ReadWriteWeb

The Italian government is moving ahead with its plans to hold YouTube accountable for its users' copyright infringements. According to new regulations that have recently been proposed by the Italian government, YouTube would have to get a TV license to operate in Italy. Should Italy move ahead with this regulation, YouTube would have to follow the same rules and regulations as traditional broadcast channels. These new rules would eliminate the "safe harbor" rules that currently shield services like YouTube.

Just to put the numbers into perspective, with its recent earnings from entering the online movie rental business, YouTube couldn't even afford one minimum-wage, full-time employee. But it's not a bad start, nonetheless, and the best news may be for the filmmakers themselves.

When YouTube announced the move two weeks ago, we mused over whether or not people would be willing to pay for content, as is always the question. For a relatively quick, quiet test campaign, we would venture that YouTube certainly outpaced Newsday, with its 35 online subscribers.

Switzerland-base development and design firm Jilion recently launched a site demonstrating their latest project, SublimeVideo, an HTML5-based video player. Although not publicly available as of yet, this sleek, fast, and plug-in free video player shows off the potential of the upcoming web standard HTML5.

If you've been wondering what the future of web video looks like, look no further than here.

Both YouTube and the White House announced today that this year's State of the Union address will be broadcast on the YouTube channel Citizentube, as well as streamed live and broadcast to your iPhone. In addition to these Internet broadcasts, both announced that the average Joe or Jane Citizen would get a chance to ask the president some questions this time around, by way of a contest on Google Moderator.

Sounds like a great day for Internet democracy, right? We wonder if crowdsourcing is the way to get the hard-hitting, journalistic questions delivered to the president's doorstep or if it will turn into yet another Internet meme. And even if the right questions get asked, will the format result in just another rehearsed, prepackaged answer?

Last week, YouTube announced they will begin supporting the upcoming web standard HTML5 which allows videos to be viewed without an Adobe Flash plugin. Those who wanted to play around with the new HTML5-enabled website were directed to a separate experimental site called TestTube. However, noted the YouTube blog post, only Chrome, Safari, and IE users could give the new site a try. Firefox was notably absent from the list.

YouTube has announced an exclusive deal to broadcast live online the entire cricket season of the upstart Indian Premier League this year. "[This is] the largest and most extensive live streaming that we've ever done, I think that's ever been done on the internet before," Shailesh Rao, Managing Director, Google India said yesterday. The season will be shown everywhere around the world except inside the United States.

YouTube streaming live sporting events? That could really shake things up. The UK Guardian said today that the deal is "casting into doubt the value of British TV broadcast rights." Contrast this cricket deal with Major League Baseball's $110 per year online subscription service.

The Russian cop who went on YouTube and alleged rampant corruption throughout the police force has been arrested on fraud charges today, according to the Associated Press. We first reported on his story in November, when the videos first appears, and then again in December when the fraud charges were filed against him.

According to the AP report, Russian courts sanctioned his arrest today on charges of embezzling $800 while working as a narcotics officer.

YouTube just launched a streamlined video player and redesigned video pages. The new video pages give YouTube a more minimalist and streamlined look, with a stronger focus on the video. For now, these new features are opt-in only. It is not clear when Google plans to make this new design the default theme for YouTube.

So why do users keep expecting to consume it, reuse it, share it and store it without paying for it?

Let me explain: Someone, somewhere ends up putting out money for everything you do online, every piece of news you read, every Web app you use. It takes professionals and hardware across a gigantic industry to make these things work. In terms of overhead alone, content costs a lot. So why do some users always kick and scream at the first suggestion of paid content? Do you think content is worth paying for, and if so, what are you personally willing to pay?

YouTube just announced that it will begin supporting HTML5 video players this evening across many of the videos on the site. The feature isn't live yet but is expected to be within the next hour or two. If this test goes live site-wide, it will be a good thing for the web.

An HTML5 video player will allow videos to be viewed without Adobe's Flashplayer plug-in, videos will load faster and developers will be able to build all kinds of other intriguing features into a media delivery scheme based on the next version of HTML.
For now users will need to sign-up the HTML5 preview on Test Tube and they'll need to be using either Chrome, Safari or the Chrome frame in IE.

Starting this weekend, YouTube will be dipping its toe into the waters of paid content.

This behavior follows a trend we've noted in traditional media outlets. First, media mogul Rupert Murdoch said no more freebies for search engines, then the New York Times hinted (and today confirmed) that users would have to start paying for a certain amount of access to articles. Now, YouTube is partnering with the Sundance Film Festival and filmmakers to charge users around $5 to view a range of movies from the 2009 and 2010 festivals. It's still cheaper than a movie ticket - but is this a direction users will follow?

An early-morning decision by the U.S. Supreme court has blocked cameras from a California court room, reversing last week's decision to allow the delayed broadcast of the controversial trial on YouTube. The court is examining the constitutionality of Proposition 8, the same-sex marriage ban that was voted into law last year.

The trial was set to be the first of its kind, with its proceedings broadcast on a delay over YouTube. The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that the ban on its rebroadcast will be in place until at least Wednesday, to give the justices more time to consider the matter. The trial began this morning at 9 a.m. in San Francisco.

YouTube has come to define the era of online video, so let's take a look at their most popular videos of all time. We first did this list in August 2007, at which point Evolution of Dance by comedian Judson Laipply was number 1 with nearly 56 million views. The next update was September 2008, when Avril Lavigne's Girlfriend pop music video was number 1 with 103 million page views (although commenters argued it may have gamed the system).

How is Evolution of Dance doing now, given the influx of pop music and movie videos into YouTube? Not to mention all of those goofy comedic routines by teenagers and cutesy baby or animal videos. Let's check out the top YouTube videos of all time, as it stands today...

The controversial Proposition 8, same-sex marriage ban is back in California courts and this time around the trial proceedings are expected to be broadcast on YouTube.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports that a California judge ruled earlier today to broadcast the trial thanks to a pilot program approved last month. The program permits the "telecasting of selected nonjury civil trials" and could be a bold move for the government to further open up proceedings to the eyes of its citizens.

A year-end thank-you note from Hulu CEO Jason Kilar offered some statistics to show us just how much the nearly three-year-old service has grown.

Back in April, the service became one of the top three Internet video providers, alongside Google - which includes YouTube and Google Video - and Fox, according to comScore. Kilar includes a number of statistics in his note to show that the site has continued its climb in popularity during the rest of 2009.

Chances are that you are getting at least a few emails and IMs with links to YouTube videos every day. While watching these alone can be fun, Synchtube turns this into a far more social experience. Synchtube allows you to share and discuss a video in real time with up to four of your friends. The first person to enter the room controls the playback and also has the ability to change videos.

Remember the story of the Russian police officers who went on YouTube and recorded videos condemning rampant corruption throughout the police force? The most prominent among them, Major Alexey Dymovsky, has not only been fired from his job, this morning he had fraud charges filed against him for allegedly embezzling $800 while working as a narcotics officer. Dymovsky's public cry for help has been viewed almost one million times on YouTube.

Mark this down as an example of YouTube proving an effective way for whistle-blowers around the world to get the word out - but not necessarily to stay safe in doing so. It's long been hoped that easy online publishing would enable more people to challenge authoritarian governments - but it's not clear yet whether those governments care.

Almost in the immediate wake of Google's announcing short URLs (goo.gl) and Facebook experimenting with fb.me links, YouTube has made a gesture toward shorter web addresses, as well.

Today, the video site announced it's launching youtu.be links. They're not as short as the super-brief URLs users might see from bit.ly or is.gd because each one contains a unique ID for the video it links to. But this extra bit of information makes the URLs more useful for developers, too.

YouTube posted its year in review stats this morning and Susan Boyle's singing performance was listed as the most popular video of the year. That video was, in fact, almost four times as popular as numbers two through five - videos including David After the Dentist, that insipid wedding dance and the trailer for the vampire movie New Moon.

With more than 120 million views, Boyle's video demonstrates a lot of things about YouTube, now one of the world's largest search engines. It's an inspiring video that challenges expectations about gender and age with a story of personal triumph. It's also something that traditional media pulled off better than user generated content probably could have.

Excuse the pun, but while climate change isn't usually a hot topic during the winter months, a number of companies have released environmental resources in conjunction with this week's United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen. World leaders are currently convening in Copenhagen to tackle our toughest environmental issues and provide positive solutions to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions. Below are just some of the resources netizens can consult to learn about the issues.