YouTube community fears they'll be pushed out after Google acquisition of the video Web site

After landing a $1.65 billion deal to sell their video sharing Web site to Google Inc., the co-founders of YouTube did the obvious: They posted a goofy, unrehearsed video, thanking the YouTube community for its support.

But the cameraman poses a question to Chad Hurley, 29, and Steve Chen, 27, that goes unanswered: "What does (the deal) mean for the user community?"

That's what thousands of YouTubers are wondering. Will YouTube 2.0 still have room for the bedroom video makers that created the site's billion-dollar identity? Or will the little guy be crowded out by advertising and corporate involvement?

"We could have never built this without the community. That is what we're fiercely protecting," Julie Supan, the senior director of marketing at YouTube, said Wednesday.

The YouTube community is also very protective including Richard Stern, better known as LazyDork, a rapping, dancing, opinion-spewing defender of the site's grass-roots nature.

"The Wild West feel of YouTube is already slipping away, and within a few weeks it likely will be gone altogether," says Stern.

YouTube isn't as lawless as the old West, but it has served as the gateway to a new online frontier. Since its start in February 2005, YouTube has become the pre-eminent site for Internet video, drawing a worldwide audience of 72.1 million in August...

The future of YouTube has been much speculated upon practically since its inception and doomsayers have been a constant. In particular, Mark Cuban, the outspoken dot-com billionaire and owner of the Dallas Mavericks pro basketball team, has blogged that copyright issues will eventually ruin YouTube just as they did Napster.

Legal experts generally dispute that view since YouTube has consistently relied on the safe harbor provision of the Digital Millenium Copyright Act of 1998 as a shield against lawsuits. However, that doesn't mean individual users who post copyrighted material won't be sued. YouTube explicitly states that such users are liable.

"We may see fewer postings of copyrighted works, but only if the content providers start suing YouTube users," says Jennifer Rothman, an associate professor of law at Washington University in St. Louis. "And I suspect they may do that because they're not going to be able to go after YouTube direct."

•	YouTube community fears they'll be pushed out after Google acquisition of the video Web site BUSINESS NEWS Associated Press, Wednesday, Oct. 11, 2006 Byline: Jake Coyle, AP Entertainment Writer

Story also ran in 85 others:  Globe and Mail (Canada), Canoe.ca (Canada), CBC Saskatchewan (Canada), CTV.ca (Canada), 680 News (Canada), News1130 (Canada), Hemscott (UK), Pierceland Herald (Canada), Ottawa Recorder (Canada), The Westfall Weekly News (Canada), Hinesberg Journal (Canada), Leading The Charge (Australia), CBS News (NY), FOX News, MSNBC, MSN Money, Forbes, BusinessWeek, USA Today, Miami Herald, San Francisco Chronicle, Houston Chronicle, Kansas City Star, All Headline News, First Coast News (FL), San Mateo Daily Journal (CA), Bismarck Tribune (ND), Munster Times (IN), Wyoming News, Niagara Gazette (NY), Mankato Free Press (MN), The Columbian (WA), San Diego Union Tribune (CA), San Luis Obispo Tribune (CA), Press-Enterprise (CA), San Jose Mercury News (CA), Contra Costa Times (CA), Monterey County Herald (CA), Columbus Ledger-Enquirer (GA). Charlotte Observer (NC), Akron Beacon Journal (OH), MyFox Philadelphia (PA), Dunton Springs Evening Post (CO), MyFox WGHP (NC), Worcester Telegram (MA), New Hope Courier (OK), Biloxi Sun Herald (MS), Pioneer Times-Journal (NM), Prescott Herald (AZ), Sarasota Herald-Tribune (FL), White Rock Reviewer (SD), Bradenton Herald (FL), The Benton Crier (IA), Sky Valley Journal, Monterey County Herald (CA), Pioneer Press (MN), Jordan Falls News (IA), Herald News Daily (ND), Gainesville Sun (FL), Fort Worth Star Telegram (TX), Centre Daily Times (PA), Wilkes Barre Times-Leader (PA), Macon Telegraph (GA), Myrtle Beach Sun News (SC), Town Hall (DC), Seattle Post Intelligencer, Belleville News-Democrat (IL), Ocala.com (FL), AZ Central.com, NewsMax.com (FL), WRAL.com (NC), Kentucky.com, phillyBurbs.com (PA), Asianjournal.com (CA), CIO Today (CA), Top Tech News (CA), NewsFactor Network (CA), KTIV (IA), Fox 28 (IN), WREX-TV (IL), KTTC (MN), KTTC (MN), KFMB (CA), WJLA (DC), KSL-TV (UT) and WTOP (DC)