Behind the Deletion of 30,000 Japanese videos from Youtube

You may have heard that YouTube deleted 30,000 Japanese videos from YouTube on the request of the powerful music industry group JASRAC. Well, here’s an article that goes into more detail on the efforts to quash the online sharing of copyrighted content.

Translated/paraphrased (translaphased?) from Nikkei (via 2ch):

Behind the Scenes of the “Request to Delete 30,000 Files” from Youtube – The 2nd Act May be to “Eliminate Anonymity”

Even if you did not receive complaints after putting another person’s music on your blog without permission in the 5 days following Oct 2, you should not rest at ease. That is because JASRAC’s monitoring team was constantly connected to American video posting site YouTube from 9 to 5 during that period. We have taken a look at the “Week of Strengthening Measures Against Youtube” during which 23 copyright-holding companies and groups launched a concentrated attack, making simultaneous requests for deletion.

“30,000 videos in 5 days” the Limit

JASRAC was responsible for about 10% of the 30,000 deleted videos. It’s a tiny number compared to the tens of thousands of videos per day on YouTube, but even regularly having a special person in charge of going around various sites on the Internet and monitoring copyright infringements, we were told in what was close to a scream, “Deletion procedures are an extremely minute process. Anything more than that is impossible.”

On YouTube, there is a web site, which regular users cannot see, that is reserved for rightsholders for them to request that videos be deleted. They search for videos by keyword and place a check next to videos subject to the request. Once the deletion request is sent to YouTube, most of the time deletion is completed the next day.

These requests seem simple, but they are rather work intensive. The page is of course in English. Since the name of the song used in the video is not displayed, there are times when it is impossible to judge whether the video actually constitutes a violation unless it is watched to the end. They cannot neglect to listen to even one part of the song.

If they hear even a little bit, they play Name That Tune to immediately determine what song it is, and check whether it is a song managed by JASRAC. In anticipation of complaints from posters of “why did you delete it without permission,” there is also a need to record the song title etc in a deletion record database as “proof” of a rights violation.

There are also rightsholders who communicate by e-mail and fax, unaware of the existence of a page for rightsholders’ deletion requests. JASRAC can deal with it to an extent because the association originally has people in charge of monitoring the whole site, but the burden becomes too large for rightsholders under the method where “rightsholders find the videos themselves and make requests on their own responsibility.

In reality, if you look at the YouTube site now, there are still many Japanese TV programs and animation videos left. Not only are there videos posted after the “week of strengthening,” but there are also many leftover posted a few months ago that were not deleted. In addition to videos that JASRAC “did not get to,” there is also the situation in which it would not be proper for TV stations etc themselves to delete videos for which they do not hold direct rights.

JASRAC’s call to action

JASRAC learned of YouTube’s existence early this year. They noticed it after an average person reported it to them. “Just what kind of site is this?” they asked. As they looked into it, they learned that there was a very large number of Japanese users and content. They began the deletion requests in June.

As YouTube’s visibility rose, deletion requests from people in the music industry and authors started to pour in to JASRAC. In June, the association sent lists to YouTube at a pace of once every 2 days. However, they could not put more than a few dozen videos on the list at once, and the person in charge felt from the beginning like it was a drop in the bucket.

JASRAC, thinking that other companies must be having the same problem, contacted TV stations and others and held an exchange of opinions for the first time on Sept 8. There, one proposed measure was the “mass deletion request” carried out recently.

Participating members grew in number since the initial call to action. Yahoo! Japan is one of those companies. That is because some of the content in its video service made its way onto YouTube. At the exchange of opinions, there were reportedly scenes where advice was sought for measures against YouTube from Yahoo! as a similar “Internet company.”

However, it seems like the companies have no intention to indefinitely continue playing cat and mouse with deletion requests. In the second round of YouTube countermeasures, the group of companies has begun considering dramatically stronger demands, including “eliminating poster anonymity.”

Group will make direct appeals, “still collecting information” for legal action in second round of countermeasures

On Oct 24, the week after the announcement of the mass deletion request, a written draft of a “joint petition” to be submitted to YouTube as the second round of countermeasures was distributed by JASRAC to participants in the “week of strengthened measures.” In the document, a requests are listed such as “Change listing of videos from ‘delete after listing’ to ‘prior inspection,'” “eliminate anonymity of posters,” and “simplify deletion request process.”

Fumiyuki Asakura, head of YouTube’s Network Section who dealt with the mass deletion on the working level and works at the office that negotiates with JASRAC, says, “This mass deletion request was nothing but an expression of intent. Their true aims are this joint petition.” Items considered for inclusion in the petition include “extreme” (Asakura) proposals such as “Cut off access to YouTube from Japan until the problem is solved” (tr: kind of like how Japanese video sites cut off all access from abroad!). Their plan is to gather together opinions from each company and submit the letter jointly within the year.

However, this letter won’t leave the realm of “request.” That’s because under U.S. law, site managers are fine as long as they respond to deletion requests within a certain amount of time (as explained here), making it tough to take legal action. It looks like among the members there are those of the opinion that they should consider legal measures depending on how YouTube responds to the requests. JASRAC says they are at the stage of collecting information as to whether or not taking legal measures is possible.

They are also considering whether to address the letter to Google, which reccently acquired YouTube for 200 billion yen. In the coverage of the acquisition, there were some among Japanese rightsholders who got emotional, saying things like, “What in the world are they doing placing such a value on a company that gets its customers by posting our content on its site without permission,” and “This can’t be a proper business, with only illegal content!”

However, the original concept behind YouTube is, true to its name, for posters to share original creations. Based on the fact that it’s the poster’s fault for posting videos that it unambiguously does not have permission for, Asakura says, “If we disclose users’ personal information, it would be one choice to question the responsibility of the individual posters.” That is because in Japan, they could have a legal basis under the Copyright Law in “right to enable transmission” that bans the sharing of copyright-infringing content with other people.

The YouTube model “would not work” in Japan?

Even in Japan, there are 10 or so video posting sites that JASRAC monitors. However, since there are the right to enable transmission as well as cases in which peer-to-peer file exchange services’ “file logs” were suspended, Asakura is emphatic: “There could be no Japanese version of YouTube.” Among businesses in Japan, there are sites that allow posting without prior inspection, and [the JASRAC-led group] has reportedly sent a letter of opinion to one company and is awaiting a reply.

However, not even the consistently hardline JASRAC denies the possibilities of new technology. At fault are not the video posting sites themselves, but the system in which illegal contents never cease, and the users themselves who post the illegal content. Asakura: “They have no intention of crushing YouTube.”

As some TV stations and recording companies in the US are moving to tie up with YouTube, it looks like Japan’s content businesses are stuck in their old shells and denying the evolution of technology. That said, if illegal contents are given a free pass, even if there is no real harm, for “legal” style services, it may lead to an “opportunity loss” if viewers are stolen away. How should YouTube react to its copyright issues? In our special feature, we will get to the bottom of this in a series of articles, with columns and interviews with the experts.