James Delahunty
22 Mar 2007 23:12
Microsoft Corp. has closed its Soapbox video sharing service to new users while the company attempts to improve anti-piracy measures on the site. Just like any other video sharing site, Soapbox immediately began to fill up with pirated video clips when the test version of the service was launched last month. No new subscribers will be allowed to sign up for access the site, but anybody who already holds an account can access the site.
Microsoft could have been faced with a dilemma of distributing legitimate videos for major content companies on one of its units, while on another there were thousands of unauthorized videos available for free. YouTube found itself the recipient of a billion dollar lawsuit courtesy of Viacom due to the thousands of video clips users have uploaded without permission.
Microsoft has licensed digital-fingerprinting technology from Audible Magic to help filter out unauthorized material. Adam Sohn, a director in Microsoft's online-services group, said that the temporary closure of Soapbox was not forced on Microsoft by its partners, but said that they were interested in how the company planned to clean up Soapbox.
"This software company is aligned very closely with the notion of intellectual-property rights," Sohn said. "We feel this is the right time to make these changes and stand up to do the right thing." Of course, Microsoft should give the uploaders of pirate content a big sloppy kiss for now, as the company can use this situation to greatly improve its relationship with content providers and make several of its competitors look bad.
Source:
News.com