Bloodless Coup

Ever wonder about when Google would hit its "Starbucks moment"?

Hear that? That's the sound of techies and hipsters doing a 180 in their feelings about Google. And why might that be? First for fucking up Blogger and now for turning YouTube into Their(corporate)Tube:

And a very Happy Thanksgiving to you too, Mr. Stewart.

​ ​​​​I got notice this morning that Comedy Central had YouTube remove a video we put up of a segment the Daily Show had done on the Mark Foley scandal. In a strictly legal sense, I get the concern. In a business sense, and a PR sense, it's obnoxious and counterproductive. In any case, I went to log in to my YouTube account to delete any other Comedy Central videos I had, and what do you know, I get a notice that my account has been permanently closed.



Again, this isn't about the law - Google and YouTube may - and I say "may" - have a valid legal argument about anyone posting videos that are longer than, say, 30 seconds. But Google and YouTube need to think about the service they are and the service they will be after they institute this new draconian clamp-down.

First, does it really hurt Comedy Central when people repost snippets of their show? I don't watch less Jon Stewart because I can catch some of the segments on YouTube. I watch more Jon Stewart as a result. YouTube, and the blogs, have been major supporters of Jon Stewart, and I find it hard to believe that that support hasn't helped him and his show - you can't believe how many Jon Stewart fans I met in France this past summer - and just as importantly, I find it hard to believe that we haven't helped get his political message out to the masses (and as much as Stewart likes to say his show is only about comedy, it's clearly not, otherwise he wouldn't be interviewing Nobel Laureates and doing segments on books about Iran).

Again, I get the strictly legal argument, but I think it's rude, and just as importantly, a bad business move. And having my account closed is beyond obnoxious. It not only calls into question Comedy Central's appreciation of what the blogs and the larger liberal audience has done for their network, but it also calls into question just what Google is doing to YouTube.

Sounds like Comedy Central is on the bah humbug bandwagon too.