For a while, this was the case on YouTube, too, but at much lower video quality. Now that the copyright battles are once again emerging, this is a huge test for video sharing by legal companies and entities such as YouTube.

But the piracy is likely to continue unabated, no matter how many times the relevant music and movie associations sue consumers who want to do what’s natural – share stuff with their friends.

The most important thing here is that we are having this battle at all. For years, video sharing was but a dream, with limited content and computing power to contend with. In 2007, it’s commonplace, both in legal and illegal areas, thanks to powerful computers, plentiful broadband in most developed countries (even if it can still be expensive in many countries).

Video online is firmly legitimized in 2007. Users legally sharing content will become legitimized, too. The battles we see being played out are a necessary, if unwelcome step in the direction to the future of video online, and a pointer to the companies that will control it, even though the Internet is supposed to be the great level playing field.

YouTube will play a very important part in this process, just as Viacom’s lawsuit is playing an important part in moving the whole debate forward and coming to a conclusion that hopefully satisfies all parties, while moving people from the illegal worlds to the legal world where content is plentiful and cheap, while ensuring content creators still get paid for their work. No-one ever said figuring all of this out would be easy, with Viacom’s lawsuit showing just how hard the battle will be fought.
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