Earthling

Note: The below is an archived entry from Earthling, formerly EarthLink's official blog. The blog itself has been decommissioned and is no longer updated, and comments are trackbacks are no longer accepted.

I was just searching for a video clip on YouTube.com when I saw something I haven't ever seen there before:

This video may contain content that is inappropriate for some users, as flagged by YouTube's user community.

To view this video, please verify you are 18 or older by logging in or signing up.

To my knowledge, neither the age verification nor the required login existed before just now.

So, what gives? We know that recently upon request by NBC they've been removing copyrighted material. Om Malik has suggested that their cache of copyrighted material is one of the main reasons for their overwhelming popularity to date. Are they now requiring that users who want to view "inappropriate content" register for an account? Is this to drive new registrations or protect the user? How are they determining what's appropriate and what's inappropriate? And do the age verification and content rating have anything to do with the copyrighted material crackdown?

Looking at their blog entry dated March 3, they have some new official partners:

You’re probably wondering about the MTV2 clip and “official partner” logo on our home page.

I wonder if bringing on new partners required that they clean up their act a little.