Not surprisingly, YouTube won't defend users who upload copyrighted material, since doing so is contrary to its user agreement and policies; but what may suprise YouTube users is how willing it is to shift blame - onto its users - when such uploads occur. And it's apparently become very amenable to removing such material - by the tens of thousands.

When copyright holders have threatened legal action, YouTube has denied responsibility and encouraged the concerned parties to go after the users who uploaded the content instead, CNET reports. When Los-Angeles-based journalist Robert Tur sued YouTube, saying scenes he filmed during the 1992 LA riots were illegally uploaded to the site, YouTube advised him to pursue the person who uploaded the film, saying its policy is to release the user's information when it receives a valid subpoena.

And the site is also moving quickly to address less-litigious copyright-holder complaints. When the Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers recenty contacted YouTube claiming that nearly 30,000 copyrighted clips had been uploaded without written permission, all the clips were quickly removed. An official of the group is quoted by the New York Times as saying YouTube "quickly complied" with its request.

YouTube has become wildly popular mostly as a result of users who upload material, some of it copyrighted. If YouTube were to suddenly crack down on such abuses as well as shift all responsibility onto its users, a significant poriton of its faithful community could move elsewhere. The alternative, of course, is to confront more lawsuits - which Google, YouTube's new parent, isn't likely to tolerate.