Why Viacom's Fight With YouTube Threatens Web Innovation

In the YouTube-Viacom court case there's something important going on: Depending on how New York District Judge Louis Stanton rules, some of the fundamental basics of Internet law could get rewritten. Cases like Viacom's put principles such as safe harbor under threat - something that could alter the relationship between web sites and their users: Who owns a tweet? Who can say what on Facebook? Where does the line fall between virality and piracy? When does a service become responsible for what its users do? In a world where real-time, social web services are pushing the boundaries, a win for Viacom could endanger all sorts of innovation.