YouTube Now Owns Your Content

The golden age of YouTube is over. The popular video sharing service just modified their terms and now many YouTube users are contemplating switching to competition sites like REVVER.

According to their new terms, anything you upload to YouTube becomes the property of YouTube. This means they can now do anything from sell your videos (Best of YouTube; DVD Vol. 1) to use them in commercials and advertising.

Here’s a scary excerpt from the new YouTube terms:

“…by submitting the User Submissions to YouTube, you hereby grant YouTube a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the User Submissions in connection with the YouTube Website and YouTube’s (and its successor’s) business… in any media formats and through any media channels.”

The little bit about “YouTube and its successor’s” means that anyone who buys YouTube will inherit the content as well. YouTube is currently estimated to be worth $1 Billion dollars. Our sister blog, e-Fuze, suggests you “think twice” before you upload something important to YouTube and always read the fine print.

If you want a website that is kind enough to actually let you own your own videos, check out Revver. They have the same video hosting features as YouTube and they will also give you 20% of any ad revenue made from your videos on their site. When people click and watch, you get paid.

Screw you YouTube. It’s time to download your videos from YouTube and upload them to Revver.

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This entry was posted on Thursday, July 27th, 2006 at 12:18 am and is filed under Internet Services. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.