Google CEO Eric Schmidt had quite a bit to say at the National Association of Broadcasters conference, including some borderline trash talk toward companies like Microsoft and Viacom. But the message that seemed to steal the show was that of YouTube’s filtering system which is almost ready for prime time. Schmidt said the following:
“We are very close to turning it on. We are testing it with two or three partners now … In a few weeks it will be available for all.”
Of course, some are very skeptical after YouTube co-founder Chad Hurley previously claimed content filtering would be ready by the end of 2006. Big media already wasn’t happy about the whole situation and not keeping a promise hasn’t helped matters. Hence, Viacom’s pending lawsuit against Google for more than $1 billion over alleged copyright infringement on YouTube.
Schmidt is calling the new technology “claim your content” and explained how it will allow any legitimate copyright holder to register videos they’ve made. Once the original content is registered, the system will then identify copies uploaded onto YouTube and immediately filter them out.
As for the borderline trash talk…
Toward Viacom regarding the pending lawsuit:
“Ah Viacom. You’re either doing business with them or being sued by them…we chose the former, but ended up the latter.”
Toward Microsoft regarding anti-competitive issues with Google acquiring DoubleClick:
“Microsoft? Maybe they are well-practiced in their previous experience making these arguments, but it just doesn’t make sense. A more likely scenario is they were unhappy because they were competitors of ours.”