Google Threatens Blog For Publishing Youtube Revenue Share Contract

From Valleywag:

Google’s lawyers usually busy themselves trying to defend their right to keep content online — so Google’s search engine can index it, of course. Odd, then, to see Stacey Wexler, litigation counsel for Google, send New York tech blog Silicon Alley Insider an email asking it to take down references to a YouTube advertising contract in a story about the video site’s new revenue-sharing program for ads sold by video creators. Odder still to see Silicon Alley Insider post the email to its site, then take it down (the site now displays an error where Wexler’s email once appeared, but the original post about YouTube remains online, and a reader has reposted the item in a comment). We’re puzzled about what, precisely, is so controversial about the YouTube revenue-sharing program. (Wexler claims the contract is confidential, but we don’t think that’s Silicon Alley Insider’s problem.) The contract reveals that Google will take 45 percent of ad revenues, with a minimum campaign budget of $10,000, unless otherwise negotiated. Read Wexler’s letter to Silicon Alley Insider, reproduced below, and the contract, embedded via DocStoc, and tell us which terms you think Google was most concerned about keeping private.