Thompson On Hollywood: Harry Potter: It's on Google Video, Along with Hairspray

July 17, 2007

Harry Potter: It's on Google Video, Along with Hairspray

Not only has the last Harry Potter book The Deathly Hallows been leaked, the movie's already online:

One of my colleagues passed on this alert from the National Legal and Policy Center:

Yesterday afternoon, the National Legal and Policy Center (NLPC) discovered full-length versions of the new Harry Potter movie, the latest installation of the Die Hard series, and Hairspray -- not slated for release until later this week - posted on Google Video. Following reports noting the apparently pirated movies, the films were removed, though Die Hard has since reappeared posted in two parts.
In an ongoing observation of Google Video's lackadaisical approach to screening for pirated content, the NLPC also released its second "Top 50" list today of full length movies, television shows and music concerts hosted on Google Video.

Th NLPC's full release is on the jump:

(Falls Church, VA) Today, the National Legal & Policy Center (NLPC) released new evidence of apparently pirated recent movies being hosted on Google Video. Two new theatrical releases, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Live Free, Die Hard, as well as one movie not scheduled for theatrical release until July 20th (Hairspray) were discovered on Google Video yesterday afternoon.
After news stories surfaced about the apparently pirated movies being hosted on the popular video site, they were removed but two of them (Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix and Live Free, Die Hard) re-appeared on the site later in the afternoon under different file names. As of this morning, Live Free, Die Hard was still available in two parts on Google Video.

"Google's response that they are 'taking the lead' in offering 'state of the art tools and processes' to promptly remove infringing content is just plain nonsense," continued Boehm. "In just the past few days, we've found repeated uploads of Sicko, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Live Free, Die Hard on the video site. Google claims to have a sophisticated 'hash' system to block repeated uploads of the same infringing material, but if the repeated uploads of the movies we've found so far are any indication, video pirates are making a hash of Google's 'hash' technology.

In addition to discovering the recent movies still in theaters, NLPC released its second "Top 50" list of full length movies, television and cable programs and music concerts that are hosted on Google Video potentially without the copyright owner's knowledge or permission. In addition to the movies above, this week's list includes several other new popular movies dubbed into foreign languages such as Mission Impossible III (French dub), Wicker Man (Vietnamese dub), and Breaking and Entering starring Jude Law and Juliette Binoche (Russian dub).

"Everyday we are finding dozens of new movies on Google Video," said NLPC's Chairman Ken Boehm. "What's remarkable is that Google Video is apparently not just hosting movies produced here in the U.S., but hundreds of foreign films from India, Russia, the Middle East and Asia, as well as U.S. produced blockbusters that have been dubbed into foreign languages for an international audience. While we reiterate that it's difficult to know for sure whether all of the content is being hosted in violation of copyright laws, it doesn't take a Google mathematician to know that much of this content is being hosted without the copyright owner's knowledge or permission."

The quality of a few of the films is admittedly poor according to Boehm, but several others are surprisingly high quality versions including Michael Moore's Sicko which was the center of controversy last month when it was hosted on Google Video before its official theatrical release. The documentary which is still in theaters was quickly taken down in June but was available again on Google Video as of Sunday morning and had been hosted on the site for 9 days. The new Sicko upload had been viewed more than 85,000 times before it was apparently removed again Monday morning.

Additionally, of the Top 50 movies, cable programs and music concerts hosted by Google Video that were released by NLPC last week, a grand total of 1 (Warner Brothers' 300) had been removed from Google Video by Monday morning.

"For a company that wants to organize the world's information and boasts about the most sophisticated search technology in the world, we just find it remarkable that they can't seem to find and remove apparently copyrighted content hosted on their own servers," said Boehm. "Google is conveniently hiding behind the DMCA in requiring take down notices, but what good does it do when movies like Sicko and Live Free, Die Hard slip past their state of the art copyright protection system and appear over and over again on their site?"

The National Legal and Policy Center is a not-for-profit organization focused on ethics and accountability in public life and private business. The organization is a strong supporter of intellectual property rights and believes that enforceable property rights are the basis of any functioning market economy.