The National Legal Policy Center (NLPC), a large U.S.-based
copyright watch-dog group, has conducted
an investigation of Google Video and is upset with the results.
Earlier this summer, the NLPC released a top 50 list of
illegally posted copyrighted content that was available online. The group
rechecked Google Video between September 10 and September 18 and found over 300
more instances of copyrighted material, including 60 movies released this year.
Shrek the Third, Oceans Thirteen, The Bourne Ultimatum,
and Knocked Up were among the new titles easily found.
The NLPC says that
these 300 apparently pirated films, along with many other copyrighted works,
received more than 22 million views in the past year on Google Video.
"While Google faces numerous legal challenges related to the posting of
copyrighted content on its video sharing websites, there is a growing chorus
who believe that evidence of Google's seemingly indifferent attitude towards
internet video piracy has resulted in a legitimization or 'mainstreaming' of
video piracy which will have broad and damaging implications for all
intellectual property owners," stated the NLPC in a letter to Congress.
The NLPC says its random spot checks have revealed the continual presence of
copyrighted material on Google Video over the last year and that the amount of
copyrighted content is rapidly growing. The NLPC also notes that Google has
never delivered on its promise of filtering technology, which it announced in the
fall of 2006.
Google controls a vast amount of the online video content via Google Video and
YouTube, which it owns. In July Dailytech reported on YouTube's efforts
to crack down on
piracy.
The NLPC said
that internet piracy theft cost nearly $2.3 billion USD in lost revenue to the
US film industry. They condemned Google's inaction as willful negligence.
The issue of video piracy remains a contentious one. A large amount of
movies and copyrighted works exists for easy, free viewing on YouTube.
Videos are regularly taken down, but they are quickly reposted. With an
increasing amount of media content stored and accessible directly online,
copyright law and digital freedoms are frequently clashing, as illustrated by
the NLPC's claims.
