CYBERSPACE – A new report on TorrentFreak suggests the biggest platform for content piracy is not any of the usual tube site or torrent suspects. Instead, the elephant in the thievery room may be the original tube site itself: YouTube.

According to the report, “Google’s servers are increasingly being used as a hosting platform, by exploiting YouTube’s private publishing backdoor.”

One of the beauties of YouTube, which is owned by Google, is the platform allows anyone to upload and share videos for free. Bands, television shows, self-professed experts of all stripes, pet owners, Hollywood and all sorts of other people and companies use YouTube as a promotional vehicle or just for fun. The vast majority of YouTube videos are public.

However, YouTube also allows users to upload “private” videos that are not indexed by the site and therefore are not available for public viewing. While public videos are monitored by YouTube’s Content-ID system and are subject to takedown if they are suspected of infringing someone’s copyright, videos published privately do not appear to undergo the same monitoring process.

Although the public can’t see privately published YouTube videos, publishers receive a “private” link for each upload. The link allows them to share their hidden videos with only the people they want to see the content. The material is served directly from the GoogleVideo.com domain.

Porn isn’t allowed on YouTube, so private links are handy for adult content providers who don’t want to pay bandwidth fees to traditional hosts. According to TorrentFreak, “there are many adult sites that use [YouTube] as a hosting provider.”

It’s likely the process is a bit more complex than simply uploading private videos and snagging the links, but content pirates appear to be using YouTube’s hidden videos feature to serve — and monetize — stolen content by embedding GoogleVideo.com links on streaming websites. TorrentFreak noted such videos generate “millions of views per day.”

Pirated content hosted privately on YouTube’s servers can be removed using the process prescribed in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, but it’s difficult for content owners to demand takedown of infringing content they can’t see. Even when they do find illicit private uploads, YouTube’s removal process can take up to three weeks.