Amid Controversy, YouTube Launches in Japan
From Chris Salzberg of Global Voices...
Late last week, Google announced that it was teaming up with six Japanese firms, including SkyPerfecTV and Mixi [Ja], creator of Japan’s most popular social networking software, to link content [Ja] to a new YouTube website exclusively in Japanese in order to boost the company’s presence in Japan. Much to the frustration of organizations fighting for the rights of authors, composers, and composers, as well as companies and copyright organizations, Google plans to continue with its plans for the use of video “fingerprinting” technology. The fingerprinting technology, which would identify copyrighted material and allow the copyright holder to search for illegal copies on the web, has been criticized as being insufficient to answer concerns over copyright violation.
Blogger Nobuyuki Hayashi, who blogs at nobilog and also at a less frequently updated English version, was at the meeting where the merger announcement was made. In his entry of August 4th, he posted pictures taken at the meeting, and linked to articles in Japanese at ascii.jp, Broadband Watch, CNET Japan, and IT Media News. He also outlined his thoughts on the new direction of YouTube in Japan, translated below.
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Late last week, Google announced that it was teaming up with six Japanese firms, including SkyPerfecTV and Mixi [Ja], creator of Japan’s most popular social networking software, to link content [Ja] to a new YouTube website exclusively in Japanese in order to boost the company’s presence in Japan. Much to the frustration of organizations fighting for the rights of authors, composers, and composers, as well as companies and copyright organizations, Google plans to continue with its plans for the use of video “fingerprinting” technology. The fingerprinting technology, which would identify copyrighted material and allow the copyright holder to search for illegal copies on the web, has been criticized as being insufficient to answer concerns over copyright violation.
Blogger Nobuyuki Hayashi, who blogs at nobilog and also at a less frequently updated English version, was at the meeting where the merger announcement was made. In his entry of August 4th, he posted pictures taken at the meeting, and linked to articles in Japanese at ascii.jp, Broadband Watch, CNET Japan, and IT Media News. He also outlined his thoughts on the new direction of YouTube in Japan, translated below.
- continued -
For more international insights check out Global Voices and be sure to subscribe to the Daily Digest for the latest international news every morning.