily Show. That’s IT.

Anonymous Coward says:

Well, this whole “watch online, then watch TV” argument could be completely swapped around – For example, I saw “House” on TV one night, and decided it was an awesome show; I then proceeded to look for episodes of it on YouTube. Isn’t that a reversal of the so-called advantage you say online video clips have?
Granted, this was just a random comment, since I totally support free online sharing of everything – Corporations make billions of dollars a year, it really doesn’t matter to them if their content is hosted online – The only fear they have is the possibility of the outphasing of television. Ironically enough, if a revolution from television to the internet occurred, these companies would be the most prepared to begin mass advertising online. 🙂

Add Your Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

A weekly news podcast from
Mike Masnick & Ben Whitelaw

Subscribe now to Ctrl-Alt-Speech »
Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...