Europe Takes a Stab at the Multimedia Revolution

Sometimes, a regulatory idea comes along that is so stupid and offensive, one assumes it couldn’t actually be real. “Who could possibly think this is a good idea?” one asks. This morning it’s deja vu all over again with news that the EU wants to force anyone posting video online to be licensed as if they were a television broadcast network. That means that CNN International and your favorite video blogger are now looking at the same regulatory compliance burden. Taking video clips with your cell phone and putting them on YouTube or MySpace, by this defintion, makes you an “online broadcaster.”

Fortunately, for the moment, only Slovakia has stepped forward to officially embrace this proposal. On that note, Slovakian video bloggers beware. Let’s just make sure no one tells the FCC about this. They may not go this far themselves, but knowing that foreign regulators have gone completely insane might tempt them to do something just kind of crazy.