UNIVERSAL MUSIC CLAIMS RIGHT TO REMOVE YOUTUBE VIDEOS IT DOESN'T HAVE COPYRIGHT TO

Universal Music Group has responded to Megaupload's request for a temporary restraining order barring the music giant from further interference with the distribution of its "Mega Song." UMG insists that it had a right to take down the video—not under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, as Megaupload had assumed, but under a private contractual arrangement between UMG and YouTube.

UMG's filing raises more questions than it answers. Most obviously, the firm has not explained why it took down the video in the first place. But the filing also raises deeper questions about UMG's effort to essentially opt out of the DMCA takedown rules. UMG seems to believe it can take down videos even if it doesn't hold the copyright to them, and that when UMG takes a video down from YouTube, the owner of that video can't avail herself of even the weak protections against takedown abuse provided by the DMCA.

UMG casts Megaupload as a major villain in the war over illegal file-sharing. Last week, Megaupload sought to bolster its image by releasing a pop-star-studded promotional video. UMG's takedown request was an unexpected publicity coup. Megaupload took full advantage, suing UMG on Monday and asking the judge for an immediate restraining order to prevent UMG from further interfering with the video's distribution.

UMG's response, filed late on Thursday, focuses on the narrow question of whether Judge Claudia Wilken should grant such a restraining order. The recording giant makes two principle arguments in opposition.

First, UMG says such a restraining order is not authorized by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. The DMCA's notice-and-takedown safe harbor includes a provision for monetary damages against copyright holders who abuse the takedown process, but it does not give the courts the power to block copyright holders from sending takedown requests.

But more importantly, Universal argues that its takedown is not governed by the DMCA in the first place. In a statement supporting Megaupload's complaint, CIO Kim Dotcom had stated "it is my understanding" that Universal had invoked the DMCA's notice-and-takedown provisions. But UMG says Dotcom got it wrong: the takedown was sent "pursuant to the UMG-YouTube agreement," which gives UMG "the right to block or remove user-posted videos through YouTube's CMS based on a number of contractually specified criteria."

In other words, when UMG removes a video using YouTube's CMS, that might be a takedown, but it's not a DMCA takedown. And that, UMG argues, means that the DMCA's rule against sending takedown requests for files you don't own doesn't apply.

UMG underscored the point by including a letter UMG lawyer Kelly Klaus sent to YouTube on Wednesday. In that letter, Klaus wrote:

Your letter could be read to suggest that UMG's rights to use the YouTube "Content Management System" with respect to certain user-posted videos are limited to instances in which UMG asserts a claim that a user-posted video contains material that infringes a UMG copyright. As you know, UMG's rights in this regard are not limited to copyright infringement, as set forth more completely in the March 31, 2009 Video License Agreement for UGC Video Service Providers, including without limitation Paragraphs 1(b) and 1(g) thereof.

This appears to be a reference to the agreement underlying the VEVO partnership between Google and UMG announced in April 2009. As far as we know, the agreement isn't public, so we can only speculate on what's in Paragraphs 1(b) and 1(g).

UNIVERSAL FILES FALSE TAKE DOWN NOTICE FOR MEGAUPLOADS YOUTUBE SONG

Megaupload recently funded a song that features popular artists singing its praises. The artists, independent of their labels, signed agreements with the file sharing service to appear on the track. The song released on YouTube, grew in popularity, and was promptly removed due to a complaint by Universal. The only problem is that Universal is not the owner of the song and does not control the rights to it.

The promo, The Mega Song, features P Diddy, Will.i.am, Jamie Foxx, Alicia Keys, Kanye West, Snoop Dogg, Macy Gray, Chris Brown, The Game, and Mary J Blige cashing in on their endorsements. Even Lil Jon throws in a “YEA.” If not for its promoting a file-sharing service, the video would hardly be newsworthy. Filled with cringe-worthy lines like “M-E-G-A, send me a file today,” it’s nothing more than four minutes of repetitive marketing set to music.

Yet Universal thinks it has the authority to remove the song. It’s possible that one or more of these artists has a contractual agreement to seek Universal’s permission for such a promo. Megaupload doesn’t think so: the company is suing Universal for the illegitimate copyright takedown. Its founder, Kim Dotcom, believes that it was an attempt to sabotage the campaign.

GOOGLE VIDEO SITES GET 21 BILLION VIEWS PER MONTH

The latest report from comScore makes for eye popping reading -- Google's video sites, of which YouTube is the most important, received 20,933,113,000 views in October. To put that into some context, that's roughly three videos watched by every person alive on the planet. According to the statistics, YouTubers spent an average of seven hours watching the month's hottest videos.

Surprisingly, Facebook came second, but viewers spent an measly average of 18 minutes watching last night's karaoke. In other news, Hulu came top for online advertising and Vevo was the most watched partner site, you guys obviously love your Lady Gaga.

GOOGLE LAUNCHES OVER 100 CHANNELS ON YOUTUBE

Google is launching more than 100 new YouTube channels with exclusive video content commissioned from media companies and celebrities.
Providers with their own channels will include Thomson Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, Slate, comedy magazine The Onion, Jay-Z, Ashton Kutcher, Deepak Chopra, Shaquille O'Neal (who will have a comedy channel), and Madonna (with a dance channel).

Sources familiar with the deal say that Google paid advances of more than $100 million to get this content. The artists will be able to earn it back through ad monetization over time. The model is similar to how record labels pay advances to artists, but in this case Google will be exercising no control over the creation or production of the content. It's simply seeding the market.
We've heard several times in recent months that Google is upping its investment in original video content under leader Robert Kynci -- as one source put it, the company would rather fund the next MTV or ESPN than buy them, as it was reportedly considering with a YouTube deal.

Earlier today, Google launched the next version of Google TV, which includes a new YouTube app. The company talked about accessing YouTube content as "channels" -- now it's got some commitments for new content to go on those channels. A list of partners is below.

Electus Channel - Pop Culture (name TBD)
PMC PMC Entertainment News
WWE WWE
Young Hollywood Young Hollywood Network
DanceOn DanceOn (Madonna)
Fine Brothers Films MyMusic
Everyday Health, Inc. Everyday Health TV
TakePart™ TakePart™ TV
Digital Broadcasting Group (DBG) Spaces
Uncommon Content Partners The Conversation Channel
Demand Media eHow Home
SB Nation SB Nation
Magical Elves and InStyle magazine Little Black Dress
Hearst Magazines Channel - Fashion & Beauty Channel (name TBD)
Emil Rensing International Channel - Auto (name TBD)
My Damn Channel My Damn Channel: Live
Uncommon Content Partners Taste & Access
Red Bull Media House North America Red Bull
Machinima Machinima
Katalyst Thrash Lab (Ashton Kutcher)
Steve Spangler Science The Spangler Effect
New Nation Networks New Nation Networks
Smart Girls at the Party Smart Girls at the Party (Amy Poehler)
Bedrocket Media Ventures and Full Picture Productions Look TV
BermanBraun theLOGE
The Young Turks Town Square
BermanBraun & Rodale Inc. Vigor
Electus NuevOn - Latin Channel (Sofia Vergara)
Clevver Media ClevverStyle
ModernMom.com ModernMom Channel
Brady Haran DeepSkyVideos
IconicTV 123UnoDosTres
The Wall Street Journal The Wall Street Journal
Pharrell Williams i am OTHER
SoulPancake Productions SoulPancake (Rainn Wilson)
Chopra Media/Generate The Chopra Well (Deepak Chopra)
Clevver Media ClevverNews
The Bowery Presents The Bowery Presents
Clevver Media ClevverTeVe
Seedwell American Hipster
Hearst Magazines Car and Driver Television
Alchemy Networks Alchemy Networks
CafeMom CafeMom Studios
Bedrocket Media Ventures Channel - Comedy (name TBD)
Demand Media LIVESTRONG
Bedrocket Media Ventures Channel - Action Sports (name TBD)
FremantleMedia Channel - Pets & Animal (name TBD)
Big Frame BAM
IconicTV myISH
Electus Channel - Food (name TBD)
Soccer United Marketing & Bedrocket KickTV
Lionsgate Lionsgate Fitness Channel
East of Center Productions LLC YOMYOMF
EQAL u look haute!
Philip Defranco Sourcefed
Meredith Corporation and Meredith Video Studios Digs
Vlogbrothers CrashCourse
Walter Latham Digital Walter Latham's "Kings of Comedy"
Tony Hawk's production company, 900 Films, Inc. RIDE Channel
JON M. CHU Channel - Dance (name TBD)
Vuguru & POW! Entertainment Stan Lee's World of Heroes
FAWN by Michelle Phan Fawn
DECA KinCommunity
Source Interlink Media Motor Trend
The Nerdist Channel The Nerdist Channel
Comedy Shaq Network The Comedy Shaq Network (Shaquille O’Neal)
Demand Media eHow Pets & Animals
Brady Haran numberphile
Cooking Up a Story Food Farmer Earth
Bleacher Report Bleacher Report
TED Conferences TEDEducation
Intelligent Television Intelligent Channel
Pitchfork Pitchfork TV
Vlogbrothers SciShow
EYEBOOGIE POP SPOT
Roadside Entertainment/BAC The NOC
Alli Sports Alli Sports
The Onion Onion Broadcasting Company
VICE VICE
Smosh/Alloy Digital Smosh Animation (name TBD)
VICE Noisey
Knights of Good Productions Geek & Sundry
Mondo Media New Animators
BermanBraun & Rodale Inc. Taste
Varsity Pictures Awesomeness
Black Box TV Black Box TV (Anthony Zuicker, founder of CSI)
IGN Entertainment / Shine Group START
@radical.media Channel - Education (name TBD)
Frederator Networks Channel Frederator's Cartoon Hangover
monotransistor werevertumorro
Thomson Reuters Reuters.com
Slate Slate News Channel
Maker Studios The Maker Music Network
Maker Studios The Moms' View
Maker Studios Tutele
Noisey VICE
Iconic Life and Times (Jay-Z)

[Business Insider]

SESAME STREET YOUTUBE CHANNEL HACKED

Children hoping to watch Sesame Street on YouTube on Sunday were greeted with quite the opposite. The channel was hacked, all videos deleted, design modified and graphic porn uploaded. It took Google around 22 minutes to pull the content down and close the channel but even now, search results for Sesame Street on YouTube reveals the occasional graphic thumbnail. It was believed that a hacker using the name Mr. Edxwx on Reddit was behind this, since the name on the YouTube channel was changed to Mr Edxwx, however that person has stated he had nothing to do with this hack.

CROWD SOURCED CONSTITUTION SUBMITTED TO ICELAND'S GOVERNMENT FOR APPROVAL

A committee of 25 Icelanders submitted the first draft of a rewritten constitution to the country's parliamentary speaker Friday. The democratic experiment bravely asked citizens to log on to Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, and Twitter to engage with the committee in a discussion about the nation's future.

While the project's Facebook page played host to pleads for free ice cream and more volcanoes, the constitution's creators managed to stay on task, focusing on issues of decentralization and transparency in government. The draft is slated for review beginning October 1st.

RUMOR: RIM CREATING APPLE TV COMPETITOR

Research In Motion is currently working on a media box codenamed “BlackBerry Cyclone” that will launch later this fall, BlackBerry news site NerdBerry.net reports. The rumored media hub is said to be similar to Apple’s iOS-based Apple TV box, which connects to a television and plays streaming video content from iTunes. The BlackBerry Cyclone’s purported capabilities include Netflix streaming, YouTube streaming and streaming from media devices connected to the same Wi-Fi network. The unit will also reportedly feature an HDMI-out port.

The move would be a peculiar one from RIM, as it does not have an iTunes competitor to speak of and even with the extremely popular multimedia market, the Apple TV has not been an overly successful device for Apple. The Cupertino-based company announced the million-unit milestone for its refreshed Apple TV late last year, but we haven’t heard much about it since that time. RIM is also in the midst of prepping its first QNX-powered smartphone for release in 2012, not to mention seven BlackBerry handsets due to launch later this year,

YOUTUBE GOES COMMON...COMMON CREATIVE LICENSING

YouTube's recent addition of the Creative Commons licensing option just made it a whole lot easier to make mashups without stepping on anyone's stiletto-sporting toes. Users are now given the option to choose between YouTube's standard license or the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which, when selected, automatically adds the video to a library of similarly appointed videos, now available for your cutting and captioning pleasure. An attribution is placed beneath any video sourcing material from the Creative Commons library. Among the more professional outfits adding their videos to the CC pool are Al Jazeera and C-SPAN. You can now access the Creative Commons library through the YouTube video editor.

NETFLIX THE LARGEST SOURCE OF INTERNET TRAFFIC IN US

Netflix video streaming is now the single largest source of peak downstream Internet traffic in the U.S., according to a new report by Sandvine. The streaming video service now accounts for 29.7 percent of peak downstream traffic, up from 21 percent last fall.

That puts Netflix above HTTP websites (18 percent), BitTorrent (11 percent), and YouTube (10 percent) as a source of downstream traffic during peak times in North America. (BitTorrent still accounts for half of all upstream traffic). As whole, “real-time entertainment” (which is mostly video streaming, but also includes streaming music) accounted for 49 percent of downstream traffic in March, 2011, versus 19 percent for P2P file sharing, and 17 percent for Web browsing.

Video files are so big that it does not take much usage for it to take over in terms of bandwidth consumed. But these numbers definitely point to a future where video accounts for more and more of the traffic on the Internet. As recently as last November, Web video alone accounted for an estimated 37 percent of Internet traffic.

But as Netflix CEO Reed Hastings points out, bandwidth to the home keeps increasing along with demand—he expects a gigabit to the home to be commonplace within ten years. As he told me earlier this month, “streaming is the core of our business,” but he also points out in the video below that most of the video to the home is cached on the edge of the network rather than going through the backbone.

YOUTUBE LAUNCHING STREAMING WITH OVER 3,000 MOVIES FROM ALL MAJOR STUDIOS

In the midst of a blog post welcoming us to "the future of video" head of YouTube Salar Kamangar confirms that starting today it will add around 3,000 new movie titles for rental in the US, along with reviews and behind the scenes extras.

NBC Universal, Sony Pictures and Warner Bros. are the new studios YouTube is partnering with to add the 3,000 new and catalog releases, doubling the amount previously available. The pricing is $2.99/$3.99 for movies viewable via PC or Google TV (no other devices support mentioned) and the FAQ notes that YouTube supports resolutions up to 4K but "most" of the new additions are sadly in SD, which is up to its partners.

RUMOR: SPOTIFY GETS CLOSER TO LAUNCHING MOVIE SERVICE

Spotify continues to negotiate with Facebook over its long promised U.S. launch. But that isn’t the only thing the music streaming service has been up to. They’ve negotiated a number of deals with major movie studios to offer users streaming movies as well as music, a source in the industry tells us.

Earlier this week we reported that YouTube plans a similar service (something we first wrote about last year). As with Google/YouTube, we’re not sure when Spotify will launch the new service. But our best information suggests this Fall.

And these aren’t your standard Netflix/Amazon/iTunes type movie deals, either, we’ve heard. Spotify is aiming to offer users much earlier access to movies. Similar to the release dates that hotel’s get for premium in-room movies. They’re expensive, but users can often see them just a couple of weeks after they’ve been in theaters.

We believe the studio deals being negotiated are for worldwide rights, so Spotify users anywhere would have access.

Spotify's CEO, Daniel Ek, is denying the rumor, however he has denied a number of past rumors that turned out to be true.

YOUTUBE FOUNDERS BUY DELICIOUS FROM YAHOO

YouTube founders Chad Hurley and Steve Chen have agreed to purchase Delicious from Yahoo. Hurley and Chen’s company, AVOS, will be the new owner of the service, and Yahoo has promised to keep Delicious up and working until about July, when user information is then turned over to AVOS. What AVOS plans to do with Delicious is up in the air, but it’s doubtful they’ll make many changes immediately. Yahoo says they’ll turn over public and private bookmarks and user information to AVOS when the change is complete and AVOS will re-launch Delicious shortly after.

Users who don’t want their data moved or shared with another party will have the ability to opt out. Yahoo will present each user with AVOS’ terms of service prior to the changeover, and users who don’t agree will not be able to access their bookmarks or use the service, but AVOS won’t have access to their data either.

RUMOR: YOUTUBE READY TO START RENTING ON-DEMAND MOVIES

According to entertainment website The Wrap, Google's YouTube has finally locked up all the studio deals to get itself fully into the online movie rental game. The report indicates it could launch as soon as this week with movies from majors including Sony, Warner and Universal, as well as smaller entities like Lionsgate, Kino Lorber and other independents. This doesn't appear to be a challenge to (now bigger than Comcast, but still smaller than HBO) Netflix, with the unnamed studio exec quoted in the article saying how happy they are to see a new entrant renting (and eventually selling) movies that's not using a subscription model. Apple currently leads the online VOD market after jumping in with iTunes back in 2008, so obviously that's a main target but without the important info (pricing, picture quality and content) it's hard to tell how much of a challenger this is. VOD rumors have swirled around YouTube for quite some time and it rolled out $3.99 rentals of indie movies a little over a year ago, here's hoping they go the whole way and offer nothing less than 3D and 4K streaming to start.

LEARN SORTING BY WATCHING FOLK DANCING

The next time you’re having trouble in computer science classes grasping the nature of shell sorts and bubble sorts, head over to the AlgoRythmics YouTube channel. There, a group of folk dancers are using Hungarian and Gypsy folk dance to teach people exactly how those sorting operations work, complete with graphic overlays and numbers on their chest and back to show you how the sort functions.

If you’re not familiar with sorting algorithms or their applications in computer programming, this won’t do much for you aside from be entertaining. Still, it also shows there’s a modern, practical use for folk dancing that doesn’t necessarily involve history or cultural heritage. Better yet, maybe it’s a good way to get a dose of culture with your computer science.

Right now the AlgoRythmics’ channel only features four videos at the moment. The first is a Hungarian folk dance called “Székely,” used to illustrate a Shell sort. The second is a traditional Gypsy folk dance used to showcase a select sort, the third is another Hungarian dance called the “Csángó,” used to illustrate Bubble sorts, and the fourth is a Romanian folk dance used to illustrate an insert sort.

The crew hasn’t stopped there though, they plan to upload a Transylvanian-Saxon folk dance that displays merge sorts, and another Hungarian folk dance (called the “Küküllőmenti legényes”) to illustrate quick sorts in just a few days. Their Facebook fan page is up to over 900 people. Their most popular video, the bubble sort, has well over 200,000 views at YouTube.

The whole affair is part of Sapientia University’s Intercultural Computer Science Education program. If you understand the sorting algorithms that are on display, you’ll really appreciate them. If you don’t understand them but need to learn, you’ll like them a lot. If you have no idea what’s going on, at least you’ll enjoy the dancing. You can checkout the AlgoRythmics Youtube channel here.

GOOGLE UPDATES SOCIAL SEARCH DATA WITH TWITTER, YOUTUBE AND FACEBOOK INFO

Google first rolled out their Social Search feature back in 2009, but they’ve just announced a substantial update that will more fully integrate your social search results into normal search results. Now when you view a search results page, your search results will be annotated if they have been shared or liked by your friends… and your search results will even be directly influenced now by how many of your friends have shared and linked a given page.

This is very different than the way Google Social Search used to work: back in 2009 when they service first launched, social results were placed down at the bottom of the page and mainly showed results friends had shared and linked through their Google profiles, a la Google Reader.

Now, however, Google’s plucking their social search data from a bigger ecosystem that includes Twitter, Flickr and YouTube. If someone you’re connected to on any of these sites has shared a link, that link may now show up higher in your results, with an annotation made by that person showing up right beneath the results.

“With these changes, we want to help you find the most relevant information possible, personalized to your interests and the people you care about,” says Google.

The new update will begin rolling out to users today, although it’ll start just in Google’s English results, and it might take a week for you to start seeing your friends’ social sharing habits popping up in your search results.

Needless to say, the new Social Search will only work if Google knows who you are by searching after you’ve logged into your Google account.

FLASH PLAYER 10.2 EXITS BETA; AVAILABLE NOW

Adobe's Flash Player 10.2 has just exited beta testing and is now available for download to Windows, Mac and Linux computers. Its biggest new feature is the Stage Video API, which promises to drastically reduce the processor load of playing back high-res video. It'll need to be enabled by content-providing sites like YouTube, Vimeo and Brightcove -- all of whom are already on the job -- but once that's done, Adobe says 1080p playback will cost you no more than 15 percent of your CPU cycles. Other new additions include a single-monitor full screen option for multi-display rigs, allowing you to max out a Flash video on one panel while keeping the others free, IE9 hardware acceleration support, and some nifty sub-pixel text rendering enhancements to make our web lives marginally nicer to look at.

Flash Player 10.2 also marks Adobe's discontinuation of support for PowerPC-based Macs and Microsoft's Windows 2000 OS. So if you're still rocking some finely aged gear, you'll have to just content yourself with the awesomeness of 10.1. [Engadget]

FACEBOOK TO ALLOW WATCHING AND VOTING OF SUPER BOWL COMMERCIALS

Facebook will be streaming the Super Bowl commercials immediately after they air. They will also allow users to vote for their favorites. Facebook will be in direct competition with Google's YouTube AdBlitz channel, which for years have let users watch and vote for their favorite Super Bowl commercials.

To use Facebook's watch and vote feature, head over to Sports on Facebook page. Users will be able to vote for their favorites until 6pm PST Wednesday, February 9th.

GOOGLE HOSTING AN ANDROID EVENT FEBRUARY 2ND

Google has just announced an Android event for Wednesday, February 2nd. The event will include "an in-depth look at Honeycomb, Android ecosystem news and hands-on demos." Google wouldn't host an event just to re-hash Honeycomb, so they must have something else planned as well. There is a lot of speculation as to what will be announced (if anything) with some folks predicting Android 2.3, new tablets and even Honeycomb for smartphones.

If you didn't get an invitation or can't make it to Mountain View, CA, Google will live-stream the event on YouTube.

FACEBOOK MOST SEARCHED TERM AND VISITED SITE OF 2010

Social networking juggernaut Facebook was the most-searched term and most-visited website of 2010, according to Experian Hitwise. Facebook, which was the most searched term in 2009 as well, actually appears four times, in one way or another, on Hitwise’s top ten list; facebook login, facebook.com, and www.facebook.com ranked second, sixth, and ninth respectively. The social network’s site also accounted for 8.93% of all U.S. visits between January and November of 2010 — Experian does note that a combination of all Google-owned properties totals 9.85% of all U.S. page visits during the same period. Facebook beat out Google, Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo!, and Youtube who came in second, third, fourth, and fifth respectively. [Experian Hitwise via BGR]

GOOGLE TO LAUNCH 'TEACH PARENTS TECH' SITE

Just in time for the holidays, Google is launching a new site on YouTube...Teach Parents Tech. The name is a bit misleading since it really is a video site for those that need help understanding and using technology. There are currently 54 videos, all less than one minute long. They cover topics from 'cut and paste' and 'how to attach a file to email' to more advanced functions like 'how to setup an email autoresponder'. There is even one to learn how to find cheap flights. All the videos are taught by Google employees and use easy to understand language.

The website TeachParentsTech.org is currently showing "Coming Soon..." and YouTube doesn't list the channel, you can access the site by clicking the link HERE. [Engadget]