The news is a bit Googly today. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has finally unleashed its long-awaited Video Identification Program to fight pirates on YouTube while also performing a nifty end run around Microsoft Corp. (Nasdaq: MSFT), which currently dominates the advertising turf on Facebook, by unleashing an AdSense program designed specifically for Facebook's third-party app developers.
Google's announcement of its program to battle piracy and end the copyright fight has brought vacant space to the edge of many a seat. It has also ironically caused some pirate haters to engage in a rousing round of "Arrrrgh!"
The new system will, supposedly, prevent media companies' videos from being posted on YouTube Inc. without their permission. This can only work with cooperation from media companies who are expected to provide YouTube with copies of their copyrighted works so YouTube can in turn match them up with submitted videos and determine whether or not content is legally suitable for posting. If a video submission is copyrighted, the media companies can then decide whether to take it down or sell ads around it.
This seems fair, but some of the media moguls who've made a habit out of screaming, "Help! Pirates!" are now complaining that submitting all their work to YouTube is simply too much of a burden. Woe is me. I want all the cake, and I want to eat it, and I want to evolve technologically, but I want to write with rocks.
Note to media tycoons: These are your options. Take them or leave them. Leaving them means you will succumb to pirate invasion and devoting your life to suing people over copyright infringement... forever and ever. Amen.
Next up: While distracting the world with its diplomatic war on pirates, Google is also partaking in evil doings behind the scenes at Facebook. Allegedly.
Microsoft has a deal with Facebook which allows it to exclusively sell ads on Facebook pages in the U.S. However, the third-party applications on Facebook are created by independent developers and are open to receive advertising from whomever. So, of course, in swoops Google in an attempt to monopolize the raging third-party app scene. Google is recruiting developers with applications on Facebook to run AdSense ads while also working with advertisers who are creating their ads specifically for Facebook.
While this is legal as per the Facebook/Microsoft terms, it's also a wee bit evil and sneaky. Especially since Facebook's recent success is due in large (or in whole) part to the third-party applications. But, since it can't do anything worthwhile with its own social networking site, Google might as well mark up territory on someone else's, right? Yes. Because that's what bullies do.
My prediction is that Google soon changes its slogan from "Don't be evil" to "Foiled again, Microsoft."
Re: "But I can't help but feel
that marketed advertising will further stratify the world..."
This is a really interesting point. Maybe a little paranoid, which I can completely sympathize with. The bottom line with regard to our need to not become stratified or boxed in by personalized ads, as well as by all other content for that matter, is that users, viewers, readers need to go out there and get content and stumble upon ads themselves. Just like we can't rely on the local news or - oh I don't know - the New York Times - to give us everything we need to know, we can't just accept targeted ads and targeted information on the Web as our end all be all just because they're targeted at us. We need to look past what's up in our face and see what else exists just beyond our specially crafted horizons. If, of course, Google ends up dominating the world and online advertising as we know it, then we'll be stuck with nothing but targeted ads and information. At that point, I don't know, we'll have to go outside and look at billboards to get some fresh content, at least while they still last...
Google insists that they are here to make the "world a better place". But I don't know if
I like their version of utopia; one in which not a pixel of advertising
anything less than focused on your calculated interests and
lifestyle.
Not
that I can't see the usefulness; more cost-effective ads for companies
and less time spent by consumers viewing products that they will simply
never buy. But maybe, just maybe I want to know that there is osteoporosis
medication out there or what the latest must-have toddler toy is!
Actually,
that is not at all true. I don't want to spend thirty-seconds being
pitched to about either of those products. But I can't help but feel
that marketed advertising will further stratify the world in a time
where we can already listen to, watch and read news that is directly in
line with our personal perspectives (whether they be
political religious or otherwise) without ever being confronted with a
viewpoint that challenges ours. Not that the point of advertising is
to educate the masses but I think it makes us a slightly more aware
society when we are aware of what other people have, want and need.
And further, I can't help but wonder how adsense will be effected by those from differing income brackets.
Re: "
I wonder when the Internet will be as populated with ads as magazines, TV, radio, etc."
This has to be where we're headed, because how else are any of these 2.0 startups with no revenue going to make any money over time? The only occasional difference with ads on the Web is they're sometimes not very intrusive. On Facebook, for example, most of the advertisements are infiltrated with the newsfeeds and updates on your friends (or "friends"). I wonder if this sort of stealth appearance makes them more or less effective. This non-intrusive method obviously does not apply to all Web-based ads. A lot of them are really irritating and in your face, and I'd hate to have to deal with that on an even stronger level.
The bottom line is that online Ads are the motherload and everyone is going after them like in the old times gold rush.
I wonder when the Internet will be as populated with ads as magazines, TV, radio, etc. Our broadband (forget dial-ups) connections will be mostly used to download ads and we will probably have very few content in a website surrounded by tons of ads.
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We're live on IE Radio with Naomi Baron, author of Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World, and professor of linguistics and language at American University.
Hey, IE Radio fans! We hope you're ready for another exciting interview. Today we're welcoming Naomi Baron, author of Always On: Language in an Online and Mobile World, and professor of linguistics and language at American University. Baron is joining us at 2:00 p.m. ET.
The Internet is making us stupid. No wait, the Internet is making us smart. Multi-tasking helps us consume more information... orrrr it reduces the amount of knowledge we can retain.
The Web has become the preferred spot for documenting personal flaws. With every online confession, Web users are crafting their detailed autobiographies and setting them free for the public's consuming pleasure.
Earlier this week, Facebook made a big fuss over the fact that it has allegedly registered its 500 millionth user. In an effort to celebrate, we here at Internet Evolution called for your Facebook Horror Stories. Hoo boy, was this going to be fun!
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Google is kind of like hydras fighting, each head representing a market sector. But Apple's combination of Flash avoidance and ad dependence may have created a cannibalization within its own purposes that will cause it to bite its own throat.
AT&T showed off lots of improvements to its IPTV service this week. The overall message: IP, Good! Cable, Bad! Phil predicts what it all means for the broadcast proletariat.
We do love our social networking, but, according to computer scientist Jaron Lanier, we may be diminishing ourselves when we join the hive. “May be? Ha!” says Mr. Cramer.
There's a public-policy war on copyright that nobody is winning, and inconsistencies in viewpoint and interpretation seem to be multiplying. We need to step back and think our policies over again, or we risk having a strategy that fails everyone.
Ultraviolet is an industry-wide attempt to standardize video content delivery across multiple platforms. Apart from the fact that it’s based in the cloud, relies on the DRM system, and isn’t backed by Apple… it sounds great!
The FCC's Sixth Broadband Report has a hidden secret. But here’s a hint: The regulatory body plans to regulate broadband as a telecommunications service.
Once defined by epic journeys, planning, and maps, the phrase "on the road" takes on new meaning in a digital age, where we can make all our decisions using our connected devices en route.
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