Google tries to make YouTube less useful

So lately Google has been going after sites that allow you to "save" YouTube movies to your PC.

This is more than a bit silly, since you can always use one of many FireFox plugins to do the same job.

See, the problem is, if you can see and hear the media, you already have a copy.

This is why Digital Restrictions Management (DRM) can never, ever, ever, ever, ever, EVER work!

So, Google knows this, right?  I know that Google knows this.  There is no way that Google doesn't know this.  They are Google, and even though they're starting to slip a bit lately, they aren't stupid.

I mean, the shit is already being given away--why not just put a "download" button there so people can use it non-commercially?  Not having that button will not keep people from using it commercially, anyway.

It all must be part of an essential pander to the entertainment industry.  "Look, we are making an effort to satisfy you."

Personally, I believe Apple did the same thing back in the day when early iTunes music was all DRM'd up in their crappy format, which people promptly converted into actually useful mp3's.

The problem is that the media folks are just really, really dumb when it comes to technology.  You would think they wouldn't be, but quite obviously they are since they are still fighting this ridiculous battle 15+ years on.  They are very slow learners.

The only way Apple could get the music companies to sign on with iTunes was to promise them that they would put DRM on the music, "so nobody could copy it".

And of course, this didn't work, the customers complained, and eventually they started just selling the damned mp3's in the first place.

And it's worth noting that they do, today, make ass loads of money selling non-DRM'd mp3's.  Why they cannot make the connection to other media types is beyond me.

I really wish, though, that someone like Google would have the balls to stop pandering to those fools.  Let them take Google to court.  Google is way bigger than the entire entertainment industry, which is not nearly as big as people tend to think.  I mean, for once the plutocracy that is our U.S.A. court system could actually work to the advantage of all the people, permanently forcing Hollywood to work out how to live in the new world, instead of this long, slow, painful dipping into the cold water.

But no...Google would rather censor websites.

Not good.