1.“YouTube has no ethics, it's been created for the sole purpose of entertainment and money.” Do you agree?

Youtube, the popular site which provides free online viewing of videos, has become a hot topic for debate today. Every day, more and more videos are posted on Youtube to satisfy the millions of viewers that frequent the site.

There comes to a point that people start to ignore ethics and post inappropriate material, in order to satisfy such a large demand for new and innovative videos. It is this offensive material and irresponsible behavior that cause outrage.

Celebrities and people of authority are often victims of satires, criticism and paparazzi. Youtube is one place where one can find videos that criticise and deface these famous people. One such case is the video where a poster of the Thai King was vandalised and even stepped on. Such irresponsible and thoughtless behaviour time and again sparks off fury that lead to lawsuits and even political violence. What is worse is that Youtube is encouraging such behaviour by condoning such insensitive postings without any checks.

To make things worse, Youtube is also accused of copyright infringement. The site have been reported to have used material from companies such as Viacom without complying to the copyright laws and regulations. By illegally exhibiting the videos from other companies, Youtube has in fact promoted piracy. This lack of respect for intellectual property causes one to think twice about whether Youtube is ethical.

Offensive and vulgar clips are also rampant on Youtube. It is not uncommon to find clips containing material inappropriate for children. Despite this, Youtube has no form of censoring or viewer control.

What is saddening is that Youtube has not taken any action on any of its problems. In contrast, it continues to allow these problems worsen. Although viewers do tag videos that they deem inappropriate for removal, there is still no official checking system to prevent this continuous influx of unsuitable clips from entering the site.

Up till now, Youtube gives one the impression that it spares no thought to ethics. As long as people remain glued to the clips on the site and it continues to earn millions from advertising, the company will remain profit-centered and will not take action for such problems.