OUT-LAW News has honed in on an obscure story (picked up by The Register) involving YouTube and TinyTube, a company that encodes YouTube videos to make them viewable on mobile phones. Late last year, YouTube had asked the company to stop redistributing content, saying the encoding violated YouTube terms and conditions. By coincidence, the request came just days after YouTube announced its own mobile deal with Verizon.
TinyTube maintains it didn’t break YouTube’s rules; it believes the shutdown was due to the Verizon deal. “We were informed by YT their action was largely due to pressure from their new mobile partner, Verizon,” the company told OUT-LAW. In the interest of developing a working relationship with YouTube, TinyTube obliged, encouraged that it would lead to a commercial relationship. However YouTube, which declined to comment on the matter, blocked the company instead. “The move by YouTube could mark a shift in its attitudes in the wake of its October acquisition by Google,” the article concludes.