South Park on Soapbox

With YouTube increasingly in hot water for hosting pirated clips from media giants like Viacom, Microsoft's new Soapbox opened last week with much the same problem, reports MarketWatch.

And it's a problem that no video-sharing site has fully solved. Though MySpace is employing a host of filters designed to capture any attempts at uploading pirated material, it isn't foolproof.

Meanwhile a cursory review of Soapbox reveals clips from scores of shows produced by Viacom - from entire episodes of Comedy Central's popular satire "South Park" to clips of MTV's "Cribs."

Microsoft has said that the site is only in beta, and that glitches and kinks are still being worked out. "As a company that greatly values intellectual property, Microsoft is committed to ensuring that Soapbox respects the legitimate concerns of the entertainment industry," said Rob Bennett, general manager of MSN.