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Months after promising tools that will help weed out copyrighted material on YouTube, Google today launched the beta of its YouTube Video Identification tool for pinpointing pirated content.
“Video Identification is the next step in a long list of content policies and tools that we have provided copyright owners so that they can more easily identify their content and manage how it is made available on YouTube,” wrote YouTube Product Manager David King in a blog post.
King said Video Identification will help copyright holders identify their works on YouTube, and choose whether to block, promote or monetize their videos if a copyright holder chooses to license their content.
The Video Identification tool comes after some scathing comments from critics concerned that Internet sites aren’t policing their content well enough.
For instance, the tool comes three weeks after National Legal and Policy Center Chairman Ken Boehm blasted Google for allowing some 300 instances of pirated content on Google Video.
The NLPC researched Google Video from Sept. 10 to Sept. 18 and found 300 cases of apparently copyrighted films, which logged more than 22 million views in the past year.
On Sept. 27, a Google spokesperson said the company would be rolling out an ID tool in the “not-too-distant future,” and this release qualifies. However, Google hasn’t said whether or not this same technology will be applied to Google Video.
But will it pass muster with industry experts? That’s the big question. Users can click here for more information and the sign-up form.