According to TechCruch, the new head of NBC Universal (GE) is going after YouTube (GOOG) for lacking proper filtering technology. But, YouTube is not doing it. Why?

The TechCrunch theory is that YouTube cannot afford to lose all its best content. But, maybe not. Most of the most viewed content on YouTube is actually user-created junk.

The networks and studios obviously get some benefit from YouTube views, in terms of PR. But, when full-length programming is pirated, it may cut into viewing.

What is not so obvious is whether YouTube actually has software that is sufficiently sophisticated to screen out copyrighted content.

It is odd that NBC, Viacom (VIA), and Google have all avoided showing any public proof that technology can solve the piracy problem. That would seem easy enough to do. Or not.

Douglas A. McIntyre