This is probably the most important Internet news item of the month and nobody is talking about it.
As I see it, it's more a PR gag than serious protection, mainly to improve their image after the more acute and serious problem, namely YouTube's ultimatum: grant us access to your videos for our paid premium services, or you get deleted altogether. I feel that the ultimate problem is ultimate of YouTube's and still barely someone bats an eye about it. At what are we watching when such things happen?
Agreed. But other than Wordpress, is any internet company doing anything to promote fair use? this is a big "first step" sort of move. and now with other video services starting to gain traction, there is a threat of competition to make this more than a fad.
I'm not sure how I feel about it though, since it is YouTube offering to help fight a symptom of YouTube's own content takedown system. They make it surprisingly easy to take down videos - the copyright claimer doesn't need to provide any proof. It's a good thing they're doing this, but I'd rather see them change their copyright claim system or to go into serious conversations with big media companies.