Google probably wants to stop all the headaches (lawsuits) that came with their acquisition of YouTube. Imagine acquiring buying something for $1.65 B and getting slapped with a lawsuit amounting to $1 B afterwards. Remember Viacom? Well, that’s what happened so it’s pretty much understandable why Google is just intent on developing an anti-piracy tool.

During a hearing of the Viacom vs. Google case, a Google attorney has cited that Google is indeed working on a tool that would foil piracy with video recognition. While schedule of implementation of this technology is still sketchy, it might be anywhere from September to the year’s end. As for how it works:

The video recognition technology will allow copyright owners to provide a digital fingerprint that within a minute or two will trigger a block from YouTube whenever someone tries to upload a copyright video without permission, the AP [Associated Press] reported.

I’m curious on how all of this will eventually pan out. One of the appeals of YouTube to the public is video piracy. While we all know it’s bad, there’s a real appeal to getting things for free. Google clarifies that this technology isn’t a filter that would block uploaders. It will be more of an automated flagging system. Oh well. That would mean that still, even for a short while, renegade videos will still get some Web time.

Via ComputerWorld