The exodus from YouTube

If you notice on your visits to YouTube that there seems to be exodus of fresh clips by name folks -- like Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart -- you'd be right. YouTube has been flushing copyrighted video clips (of, for instance, "The Comedy Show" and ""The Simpsons") off the site after recently receiving a 'hey, cease and desist' request via Comedy Central. It's a dicey business because YouTube is an immense word-of-mouth vehicle -- Colbert's savagely polite send-up of George Bush to his face got instant national exposure through YouTube. Here are two takes on the story, one from the NYTimes (registration required) and one from Slate, which explains why YouTube can still keep doing what it does -- so long as it takes a clip down quick-like after someone complains.