SAN BRUNO, Calif. - Online video leader YouTube on Monday rolled out long-awaited technology to automatically remove copyrighted clips, hoping to placate movie and television studios fed up with the website' s persistent piracy problems.
The filtering tools are designed so the owners of copyrighted video can block their material from appearing on YouTube, which has become a pop culture phenomenon in its two-year existence. They also give the owners of copyrighted video the option to sell ads around their material if they want the clips remain available on YouTube.
To find and remove copyrighted music, YouTube already uses separate filtering tools developed by Los Gatos-based Audible Magic Corp.
YouTube's previous lack of copyright protections for video content prompted Viacom Inc. to sue it for $1 billion for showing thousands of clips the New York-based company owned.
As YouTube's traffic soared, movie and TV studios became increasingly frustrated with the rampant piracy fuelling its popularity, though YouTube said it has followed copyright laws by removing protected video upon request.
Studios' exasperation with YouTube escalated as other popular websites introduced filtering technology in recent months to prevent copyrighted material from being uploaded.
YouTube's critics have argued that the site turned a blind eye to flagrant piracy so it could show more appealing material to build its audience and pump up its value. Google prized San Bruno-based YouTube so much it paid $1.76 billion to buy the site 11 months ago.
YouTube has been working with Google engineers ever since to develop the tools needed to flag copyrighted video, said David King, a YouTube product manager.
Google and YouTube executives began promising the new copyright protection technology six months ago.
"It has taken until now to get it right," King said Monday.
It's still too early to tell how YouTube's new filtering system will affect the seven-month-old Viacom suit, said Mike Fricklas, Viacom's general counsel. "We are delighted that Google appears to be stepping up to its responsibility and end the practice of infringement," he said Monday.
YouTube now needs the co-operation of copyright owners for its filtering system to work because the technology requires copyright holders to provide copies of the video they want to protect so YouTube can compare those digital files to material being uploaded to its website.
This means that movie and TV studios will have to provide decades of copyright material if they don't want it to appear on YouTube or spend even more time scanning the site for violations.
"We really need the content community to work with us," King said. "We need them to help us help them."
Without the help of copyright owners, YouTube has no way of knowing whether material has been legally or illegally posted to the site, King said, because copyrighted video is sometimes provided by the legal owner for promotional purposes.
But YouTube's critics have long derided this defence, arguing that it doesn't take a legal expert to spot some of the pirated material cropping on the website. "If there has been a clip from 'American Idol' posted to the site by Joe Schmoe in Oklahoma instead of Fox, you can be pretty sure it's not supposed to be there," said Rob Gould, vice-president of marketing for Broadcaster.com, a rival video site.
YouTube said it has been encouraged by early tests of its filtering system with nine content providers. Only two of the test participants, Walt Disney Co. and Time Warner Inc., were willing to be identified.
Messages left with Walt Disney and Time Warner weren't immediately returned Monday.
The system found 18 copyright violations during a 10-day in a limited test involving one of the test participants, King said.
Wednesday, October 17, 2007
Rogue Anti-Spyware
One of the biggest problems internet users encounter today are rogue anti spyware programs that try to convince you that downloading the full version of the program will protect you from all of the ills on the internet. It can be difficult to understand which products may be harmful to your machine and which ones may actually enhance your online experience. The first step, though, is to understand exactly what rogue anti spyware programs are and how they function.
A Bit of Background The term spyware was initially created to refer to hardware that had other purposes in mind. However, over time, the meaning changed to denote software programs that literally spied on you and what you were doing. Research suggests that over sixty percent of all computers have spyware issues. Microsoft has even suggested that spyware is the single biggest security risk for computer users.
Rogue anti spyware programs were primarily created to deceive consumers. The hope of most manufacturers is that consumers will see the danger warnings, click the box, and purchase the product. They’re essentially designed to scare customers into purchasing the product, whether it works or not.
The only comprehensive study of rogue anti spyware programs was done by Eric L. Howes. He’s also the author of the Anti-Spyware Test Guide, one of the internet’s premiere anti spyware resources. In an interview with Australia’s TheAge.com, Howes mentioned that of the 130 anti spyware programs he’s tested, almost all of them are junk.
“The depressing thing is that these people are making money out of this stuff, selling crappy products to users who have already been victimized once. Of the junk programs, there are tools that claim to detect spyware, but when you try to clean up the problem they say, surprise, you must pay $59.95 - that's just sleazy," Howes said.
The Tactics You may have seen many of these rogue anti spyware programs on your own computer. From popup advertisements on websites suggesting this program is the only one that will save your machine to programs that download and install themselves on your machine so you can enjoy the fun of pop ups even when you’re not online, these programs have a variety of ways to ensure that you’re frightened enough to make that purchase. Take a look at some of them.
When you visit a website, a small window pops up and suggests it is “scanning” your computer for dangerous spyware. It even comes up with a few results to demonstrate that your machine is infected with the product. After downloading a program or visiting an untrustworthy site, a small notification balloon pops up on your screen despite the fact that you’re not online. It resembles a Windows notification alert, and it tells you that your computer is infected. The only option it gives you is to click and download an additional product to take care of the infection. Your desktop background or default internet start page changes suddenly. Both may suggest that you are infected with spyware and need to take steps to remedy that with a particular program.
Is It Really That Bad? Sure, those rogue anti spyware programs are annoying, but are they really dangerous? Absolutely, suggests Paul Ducklin, Asia Pacific’s head of technology for Sophos. In a 2004 interview, Ducklin said that rogue anti spyware programs can “include key loggers (capturing passwords), software loggers (collecting computer details) and web redirectors (which take browsers to fake banking sites). There are even webcam "sniffers", which seek control over our cameras "to spy on you quite literally as you work.”
All of this can spell serious danger for you and your computer. With identity theft at an all time high, it is essential that you not only identify whether or not your machine is currently playing host to a rogue anti spyware program, but also that you remove it as soon as possible.
Finding the Right Cure If you do find that your PC is playing host to a number of rogue anti spyware programs, all is not lost. There are several things you can do to save yourself and your computer from harm. First, find reputable anti spyware software to help you clean your computer. Visit a number of forums, message boards, and review sites before you download one to ensure that you get a worthwhile program. Once you’ve cleaned your machine as best as you possibly can, consider looking at a spyware removal forum and talking with the volunteers about ways to ensure your system is free from those rogue anti spyware programs.
When you’re sure your computer is free of programs like those, update and run your anti spyware and anti virus software on a regular basis. A combination of several good tools may help you keep your machine free from these pests, but your first weapon in this fight will always be a knowledge of the rogue anti spyware problems out there waiting to take advantage of you and your computer.
A Bit of Background The term spyware was initially created to refer to hardware that had other purposes in mind. However, over time, the meaning changed to denote software programs that literally spied on you and what you were doing. Research suggests that over sixty percent of all computers have spyware issues. Microsoft has even suggested that spyware is the single biggest security risk for computer users.
Rogue anti spyware programs were primarily created to deceive consumers. The hope of most manufacturers is that consumers will see the danger warnings, click the box, and purchase the product. They’re essentially designed to scare customers into purchasing the product, whether it works or not.
The only comprehensive study of rogue anti spyware programs was done by Eric L. Howes. He’s also the author of the Anti-Spyware Test Guide, one of the internet’s premiere anti spyware resources. In an interview with Australia’s TheAge.com, Howes mentioned that of the 130 anti spyware programs he’s tested, almost all of them are junk.
“The depressing thing is that these people are making money out of this stuff, selling crappy products to users who have already been victimized once. Of the junk programs, there are tools that claim to detect spyware, but when you try to clean up the problem they say, surprise, you must pay $59.95 - that's just sleazy," Howes said.
The Tactics You may have seen many of these rogue anti spyware programs on your own computer. From popup advertisements on websites suggesting this program is the only one that will save your machine to programs that download and install themselves on your machine so you can enjoy the fun of pop ups even when you’re not online, these programs have a variety of ways to ensure that you’re frightened enough to make that purchase. Take a look at some of them.
When you visit a website, a small window pops up and suggests it is “scanning” your computer for dangerous spyware. It even comes up with a few results to demonstrate that your machine is infected with the product. After downloading a program or visiting an untrustworthy site, a small notification balloon pops up on your screen despite the fact that you’re not online. It resembles a Windows notification alert, and it tells you that your computer is infected. The only option it gives you is to click and download an additional product to take care of the infection. Your desktop background or default internet start page changes suddenly. Both may suggest that you are infected with spyware and need to take steps to remedy that with a particular program.
Is It Really That Bad? Sure, those rogue anti spyware programs are annoying, but are they really dangerous? Absolutely, suggests Paul Ducklin, Asia Pacific’s head of technology for Sophos. In a 2004 interview, Ducklin said that rogue anti spyware programs can “include key loggers (capturing passwords), software loggers (collecting computer details) and web redirectors (which take browsers to fake banking sites). There are even webcam "sniffers", which seek control over our cameras "to spy on you quite literally as you work.”
All of this can spell serious danger for you and your computer. With identity theft at an all time high, it is essential that you not only identify whether or not your machine is currently playing host to a rogue anti spyware program, but also that you remove it as soon as possible.
Finding the Right Cure If you do find that your PC is playing host to a number of rogue anti spyware programs, all is not lost. There are several things you can do to save yourself and your computer from harm. First, find reputable anti spyware software to help you clean your computer. Visit a number of forums, message boards, and review sites before you download one to ensure that you get a worthwhile program. Once you’ve cleaned your machine as best as you possibly can, consider looking at a spyware removal forum and talking with the volunteers about ways to ensure your system is free from those rogue anti spyware programs.
When you’re sure your computer is free of programs like those, update and run your anti spyware and anti virus software on a regular basis. A combination of several good tools may help you keep your machine free from these pests, but your first weapon in this fight will always be a knowledge of the rogue anti spyware problems out there waiting to take advantage of you and your computer.
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