Youtube and copyright infringement

[B33R]

I have a couple of questions about YouTube and copyrights

YouTube (YT) says it's their users fault for uploading copywritten material. Can they not be prosecuted for hosting the material? Can they legally put the blame onto the user who uploaded it and remain totally unaccountable even though they host it?

Secondly, if I embed a video from YT (which I believe is hosted on YT illegally) onto my site, would I be accountable for "distributing" copywritten material or be otherwise liable for breaching the copyright, even though the material is on YT's site, YT's hosting and was uploaded by a YT user?
The only thing I would've done would be to embed a YT clip onto my site.

Is there any precedents in the latter example?

I know the safest way would be to link directly to YT or not become involved at all but I'm just curious.

 

[labrocca]

DMCA gives hosts and isp's amnesty in certain cases. It's really NOT their fault if members abuse their TOS. Unless like Napster it can be proven that their system was designed to infringe (which it's not) then they are OK. Most people upload funny home videos of themselves and friends. I rarely see copyrighted stuff. If something is reported they quickly delete it.

It's the same with places like Ebay. You can't sue them for being a provider but they will gladly take down any auction that's not legal.

That being stated...if you place copyrighted material on your site you may not be considered exempt the same as a host or isp. You are purposely adding the material to your site and you should be aware of it's copyright. Doubtful you will have too much trouble but why add copyrighted material to your site when it's already at Youtube and you can simply link it without problems.