YouTube has created new tools to help clamp down on the posting of copyrighted materials without permission on the site. Dubbed "Video Identification", the tools "also give copyright owners the chance to leave their video on the service and to sell advertising around the content" according to this BBC article. Until now YouTube had no automated means of determining what is copyrighted and what is not, and relied on copyright owners to identify their works which would then be removed from the site. The new tools still rely on buy in from the owners, as they are required to provide copies of their works to be used for comparison by Video Identification, but at least it is a more proactive stance. YouTube is currently being sued by Viacom for allowing that companies copyrighted content to be viewed on the site.
