DMCA

The DMCA ruling is what is so far protecting YouTube from any of the copyright infringements that has been piling up against them. Blogger (disclosure: used for this blog) recently took down a "Facebook Secrets" blog that displayed the source code of Facebook. So - that being said, will people invoke the DMCA every time something goes up that is questionable and / or objectionable? Bolt.com couldn't continue to fight the battle with the DMCA with the mounting legal fees and is now officially dead.

Is an alternative Creative Commons? What's the difference between posting something to your own Web site versus posting to YouTube? Is there one? I think that the pending legislation around the DMCA is really going to change Web 2.0 and the direction that it goes.

My feelings? I think that copyright holders need to be more open and available with their intellectual property. My favorite example goes to the mash ups that were available when Lucas made some Star Wars clips available to fans. Zidane's head butt mash ups were the funniest thing I've ever seen, and probably did wonders for the sport that plays fourth (maybe fifth) here in the states.

It'll be interesting going forward and will change the models of a lot of businesses out there including Google and the other big digital players. We'll keep an eye on this space for you...