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YouTube Continues to Draw Criticism

Copyrights on the Web are a confusing subject. For the sheer mass of, say, videos that are posted online on a daily basis to the uncertain legal standards that apply on the Web and enforced by different countries? legal codes, it might just turn out to be an impossible issue to take on. With YouTube at the center of industry clashes between video copyright owners and the video sharing Website, and the industry?s giant Google in the background of it all, the issue is getting ever more heated.

YouTube has upset many in the media industry for offering anti-piracy tools on a selective model, only to media companies that have distribution deals with it. Then the companies will be able to identify and track down videos uploaded on the Website that they own the copyrights to. But should this be offered only to companies that sign up with YouTube or to all companies who are interested, industry insiders are asking these days. Another competitor, the social networking Website MySpace, is offering a similar technological tool for free.

Viacom Inc., owner of MTV, is outspoken on the issue, leading critics of YouTube. A spokesman for the company said of this that it ?is unacceptable.? Others even went as far as to compare the business practice to a ?mafia shakedown.? YouTube on its behalf says a joint effort is demanded for effectively removing pirated videos, and that this can be best done via agreement and partnerships.