Viacom will soon know what you watch on YouTube

A recent BBC news story, “Google must divulge YouTube log,” reports on the latest phase in the Viacom case against Google’s YouTube: A U.S. court ordered Google to disclose the viewing logs of each and every YouTube user. This gives Viacom access to over 12 terabytes of data so they can prove their dubious claim that “infringing” videos hold more appeal than non-infringing ones. As the EFF and others have pointed out, this is a serious setback in user privacy. It’s a black-eye for Google who should have made IP address data anonymous a long time ago. And shame on Viacom for even asking. Google should have been keeping the data in anonymous form. Another tarnish on the shiny Google image, and just another pound of slime on the already greedy image of Viacom.

Google said the log should not be handed over because of privacy concerns, in their submission to the court Google said: “Plaintiffs (Viacom) would likely be able to determine the viewing and video uploading habits of YouTube’s users based on the user’s login ID and the user’s IP address.” But the court ruled these concerns were “speculative”. So much for the judge’s respect for rights to privacy.

The copyright thing is out of control, no, not copyright law per se, but how corporations are using it in a desperate attempt to stem the tide of media change. Another argument why we need a more vibrant, competitive, user-driven media ecosystem. And this can happen if you embrace the change, make the change, be the change. This summer, avoid Viacom channels like Nick@Night, TV Land, MTV, VH1, Comedy Central, Bravo, etc. and go out and make your own media and watch the great media that’s being made by your fellow citizens. Check out the great shows on blip.tv. Check out the wonderful short films on YouTube. Be the media, or encourage those citizens who are.

A record number of Americans are using the internet to get news about the election

A recent Pew Internet and American Life Project report titled “The Internet and the 2008 Election” states that a record-breaking 46% of Americans have used the internet, email or cell phone text messaging to get news about the campaign, share their views and mobilize others. And Barack Obama’s backers have an edge in the online political environment. 35% of Americans say they have watched online political videos–a figure that nearly triples the reading the Pew Internet Project got in the 2004 race.

One thing I found interesting about this report is that it found that Democrats are more positive about the role of the internet. Online Democrats are more likely to say the internet helps them feel connected to their candidates and the campaign. In contrast to online Republicans, both independents and Democrats who use the internet are more likely to agree with the statement, “I would not be as involved in this campaign as much if it weren’t for the internet.” One-quarter of online independents (26%) and Democrats (23%) subscribe to that view, versus 16% of Republicans.

Old Media Fails Readers With ‘Fake Neutrality’

A wired story reports that during her presentation at the Personal Democracy Forum in New York City on Monday morning, Arianna Huffington charged traditional media outlets with failing their readership miserably by hiding behind a fake curtain of neutrality, when the facts often stack up more heavily in favor of one “truth” over another. She also said that trolls often ruin the discussion at The Huffington Post, and she appealed to the audience for help with any tech geniuses who could restore civility to the community without having to hire an armada of moderators. Yea, this is all “old news” but real problems remain, how can we encourage more citizens to read widely, encourage publications to seek “the truth” over constantly presenting two sides as equal when they are not, and how can people participate in civilized dialog while filtering out the trouble makers without excluding important voices of dissent? It’s quite a challenge that journalists like Arianna Huffington face. In the end, the news should have a point of view. Good investigative journalism and documentaries have a point of view. Being informed and thoughtful should be a goal, not neutrality.

Boston Media Makers, Meeting Notes, March 2, 2008

Here are some highlights from the March 2, 2008 meeting of Boston Media Makers.

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Open Television Network lauched to serve the fat middle of the long tail

The Open Television Network (OTN) was launched last month with the goal of providing a distribution network for the “fat middle” of the Long Tail, helping to build a “middle class” of media publishers. It’s a framework that allows small media producers to sell video through iTunes using RSS feeds. And that’s the clever twist behind their approach.
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Comcast does not want public voices heard

On Monday, February 25, 2008 the FCC held a public hearing, hosted by the Berkman Center for Internet & Society on the campus of Harvard Law School. It turns out that Comcast was paying people to fill seats in the Ames Courtroom to prevent net neutrality supporters from participating in the dialog.
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Kaltura: Wiki meets YouTube by way of Yochai Benkler

One of the most interesting presentations at the Web Video Summit today was Shay David, Chief Technology Officer of Kaltura, talking about their business, which they summarize in one phrase as “Wiki meets YouTube.” Their site provide a set of tools that allows groups of users to collaborate online in the creation and remixing of rich media. They are capturing the synergy between two macro trends, peer production and video sharing. Kaltura offers an SDK and is engaging partners to build collaborative video authoring capabilities into their sites. Among their goals is to build the largest network of remixable materials. I think this would be of interest to video journalists, documentary filmmakers, and mission based organizations. I also find it very interesting that Shay is inspired by the ideas of shared cultural production which have been eloquently articulated by Yochai Benkler.

Time viewers spend on then net is rivaling TV time

An IBM survey of consumer behavior, reported by the Hollywood Reporter in the article “Study: TV is taking a back seat” by Georg Szalai, documents that the time consumers spend on the Internet is rivaling their TV time. I took away two interesting data points from the article: First is that “consumers are divided over their preferences for free online content with ads or subscription fee-based content without commercials. About a third is for free content, but about 20% are willing to pay for the HBO-style model” according to the IBM report. Second is the stark numbers documenting television’s decline as our primary media device, according to the survey, “19% of respondents said they spend six hours or more each day on personal Internet usage. That compares with 8% who said so about the TV. One to four hours of TV usage was reported by 66%, compared with 60% for the Web.” Any netizen understands this trend, and it reflects my own experience, but it often takes numerous reports of stark numbers to wake up the sleeping giants. And when they awake, it will be an awakeing of “Jurrasic Park” proportions, although, in the end, the smaller, smarter, nimbler little creatures win out in the end. We’ll see how it plays out.

Boston Media Makers, Meeting Notes, December 2, 2007

It was another inspiring, interesting, and entertaining meeting of the Boston Media Makers , which has become carved in stone in my calendar for the first Sunday of every month. We meet at Sweet Finnish in Jamaica Plain with founder and master of ceremonies Steve Garfield.

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Web Video: Move Over, Amateurs

I read an article today in BusinessWeek by Catherine Holahan titled, “Web Video: Move Over, Amateurs” that claims that “as more professionally produced content finds a home online, user-generated video becomes less alluring to viewers—and advertisers,” and while this may be true, in part, and certainly makes pundits like Andrew Keen (author of The Cult of the Amateur) happy, I think that no matter how you slice it, the rules will be different with internet video and there are still many opportunities yet to be explored and user generated content ((I’m not thrilled with the term user generated content, in spite of Keen’s demonization of the term, Amateur, as in someone who does something out of love rather than money, is a apt term, but I digress…)) is here to stay. Of course this article follows on the coat tails of the premiere of “Quarterlife,” the new made for internet episodic from Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick, the creative team behind “My So-Called Life” and “thirtysomething.” There are several aspects of “Quarterlife” that I find particularly interesting in terms of the change that’s going on in the media industry: first, the show sets a new standard for web video with network-television production values, second: the storytelling and acting is better than 98% of network television, and third, the show is owned and controlled by its creators. This is old media reinventing itself with a new set of rules. Just as “thirtysomething” raised the standard for production values and storytelling in episodic television, I think “Quarterlife” will do the same for fictional internet video. If “Quarterlife” draws in an enthusiastic audience and generous advertising revenue, it could be among the first proof points that it’s possible to produce a financially viable fictional episodic on the web.

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