Ethics Newsline®

WASHINGTON
The ethical implications of ubiquitous digital video technology figured in two stories last week:

• Television, music, and movie producers, fretting about the ability of Web-savvy consumers to pirate intellectual property, have taken action against individuals who have posted material on video services such as YouTube. In one case, News Corp., the corporate parent of Fox TV, is seeking the identity of a YouTube subscriber known as “ECOtotal,” who allegedly uploaded episodes of the hit series “24″ to the video-sharing site, reports the computer publication MacWorld. According to the Times of London, the user is believed to be British, and is likely to be the target of a test case designed to “send a message” to other uploaders. According to BusinessWeek, YouTube’s owner, the search giant Google, faces a difficult decision: If it complies with News Corp.’s subpoena, it risks angering YouTube users, who want their identity protected, and alienating advertisers who are nervous already about associating their names with the site.
• Small, easily portable video cameras are changing the nature of politics in Virginia, reports the Washington Post. Democrats are trolling the halls of the state capitol looking to capture embarrassing moments for Republicans, and uploading them to YouTube or their blogs. While Democrats say they are attempting to expose GOP tactics to kill a minimum wage hike, Republicans say the video cameras are harmful tools. “It’s indicative of a culture of viciousness that is infecting these halls,” Vincent Callahan, Jr. (R-Fairfax), a member of the legislature since 1968, told the Post. “You are going to get shots of someone picking their nose and using it out of context in the fall election.”