Securities: You Tube's Anti-Piracy Plan Criticized

The media industry says that YouTube's plan to offer anti-piracy tools only to companies that have distribution deals with YouTube is "unacceptable." YouTube plans to introduce technology that would help media companies identify pirated videos uploaded by users.

YouTube's anti-piracy policy draws criticism

MySpace, YouTube's biggest competitor, says that it will offer copyright protection for free. A spokesman for Viacom Inc. said that YouTube's "proposition that they will only protect copyrighted content if there's a business deal in place is unacceptable." Viacom has become the leader of dissent against YouTube, trying to prevent YouTube from becoming the iTunes of online video. In a statement, YouTube said that the process of identifying copyrighted materials is not an automated process and requires the cooperation of media company partners.