YouTube’s only direct reference to the Hitler parodies was a hyperlink from the word “parody” in the blog post, but it’s clear given the timing that the Downfall takedowns were the reason YouTube spoke up. It wrote in general terms about its Content ID system, which allows copyright holders to request immediate takedowns based on their own standards.

We’ve got some analysis below, as well as two very meta Hitler parodies.

Parody-Makers Can Restore Their Videos

The disputes will likely stick, because it’s easy to argue that the Downfall videos fall into the parody category, and parodies are fair use of copyrighted content in the applicable laws. Some of the videos that were taken down have already been restored, including the “Hitler Orders DMCA Takedown” video (embedded below) — that’s the one YouTube linked in its blog post.

Embracing Free Publicity

Some, however, know that viral videos can be a form of flattery and free publicity. When asked about parodies users have made of his company’s own content, Nike VP of Digital Sport Stefan Olander told the YouTube Biz Blog: “Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery. We love when people engage and participate in the storytelling.” Even Downfall director Oliver Hirschbiegel told New York Magazine, “You couldn’t get a better compliment as a director.”

Oh, and there’s one more interesting tidbit: The Downfall takedowns took place on what would have been Hitler’s 121st birthday.

Hitler Orders DMCA Takedown

Hitler Reacts to Downfall Parody Removals

What is a core search? It is search on one of the five major search engines, including partner searches and cross-channel searches. Searches for mapping, local directory, and user-generated video sites that are not on the core domain of the five search engines are not included in the core search numbers.

Why is this significant?

If you look at core searches in March, then Google accounted for 10.0 billion searches, followed by Yahoo! (2.6 billion), Microsoft (1.8 billion), Ask (593 million) and AOL (380 million).

Get it? Got it? Good.

But if you look at “expanded searches,” then you get a very different picture of the search market.

What is an expanded search? It is a search on the top properties where search activity is observed. What are these top properties? Oh, YouTube, craigslist, eBay, Facebook.com, MapQuest, MySpace, and Amazon.

If you look at these top properties, Americans conducted 23.9 billion search queries in March 2010. That’s right. About 8.5 billion searches were conduct that month on properties that generally aren’t considered “search engines.”

And 3.7 billion of these expanded searches were conducted on YouTube, which is less than the 10.5 billion expanded searches conducted on Google, but more than the 2.7 billion expanded searches conducted on Yahoo!, or the 1.6 billion expanded searches conducted on Bing.

And the 664 million expanded searches conducted on craiglist, 659 million conducted on eBay, and 647 million conducted on Facebook.com are more than the 594 conducted on AOL.

So, definitions matter. Since YouTube, craigslist, eBay, Facebook.com, MapQuest, MySpace, and Amazon don’t crawl you website, who is in charge of digital asset optimization for these top properties?

Ask your SEO specialist or webmaster that question at your next marketing meeting. And if they tell you it’s not their job, then tell them that you’re thinking of taking some of their budget so that you can create a new position.

Let me know what happens next.

And it can ruin the sleep of cellphone executives everywhere.

Line2 gives your iPhone a second phone number — a second phone line, complete with its own contacts list, voice mail, and so on. The company behind it, Toktumi (get it?), imagines that you’ll distribute the Line2 number to business contacts, and your regular iPhone number to friends and family. Your second line can be an 800 number, if you wish, or you can transfer an existing number.

To that end, Toktumi offers, on its Web site, a raft of Google Voice-ish features that are intended to help a small businesses look bigger: call screening, Do Not Disturb hours and voice mail messages sent to you as e-mail. You can create an “automated attendant” —“Press 1 for sales,” “Press 2 for accounting,” and so on — that routes incoming calls to other phone numbers. Or, if you’re pretending to be a bigger business than you are, route them all to yourself.

The Line2 app is a carbon copy, a visual clone, of the iPhone’s own phone software. The dialing pad, your iPhone Contacts list, your recent calls list and visual voice mail all look just like the iPhone’s.

(Let’s pause for a moment here to blink, dumbfounded, at that point. Apple’s rules prohibit App Store programs that look or work too much like the iPhone’s own built-in apps. For example, Apple rejected the Google Voice app because, as Apple explained to the Federal Communications Commission, it works “by replacing the iPhone’s core mobile telephone functionality and Apple user interface with its own user interface for telephone calls.” That is exactly what Line2 does. Oh well—the Jobs works in mysterious ways.)

So you have a second line on your iPhone. But that’s not the best part.

Line2 also turns the iPhone into a dual-mode phone. That is, it can make and receive calls either using either the AT&T airwaves as usual, or — now this is the best part — over the Internet. Any time you’re in a wireless hot spot, Line2 places its calls over Wi-Fi instead of AT&T’s network.

That’s a game-changer. Where, after all, is cellphone reception generally the worst? Right — indoors. In your house or your office building, precisely where you have Wi-Fi. Line2 in Wi-Fi means rock-solid, confident reception indoors.

Line2 also runs on the iPod Touch. When you’re in a Wi-Fi hot spot, your Touch is now a full-blown cellphone, and you don’t owe AT&T a penny.

But wait, there’s more.

Turns out Wi-Fi calls don’t use up any AT&T minutes. You can talk all day long, without ever worrying about going over your monthly allotment of minutes. Wi-Fi calls are free forever.

Well, not quite free; Line2 service costs $15 a month (after a 30-day free trial).

But here’s one of those cases where spending more could save you money. If you’re in a Wi-Fi hot spot most of the time (at work, for example), that’s an awful lot of calling you can do in Wi-Fi — probably enough to downgrade your AT&T plan to one that gives you fewer minutes. If you’re on the 900-minute or unlimited plan ($90 or $100 a month), for example, you might be able to get away with the 450-minute plan ($70). Even with Line2’s fee, you’re saving $5 or $15 a month.

Line2 also lets you call overseas phone numbers for Skype-like rates: 2 to 5 cents a minute to most countries. (A full table of rates is available at toktumi.com.) As a handy globetrotters’ bonus, calls home to numbers in the United States from overseas hot spots are free.

All of these benefits come to you when you’re in a Wi-Fi hot spot, because your calls are carried by the Internet instead of by AT&T. Interestingly enough, though, Line2 can also make Internet calls even when you’re not in a hot spot.

It can, at your option, place calls over AT&T’s 3G data network, where it’s available. Every iPhone plan includes unlimited use of this 3G network — it’s how your iPhone sends e-mail and surfs the Web. So once again, Line2 calls don’t use up any of your monthly voice minutes.

Unfortunately, voice connections on the 3G network aren’t as strong and reliable as the voice or Wi-Fi methods. Cellular data networks aren’t made for seamless handoffs from cell tower to tower as you drive, for example — there’s not much need for it if you’re just doing e-mail and Web — so dropped calls are more likely. Fortunately, if you’re on a 3G data-network call and you walk into a hot spot, Line2 switches to the more reliable Wi-Fi network seamlessly, in midcall.

Whenever you do have an Internet connection — either Wi-Fi or a strong 3G area —you’re in for a startling treat. If you and your calling partner are both Line2 subscribers, Line2 kicks you into superhigh audio-quality mode (16-bit mode, as the techies call it).

Your calling partners sound as if they’re speaking right into the mike at an FM radio station. It’s almost too clear; you hear the other person’s breathing, lip smacks, clothing rustling and so on. After years of suffering through awful cellphone audio, it’s quite a revelation to hear what you’ve been missing.

Now, this all sounds wonderful, and Line2 generally is wonderful. But there’s room for improvement.

First, as you’ve no doubt already concluded, understanding Line2 is complicated. You have three different ways to make calls, each with pros and cons.

You miss a certain degree of refinement, too. The dialing pad doesn’t make touch-tone sounds as you tap the keys. There’s no Favorites list within the Line2 app. You can’t get or send text messages on your Line2 line. (The company says it will fix all this soon.)

There’s a faint hiss on Line2 calls, as if you’re on a long-distance call in 1970. The company says that it deliberately introduces this “comfort noise” to reassure you that you’re still connected, but it’s unnecessary. And sometimes there’s a voice delay of a half-second or so (of course, you sometimes get that on regular cellphone calls, too).

Finally, a note about incoming calls. If the Line2 app is open at the time, you’re connected via Wi-Fi, if available. If it’s not running, the call comes in through AT&T, so you lose the benefits of Wi-Fi calling. In short, until Apple blesses the iPhone with multitasking software, you have to leave Line2 open whenever you put the phone to sleep. That’s awkward.

Still, Line2 is the first app that can receive incoming calls via either Wi-Fi or cellular voice, so you get the call even if the app isn’t running. That’s one of several advantages that distinguish it from other voice-over-Internet apps like Skype and TruPhone.

Another example: If you’re on a Wi-Fi call using those other programs, and someone calls your regular iPhone number, your first call is unceremoniously disconnected. Line2, on the other hand, offers you the chance to decline the incoming call without losing your Wi-Fi call.

Those rival apps also lack Line2’s call-management features, visual voice mail and conference calling with up to 20 other people. And Line2 is the only app that gives you a choice of call methods for incoming and outgoing calls.

All of this should rattle cell industry executives, because let’s face it: the Internet tends to make things free. Cell carriers go through life hoping nobody notices the cellephant in the room: that once everybody starts making free calls over the Internet, it’s Game Over for the dollars-for-minutes model.

Line2, however, brings us one big step closer to that very future. It’s going to be a wild ride.

Gaming developer Storm8 has been sued for allegedly collecting phone numbers of iPhone users who downloaded the company’s popular games from the iTunes app store.

“The wireless telephone numbers of users’ phones are not used or necessary to play any of Storm8’s games, yet Storm8 has written the software for all its games in such a way that it automatically accesses, collects, and transmits the wireless telephone number of each iPhone user who downloads any Storm8 game,” states the lawsuit, filed on behalf of Lynwood, Wash. resident Michael Turner.

Turner alleges that Storm8’s surreptitious data collection violates the federal Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, as well as California state laws. He is seeking class-action status.

In late August, news reports surfaced alleging that Storm8’s apps for the iPhone had a “phone home” feature that transmitted users’ wireless numbers to the company. Storm8 offers games like “Vampires Live,” “Zombies Live” and “Rockstars Live” through Apple’s iTunes apps store. The company responded to the reports by saying its system had a “bug,” but that it had since been fixed.

Turner alleges in his lawsuit that he downloaded Storm8’s games in July and August, after which the company “harvested his wireless telephone number without notifying him or obtaining his consent.”

Storm8 didn’t respond to Online Media Daily’s request for comment.

Turner’s lawyer, Michael Aschenbrener of KamberEdelson, says his client’s main objective is to ensure that Storm8 is barred from collecting private data in the future. Storm8 says that it no longer gathers wireless numbers, but Aschenbrener argues that promise isn’t sufficient to protect consumers. “A public admission is not the same as a legal representation or legal injunction,” he says.

One potential hurdle for Turner is that the section of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act that he alleges was violated appears to require proof not only that computers were unlawfully accessed, but also that they were damaged. Aschenbrener says that Storm8 caused damage because it “impaired the integrity of the data stored on a protected computer.”

But some legal experts are not convinced. Venkat Balasubramani of Seattle says that while Storm8 allegedly engaged in some questionable practices, there might not be a legal remedy — especially because the data collected isn’t as sensitive as other types of information, like social security numbers or bank accounts. “iPhone numbers are not necessarily confidential,” he says. “Many people just give them out.”

The acquired Plum assets will become part of Nokia’s Services unit, according to the phone maker. “Plum will complement Nokia’s Social Location services,” a Nokia spokesperson said. Co-founded several years ago by serial entrepreneur Hans Peter Brøndmo and engineer Margaret Olsen as a social-bookmarking site, Plum has since sought to carve out a niche for itself in the saturated social networking market.

“Plum Groups is a service for those of us that want to share the more private parts of our lives with smaller groups of people we are close to such as family and friends,” Brøndmo said in a blog post on Friday. “It fills the need need [sic] for ‘private’ sharing and conversations.”

With Facebook presently leading the way, the future of mobile social network looks bright. This past year alone, Facebook’s mobile users tripled to 65 million worldwide. That means that about a quarter of its 250 million monthly users are now accessing the site through mobile devices.

Anxious to capture a share of that market, Nokia recently introduced a “Lifecasting” service that integrates its phones with Facebook. Added Brøndmo: “We can’t talk about what we will be doing as a part of Nokia yet … Rest assured that Plum Groups continues to operate unchanged.”

The privately held Plum presently employs about 10 people between its offices in Boston and San Francisco.

A native of Norway and an MIT graduate, Brøndmo has now successfully sold three startups he helped create. Prior to Plum, he sold an email marketing software-as-a-service company named Post Communications to Netcentives in 2000. Previously, Avid Technology acquired Brøndmo’s consumer-focused digital video editing service DiVA in 1993.

Plum is backed by Vulcan Capital and Levensohn Venture Partners.

The merger would give fourth-ranked carrier T-Mobile and third-largest Sprint a combined 78 million U.S. mobile customers and position the new entity as a more formidable competitor to Verizon Wireless and AT&T. At least one analyst welcomed the deal as beneficial to the entire wireless industry because it would mean less price competition.

“There’s just too many cooks in the kitchen in the U.S. wireless market right now, and the logical route to consolidation is a combination of Sprint and T-Mobile,” Craig Moffett, an analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. told Bloomberg. “This is an industry that is calling out for consolidation.”

But news of a possible T-Mobile-Sprint merger comes at a time when the government is looking broadly into competition in the wireless industry. The Federal Communications Commission last month began a formal inquiry into areas such as exclusive deals between handset makers and carriers, wireless billing practices and whether current conditions in the wireless market allow for new entrants.

The major carriers have opposed increased regulation in large part on the grounds that there’s already robust competition in the wireless market, with consumers have a choice of four or five providers in a given market. But the merger of two of the four biggest U.S. carriers would undercut that argument, leaving only three national operators.

Given the heightened scrutiny the wireless industry is already under in Washington, it doesn’t seem regulators or Congress would look favorably on such a deal that would further limit competition. So even if Wall Street is cheering the proposed match, don’t expect the deal to get a warm welcome in the capital if it comes to that.