Quote from CNN.com

"YouTube forced to erase 30,000 video files
POSTED: 1258 GMT (2058 HKT), October 20, 2006

TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) -- Google's YouTube.com removed 29,549 video files from its popular Web site after receiving a demand from a group of Japanese media companies over copyright infringement, an industry group said on Friday.

The television, music and movie clips had been posted without the permission of copyright holders, the Tokyo-based Japan Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers said in a statement.

The group, which represents 23 media companies including TV networks and movie distributors, said it would ask YouTube to set up screening and other measures to block postings of unauthorized files. It also called on Internet users not to post video clips in violation of copyright laws.

YouTube, which serves more than 100 million videos a day on its free Web site, has drawn complaints from some copyright owners, as the site says it can't track which videos are pirated.

YouTube officials could not immediately be reached for comment."

So that's where my Miriam Makeba 'Pata Pata' song went.

It was bound to happen once Google got thier paws into YouTube.

Google's stock is not really rational. Their market value is soaring, 150 billion US. I've heard one guy suggest they will overtake Microsoft next year (280 billion market cap for Microsoft).

At the end of the day, Google gets its revenue from ad revenue. Those can be volatile. They just bought a site for $1.65 billion that holds all sorts of copyrighted material. Has Google addressed the issue of click fraud yet?

If the economy turns sour, Google is a $200 stock.