The popular video sharing Web site YouTube will begin testing video recognition technology in an effort to help remove pirated content.
The test will begin next month with hopes that the software, designed to recognize copyright content in videos, will be ready to roll out later this year, the company said. The testing will be in conjunction with partners Time Warner Inc and the Walt Disney Co.
The site's owner, Google Inc, has pledged to adopt some kind of solution to identify copyright content on its site so it can remove pirated content or negotiate with owners for a license.
While many of YouTube's videos are homegrown, copyright content from such partners as CBS and NBC also attracts viewers. Protecting those relationships is key for online video sites.
The importance of those relationships was highlighted in March, when Viacom Inc sued YouTube and Google for more than US$1 billion in a federal complaint alleging YouTube has not done enough to prevent its users from posting thousands of copyright clips to the site.
YouTube said it had started using audio recognition technology from Audible Magic Corp earlier this year to either block unauthorized content or pay royalties to the major record labels who have licensed their content to the site.
The company was already searching for a similar video fingerprinting technology when it was bought out by Google last October for US$1.65 billion.
"What we found was that no one had anything we felt was accurate enough and scalable enough for our needs," YouTube partner development director Chris Maxcy said on Tuesday.
YouTube engineers discovered that Google had been developing such video technology.
"The technology is built for maximum flexibility," he said. "It can be used to remove content once it is identified or used to license content where we pay a revenue share to our partners."
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique