What happens when mobiles enter the YouTube era?

Stuart Corner
Tuesday, 28 October 2008 12:04

Opinion and Analysis

But, with Qik and the like, as Qik claims, "you can share with anyone and everyone what's going on anywhere and everywhere you go...an eyewitness, capture those first steps, or whip up your own streaming video blog."

It proudly boasts that "the Pope, Senator Barak Obama, Bono, and Steve Jobs are just a few of the notables to be streamed live to the web by Qik users in more than 150 countries," and that "presidential debate, interviews with comedian Dane Cook, the launch of Apple's new notebook computers, and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown's speech reacting to the global economic climate."

So we have the slightly disturbing prospect of footage of almost any event, anywhere in the world going live to the Web. For all to see, because there is almost certain to be someone with a cellphone and network coverage.

On the plus side this will make it extremely difficult for repressive regimes to censor and distort reporting of events such as natural disasters or manifestations of political unrest to cover up their inadequacies or repression (unless of course the engineer blocking of these services on their cellular networks).

On the downside, this technology will make privacy virtually non-existent. Anybody's activities in public, and not so public places could be instantly communicated to those with an interest (ie suspicious spouses) or the whole world.

It's the technology for the paparazzi of the future, and you can just imagine high prices being paid for live footage of celebrities in 'interesting' situations or company.

Qik says it will respond to and remove 'inappropriate content' but by that time the damage may already be done, and the content have escaped from its web site. And in many cases what might be considered 'inappropriate' or a breach of privacy will not be something easily determined by an outside observer.