Proposal Threatens Video-Sharing Web Sites

A proposal by the European Commission aimed at regulating Internet videos has most video-sharing Web sites and the British government up in arms.

If the commission’s proposal is adopted, all videos on Web sites and mobile phone services would be required to meet costly standards which could effectively end the ongoing Internet trend of video blogging, The Times of London reported.

Supposing you set up a Web site for your amateur rugby club, uploaded some images and added a link advertising your local sports shop, Britain’s Broadcasting Minister Shaun Woodward said in reference to the stringent proposal. You would then be a supplier of moving images and need to be licensed and comply with the regulations.

The paper said the British government has offered a compromise in the form of creating a new standard definition for what compromises simple Internet videos versus television, on which to base new online regulations.