Well, it was fun while it lasted. YouTube started out as a freewheeling video anarchy that let us get acquainted with people like the Numma Numma Guy and the Star Wars kid. Plus, they provided even more music videos than MTV used to, in that distant time before MTV made a corporate decision to suck 24/7. But first the YouTube wussies began screening for political content, and now they’re dumping possibly copyrighted videos overboard like steerage passengers on the Titanic (as can be seen here. And YouTube will be hearing from Paramount’s lawyers in 3… 2… 1…).
How this will shake out is anyone’s guess, but right now YouTube is looking a lot less interesting than it did a month ago and Google is probably beginning to suspect that they paid $1.65 billion for the video version of Napster. The good people at Idolator have put together a eulogy for YouTube as it was, but such is the chaotic nature of these internet tubes that most of this content will likely be available elsewhere in a matter of days. It’s kind of like digital Whack-A-Mole.
