BayTSP to track piracy at YouTube, other video sites

BayTSP, a service that tracks file swappers for the big music labels and Hollywood studios, is set to begin testing a new audio and video fingerprinting technology to see whether it can hunt down copyright infringement at sites such as YouTube, Dailymotion, and Yahoo Video.

According to a statement issued late Monday night, BayTSP has partnered with Nippon Telephone and Telegraph Corporation (NTT). That company will combine its content-recognition engine with BayTSP's authentication platform, and the companies hope the tests will lead to the opening of a commercial service that will help content owners guard against piracy at user-generated sites.

The announcement didn't mention whether YouTube or the other video sites are taking part in the tests or how long they might last. The press release did, however, say that BayTSP's fingerprint library will be used "to determine whether user-generated content" at any of the sites "includes copyright infringing material."

"The goal of this trial is to roll out a video and audio fingerprinting service that will allow content owners to manage how their intellectual property is used worldwide," said BayTSP CEO Mark Ishikawa.

Google CEO Eric Schmidt said a year ago that YouTube was working on a filtering system that would render the copyright issue "moot." But that hasn't happened.

The No. 1 video-sharing site is full of pirated videos as Google engineers continue to work out the kinks in its filtering system.