Viacom Versus Google: Coming of Age of the "Viderate" Generation

amp160Judge Stanton39s decision has already been met with a torrent of criticism across the blogosphere but what is the broader context of Viacom39s complaint JackMyers Media Business Report spoke exclusively with Andrew Rasiej cofounder of techPresident Mr Rasiej39s formidable bio would put him on anyone39s short list for a quotChief Technology Officerquot should our next president deem such a cabinet position warranted It is Rasiej39s contention that while issues of privacy and piracy must be addressed that the current realignment of power and wealth dictates that a paradigm shift must occur not only in our business models but in our fundamental mindset In a wideranging conversation Rasiej looks at the general public39s standing beyond this affair as well as the implications for content producers and distributors And just what did Judge Stanton opine While he declined Viacom39s request for YouTube39s proprietary code he ordered Google to provide Viacom with userIDs and IP addresses for unregistered users as well as three terabytes of video so that the latter might ascertain if copyrighted videos enjoy the brunt of YouTube39s traffic The Judge39s perspective particularly his viewing any privacy concerns as merely quotspeculativequot has already been met with hostility Here39s the ruling in its entiretyWhile the Electronic Freedom Foundation EFF has spoken to the legal consequences of the opinion agreeing with Google that the decision violates the Borkdriven Video Privacy Act of 1988 Rasiej adopts a broader view Responding to whether or not there39s a zerosum relationship between piracy and privacy Rasiej won39t take the bait quotOne person39s piracyquot he counters quotis another39s 39peerocy39quot referring to any peertopeer sharing where value is believed to be inherent in the sharingAs Rasiej sees it quotas the technological revolution continues to advance we39re witnessing a massive clash of norms and behaviors that have yet to be established The value of information then is open to debate and may be worth more in an open network than in a protected one People are discovering new ways of creating value by sharing as opposed to holding information backquot Noting pragmatically that owners do what they can to preserve their business model Rasiej argues for innovation not only of new models paradigms and opportunities but also recognition of competitive necessitiesToo much of a gentleman to spew crash and burn comments like TechCrunch39s Michael Arrington quotI say this with the utmost respect but Judge Stanton is a moronquot Rasiej maintains that lawmakers must have a firmer grasp on technology and its potential economic benefits extending to how it relates to globalization and security in the 21st century But for now he has a curt quotthey don39t know the difference between a server and a waiterquotWhat of our legislators Rasiej doesn39t disagree what39s said of politics that it39s a blunt instrument quotMany of our legislator39s aidesquot he asserts quotare still influenced greatly by lobbyists or are writing legislation for the 20th centuryquot Rasiej recently met Sheila Campbell one of the federal government39s 500 IT managers which operate Web sites for the TSA National Parks Dept and the FDA among others quotDo you know why they can39t embed YouTube videos on any of their sitesquot Rasiej asks quotBecause YouTube operates under California39s terms of service and the Federal government by law can39t be subservient to state law This policy is being redressed but it39s years in the makingquotUnsurprisingly Rasiej trots out the selfinflicted harm the music industry did to itself quotPeople found KaZaA not because of any interest in stealing music CDs were 15 but it was easier to find an obscure single online than to wait for Tower to make it available Had it taken its entire catalog and make it available online for 30month it would have grown its business by threefold At the end of the day it39s like realigning toll stations or asking horse traders to create legislation for a steam enginequotFar from being a Google apologist the search engine has come under fire for its lax privacy policies possibly setting the stage for this legal denouement Rasiej contends that quotmainstream media has never properly written about or grasped Google It sees that traditional media views it as a major threat and writes about the company accordingly There are new dynamics to this technological landscape it39s a media ecology undergoing transformationquot Responding to the BBC39s recent overkill headline over the legal opinion he suggests that quotBBC39s headline is not necessarily a premeditated attempt to slander Google but one of ignorancequotThe pending decision which has a chance of being overturned by the tech savvier judges in appellate court has given greater voice to calls for a Federal Internet Privacy Act Rasiej believes this is premature quotI do believe that there39s a more important issue before us To declare access to the Internet a civil if not a human right Right now at 60month the average working class family can39t get online It39s beyond their reach What39s the point in arguing for privacy if the Federal government hasn39t declared access a fundamental servicequotRasiej closes with a discussion of quotVideracyquot as in literacy the talent and skill to create complex ideas without text Rasiej uses fluency in Final Cut Pro as a rough yardstick The bias that text reins supreme over image is at an end quotThere39s an entire generation coming of age in the next twenty years that will be fully videratequot he says quotThis presents a challenge to the previous generation that39s only twenty percent viderate and the eighty percent that39s halfviderate Much of our content will be created by individuals with simple tools using simple platformsquotWhile both Google and Viacom have since stated that they are working towards a compromise stripping viewer data of unique identifiers by creating randomly assigned ID numbers that doesn39t put our privacy at risk Rasiej places stock in the Web itself Referencing Internet pioneer John Gilmore39s oftquoted axiom that quotthe Net interprets censorship as damage and routes around itquot he offers this corollary quotThe Net will recognize unreasonable protectionism and route around it as wellquot

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Viacom Versus Google: Coming of Age of the "Viderate" Generation

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