Will content filters for videos provide peace of mind?

Television and movie studios aren't going to let Napster-like software steal their product. Instead, they are among the first to embrace content-identifying software that could protect their investment - the shows they produce. But that software may come at a price - a loss of users - for social sites.

by Kristina Knight

"[Content filters] enables different licensing models and the opportunity to protect your content,” said Dean Garfield, executive vice president of the Motion Picture Association of America (via The New York Times).

One way of identifying copyrighted clips is by digital fingerprinting. Once a clip is identified as copyrighted content, the software would keep it from going live on a site. The problem is that some video sites - including YouTube - haven't embraced the software yet.

YouTube says they are working on their own audio-fingerprinting software that will identify copyrighted clips and automatically delete them from their system. That software has not been released yet.

The question now will be whether those sharing video clips will remain on sites that have such software. The software sounds like a solution, but will the filters be able to handle the work? Some fear filters used by video-sharing sites may slow the time it takes to upload clips or may not be able to handle the amount of video uploaded every day, causing problems for the content owners. If that happens, the content owners may well head for greener pastures - without content filters - leaving some social networks empty of users.

Tags: copyright, online video, social networks, video content filters, video-sharing, YouTube