As the increasing popularity of sites like YouTube, MySpace, Wikipedia and Second Life demonstrate, the new breed of online user is not content just to sit in front of the idiot box at a set time each week to be served up pap when and where elite content providers decide.

The global nature of the Internet has also made redundant the outmoded geographically-based content distribution system that the old media still clings to.

An Internet user in the Czech Republic can access the same content on YouTube at the same time as a user in the US. Why should TV shows be any different?

The lawsuit lodged by Viacom against YouTube does indeed pose a threat - but not to YouTube. Old media players like Viacom risk facing a backlash from the already huge army of YouTube supporters, not to mention Internet freedom activist groups such as Electronic Frontier Foundation.

There already appears to be an undercurrent of resentment building as is evidenced by a recent lawsuit lodged against Viacom in the US District Court in San Francisco. According to an Associated Press report, the lawsuit claims Viacom improperly asked YouTube to remove a parody of a Viacom show called The Colbert Report.

Whether the lawsuit against Viacom has merit or not, it illustrates that the newfound freedom of access to information and content provided by players such as YouTube and Google is something that Internet users are not going to give up easily. Those who try to stand in their way, such as Viacom, may find that they have bitten off more than they can chew.{moscomment}

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