Microsoft Soapbox Adds Content Filtering

Microsoft has re-launched its beta Soapbox video sharing service, adding automated content filtering tools to screen for copyright violations.

Microsoft has re-launched its Soapbox video sharing service, adding automatic content filtering tools designed to identify and screen out content which violates copyrights. The move puts Micrsoft’s video service on step ahead of YouTube, the Internet’s most widely used video sharing service, whose owner Google has been promising publishers better content filtering tools but has yet to deliver.

Microsoft is basing its content profiling on technology from Audible Magic, which analyzes the sound tracks of uploaded video content to see if they match known examples of copyrighted works. The accuracy of such automated filtering schemes have been questioned—they can sometimes be bypassed by adding additional audio or noise, accellerating or slowing audio, converting to a different format or resolution, etc.—so both users and media companies will no doubt be watching to see how effective Soapbox’s new system can be. Free speech advocates also note that such tagging systems may prevent distribution and upload of works whse use of copyrighted material falls strongly under fair use exceptions to copyright law, such as journalism and parody. The company says it is also deploying tools which help content owners quickly find and flag infringing video which might slip through filtering.

According to Microsoft, the new version of the Soapbox service no longer requires users to sign in to view videos, although sign-in is still required to upload, tag, rate, or comment on videos. The companmy says it has also been building out its infrastructure and encoding processes to improve performance.

Microsoft unveiled its Soapbox service in September 2006, and opened it to a public beta in February of 2007.