Google has been in a clash of the titans with Viacom because the latter's copyrighted content has been appearing on the Google-owned YouTube. Viacom -- which owns HBO, MTV, Comedy Central and others -- is seeking more than $1 billion in penalties from Google.

This move is in contrast to what Hulu.com is doing. Hulu sought the explicit approval from copyright holders and features on-demand network and feature film programming for free.

Viacom also got a judge to agree to give them personal information on all YouTube users who accessed their content. Clark thinks they are the Kings of Mean for this move. What do they hope to do by harassing individual consumers? Just be aware that if you get an oddball legal notice from Viacom, it may stem from this.

The whole episode is very reminiscent of the online piracy debacle in the music world. The music industry dropped the ball on that one, and the TV/film world is trying to learn from its mistakes.