Porn Pirates Exploit YouTube 'Backdoor'

Porn pirates are reportedly using a known YouTube backdoor to store infringing material on Google's servers for free.

YouTube's strict Community Guidelines prohibits pornography or sexually explicit content, as well as copyright infringement. But some adult entertainment fans are skirting the rules.

According to TorrentFreak, savvy users upload content without publicly listing it on YouTube; instead, they use private links to embed clips elsewhere online. The tactic also circumvents safeguards like Content ID, which protects copyright-protected material.

"There is a big loophole on YouTube," California-based adult filmmaker Dreamroom Productions told TorrentFreak. Pirates "take advantage" of sharing settings to upload videos "and freely use them on third-party websites to earn profits," the firm said, suggesting that removal can take up to three weeks.

While videos default to public viewing, users can change privacy settings to unlisted (video does not appear in search results but a link can be shared with anyone) or private (video does not appear in search results but a link can be shared with up to 50 account holders).

Only public and unlisted videos, however, can be embedded online—contrary to TorrentFreak's coverage. Which means porn pirates must be using some other trick to stream media without permission.

"YouTube has clear policies that prohibit sexually explicit content like pornography," a company spokesman said in a statement to PCMag. "We have teams around the world that review flagged content, regardless of whether it is private, public, or unlisted. Content that violates our policies is quickly removed."

Google's Transparency Report lists all takedown requests from content owners: To date, it has received more than 49,000 removal demands related to the GoogleVideo.com domain—only 9 percent of which have been withdrawn.

Source: pcmag.com

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