Viacom Bloggers Keep Pirating Away

While Valleywag’s continued coverage of copyright violations at online properties owned by parent company Viacom have certainly warranted a few smirks, don’t expect the blogging minions at Comedy Central and VH1 to stop posting clips from wherever they can find them. The tolerance for non-commercial use and re-use of copyrighted material has long been standard operating procedure in “the biz,” and it’s likely to stay that way.

When I attended film school and later worked in a film production office, rights for material in finished works meant for public distribution were very carefully respected. Behind the scenes it was a different story. Myself and many others frequented the vendor tables on Canal Street in Manhattan for pirated copies of rough cuts, screeners and cams alongside Hong Kong classics which had yet to see their U.S. release.

Heavily degraded bootleg copies of the Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s “Jesus vs. Frosty” and Todd Hayne’s Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story (above) were symbols of insider status. Leakers and uploaders compete in much the same way today.

Seeing such stuff was a job perk accessible even to lowly interns and production assistants, and a requirement for ad agency coolhunters to stay ahead of the trends. Before web video was mainstream, it was made possible by cheap tapes and the postal service — with Macrovision’s anti-piracy technology as useless then as it is today. Maybe that’s why, in the words of one anonymous Viacom employee, “there was a collective eye roll” when departments were recently urged to clean up their act.

Another employee whom I emailed suggested that by continuing to post clips from YouTube they are in effect presenting continual evidence of Google’s malfeasance, but regardless, “maintaining a successful blog requires us to have the same resources as our competitors.” In other words, the machinations of their corporate parent won’t change what has been, and continues to be, accepted practice in the industry.