Science fiction writer Cory Doctorow continues to use his regular gig with The Guardian to rail against copyright. In particular, against video-sharing sites' efforts to filter content which belongs to others. He may be sincere in his feelings, but Doctorow makes a dishonest argument. He proclaims the problem with video copyright filtering is "it's all lies, wishful thinking and irresponsible promises." That nicely sums up Doctorow's own argument. YouTube and Microsoft don't need to police the entire Internet to be effective, for one. And while Doctorow may be willing to give up his rights, not every artist shares his view, nor will they appreciate Doctorow imposing them by fiat. Doctorow also claims that monitoring video uploads for copyrighted content is an invasion of privacy — which seems strange, because the users are submitting video to share it with others. Then again, Doctorow doesn't really need to make sense here. He just needs to cater to his rabid geek fanbase to sell science-fiction novels. That's the most rational argument of all. (Photo by Scott Beale / Laughing Squid)

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