Trouble ahead for YouTube?

But such efforts are doomed to failure given the wide variety of pirated materials and ways of avoiding detection, said Fleischer. The real issue is figuring out how to compensate for the performance, composition and master rights of video, he said.

"YouTube is trying to play ball, but the real show begins when the filter system breaks. That's when the real issues will come up," he said.

No one wanted to sue YouTube when it was a standalone company with no profits, but now that it has been acquired by Web giant Google, legal action is more likely, added Ramo.

The law does not require filters, but people are putting them in practice now, said Deutsch. "The question is will filters work, how effective will they be and will others follow suit in suing them," she said.

Panelists generally doubted that lawmakers will try to update copyright legislation as formulated by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). "If we opened up copyright law it might lead to more digital freedoms, but it also opens the door to DRM or other technology mandates," said Deutsch.

"I don't think you can pass a fair-use bill without throwing out the DMCA. It's a Gordian knot," said Whiteside.

"Every piece of information will move to the Internet including medical records and digital media, so the tools and policies we decide on have huge implications for how we work, live and vote," concluded Whiteside. "We need solutions that evolve with usage scenarios, and that's why I am staunchly opposed to government mandates," he said.