Earlier this month, Twentieth Century Fox was forced into the spotlight of the YouTube community when ECOtotal uploaded 4 pirated copies of Fox’s hit show “24.” Fox threatened Google to disclose the information [which will probably be no more than an avatar anyway].
Personally, I was a big fan of 24 and Bauer back in the early days, but had lost interest in the redundant plots and melodramatic sequences until this recent occurrence. How many times can disaster strike…really?! But all of a sudden, I have had an un-dieing urge to see these episodes that have sent shock waves through the media conglomerates…and I’m sure many other non-fans gained some interest. So really I believe Fox should be honored that 24 was hot enough to draw someone to bootleg it and risk prosecution.
But more than a begging us to take a second look at 24, this first high-profile pending litigation of Google/YouTube foreshadow numerous repeats unless Hollywood’s media conglomerates can learn to adapt to the shifting paradigms. I believe that the day of reckoning has come for the media giants…which I don’t think will be a bad thing. The days of premiers with high price tagged commercials will soon be long gone.
While I do think that the line between fraudulence and intellectual property will continue to be blurred, I doubt that arresting a broke college kid or career YouTuber will do little more than spawn backlash toward the network and fill YouTube will a barrage of parody videos. Many of the major media networks---as well as Hollywood---need to come up with a better strategy to dealing with web 2.0 than “whining to the principal.”
