How does YouTube make a stir over the world? The answer is the video sharing stage on the Internet. Due to the advance of technology in the 21st century, digital industries are paving a rapid way to channel all countries into a village globe. In the well-developed period, YouTube creates “a video sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips” (Wikipedia, 2005, para.1). Registered users can not only watch videos on the site, but also embed homemade videos to share over the world. With the popularity around the world, YouTube is also building an instant vessel to provide influential effects on the Internet. Following the powerful resources, meanwhile, it opens the disadvantages that cause a far-reaching cultural impact, becomes a helper to express the violent behavior, and infringes the copyright.
The first disadvantage to leap on the stage is the cultural effects. In “Governments target internet-phenomenon YouTube” the author states that since it was launched in 2005, the website has already been forbidden by a number of countries, among them China, Iran, Pakistan, Turkey, Burma and Brazil (para.7). Those countries, which maintain traditional culture or have communist governments, resist the freedom of speech that destroys that principle. Because Youtube contains various messages, it directly impacts the traditional concept, undermines the foundation of culture, and distorts people’s thought. China, for example, is a typical communist government which controls their citizens by banning critical theories to maintain the traditional authority. Also, if YouTube rapidly launches these provinces which have a strong religious belief, they will not receive the multicultural concept. How do we solve the problem? Following the governments’ policies to reduce the critical and religious content, it seems the best way to bridge the gap between government and culture.
The website, additionally, is an efficient way to spread violent videos over the world. Because there is not considerable verification in the uploading processes, users can easily embed their homemade records on the site. Due to the unsafe management, this disadvantage is boiling to the surface of the globe. With the global popularity, registered users can freely post crime video clips to share on the website. And the influence runs riot across every country. For example, according to E. Wyatt (2006), some U.S. army soldiers posted war videos on YouTube that were related the process of attacking Iraq, then it caused a huge stir around the world. Following this matter, YouTube became the helper to interrupt the peace of world. Besides, there are still many hurtful matters saturated with Internet that extend a number of serious effects to bruise all people, especially children. According to Charkes (2007), four high school students were charged by the Ossining N.Y. police last month, because police relied on a vital piece of evidence from YouTube, in which video images of the crime were posted by one of the teenagers after he used the camera on his cell phone to record the attack. To solve the violent problem, therefore, the responsibilities start by parents setting up reasonable rules concerning what their children can and can’t do online. YouTube, also, must strengthen the procedures forembedding contents and set serious policies with laws to shrink the number of criminal videos.
The last element, finally, is the copyright, which relates to intellectual property. If people do not recognize this problem, it will diminish the innovation in society. Following the advance of technology, users who upload unauthorized materials on the website are easily unaware of the rightholders’ permission. To prevent future troubles, YouTube signed the deals with some television and record companies to avoid the lawsuit. It also takes a few steps and precautions to educate users who embed any infringing contents on its website. Although YouTube has already made a deal with the main entertaining companies, it is still easy for users to embed sharing video clips, although they can not make sure they did not post infringing works on their blog or site. To solve the unauthorized behavior, the best way is to embed material from official channels, to show by their homemade videos, and offer some commentary or criticism that relates to it. “Many major rightholders, including CBS, have official YouTube channels that allow embedding” (Bailey, 2007, para.7).
Opponents of sharing videos on YouTube claim that it is unfair to ban the website in some countries, because it restricts people from deriving a gallery of multicultural knowledge from the site and losing the wonderful stage to show their ideas. In contrast, the argument does not illustrate the obvious purpose of governments to protect their citizens. When people absorb plentiful knowledge from YouTube, it still contains much pornography to pollute children’s spirituality. For example, there was a high school student who imitated a video on YouTube and participated in sexual abuse with his classmate. Moreover, to express their thought does not always have positive effects, because those contents maybe include critical words to bruise a country’s reputation. In Mexico, a university student made a series of funny videos that related to beliefs of religion, so it made a dent in hurt his country’s reputation. With these factors, YouTube still included some influencing effects.
In conclusion, with the multicultural impact, YouTube rapidly undermines the foundation of traditional culture and thought. With the violent factor, YouTube has become instant accessible to announce violent behavior and pollute children’s spirituality. With the copyright, it has slowly shrunk people’s efforts.
References
Bailey J. (2007, July 9). Copyright Risk in Embedding YouTube Clips. Blog Herald. Retrieved April 3, 2008, from http://www.blogherald.com/2007/07/09/the-copyright-risk-of-embedding- youtube-clips
Charkes J. S. (2008, March 9).YouTube Posting Leads to Arrests in an Assault. The New York Times. Retrieved April 16, 2008, from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/09/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/09tubewe.html
Fisher K. (2006, July 16). YouTube and the copyright cops: safe…for now? Ars Technica, LLC. Retrieved April 3, 2008, from http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/200060716-7273.html
Governments target internet-phenomenon YouTube (2008, March 11). BBC news. Retrieved March 20, 2008, from Lexis Nexis.Jardin X. (2008, March 16). Tibet: China blocks YouTube, protests spread, bloggers react. Boingboing. Retrieved April 16, 2008, from http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/16/tibet-china-blocks-y.html
Lohmann F. (2007, October 15). YouTube’s Copyright Filter: New Hurdle for Fair Use? Electronic Frontier Foundation. Retrieved April 3, 2008, from http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2007/10/youtubes-copyright-filter-new-hurdle-for-fair-use
Social impact of YouTube (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved April 3, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_impact_of_YouTube
YouTube (n.d.). Wikipedia. Retrieved April 03, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/You_Tube
Wyatt E. (2006, October 6). Anti-U.S. Attack Videos Spread on Web. The New York Times. Retrieved April 16, 2008, from http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/06/technology/06tube.html
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