YouTube, YAY!!!! - (Hmmm, shocking ... isn't it?)

YouTube is definitely the first place I think about if I want to find a video of something on the web. I go there pretty frequently to look for videos i want to see and then stay and look around at other videos while I'm there. And most of the time when i look for something, the thing I'm looking for is copyrighted and then I stay to look at the "uncopyrighted" ones. Though that seems a strange answer, because aren't all the videos on there copyrighted in someway by the poster. The issue is if they were copyrighted by someone besides the poster. Anyway, I definitely believe that the copyrighted videos should be on there, because they draw the crowd who then stays to look at everything else. Plus, let's say that a clip from show appears on YouTube, and people go to YouTube to see the clip. The clip is part of a show and people may want to watch more because of the clip they watched. For example, I watch Robot Chicken all the time now, because I went on YouTube and watched the clip of the Emperor getting a collect call from Darth Vader. YouTube helps the owner of the copyrighted videos in that way.

I believe that the DMCA is a very good thing for providers and users on the web. And i think that t should protect YouTube because if itself and it's users weren't granted the freedom that the DMCA provides then YouTube would fail and so would many other sites out there. It's because of the user's video postings that they are allowed to make money. They don't post the videos themsleves. They're still just a host for user content and the DMCA allows for them not to have to check every file that being posted on their site. If they advertise that they are a source of entertainment, they are only that source because of their users and what those users. YouTube should be allowed to continue as a provider to users for them to post their videos and with the DMCA's protection.

This post was based on the recent column written by a writer who is general counsel for Viacom.