Thing - 20 - Youtube

Ok. That was crude, but hilarious.

I like Youtube. So much of our culture is televised these days - having a searchable archive (even if the archive only lasts long enough for the Copyright Gestapo to have it closed back down) of things that you missed is an invaluable service to anyone who is trying to keep track of pop culture. There is simply *too much* programming on the hundreds and hundreds of channels these days for anyone to hope to catch it all, so the ability for somebody to send you the highlights of something important that was missed is wonderful. Look at all the politicians, for instance, that have been outed as being inconsistent liars due the Youtube's of the world. Of course, this is all the not-copyright-legal use.

Legally, Youtube allows you to shoot a video of you picking your nose and post it online. Yawn. Very little of the user-created content is actually useful - with the possible exceptions of the people that use the 'video reply' feature to respond with something meaningful.

The unintentional (wink wink) clipping service that Youtube etc provide are a beautiful example of copyright circumvention that directly benefits the people. The companies can complain about their rights all they want - but copyright was established in the first place to serve the common good.

If the copyright owners of the world ever manage to stamp out Youtube and its ilk, that will be a sad day for our shared culture.