And in 2006... Google...Buys...YouTube

Yesterday, Google bought YouTube for $1.65 billion.

The BBC coverage of the sale is fairly straightforward, while the NY Times article focuses on the paralells of unproven purchases during the dot-com boom that proved not to live up to their billing, like Yahoo's purchase of Geocities for in $3.6 billion in 1999.

YouTube will keep their corporate identity and staff, but integrate Google's search technology into the popular video site. Google Video will remain intact, probably just to limit an uproar from those who have already posted content there.

Along with the world's largest internet video site, Google may be acquiring a wave of legal headaches, as a significant portion of YouTube's content violates or at least skirts copyright law. YouTube recently made deals with several major media organizations to host copyrighted content, but users of new technology always seem to find every possible means of exploitation.