It is common knowledge that a plethora of copyrighted video content is easily available across the social web. Content owners, however irate, have not been able to clamp down on rampant piracy across the social web despite the full cooperation of social networking websites.

But MySpace and MTV Networks have adopted a more out-of-the-box approach and have tacitly embraced piracy: they now intend to benefit from pirated content.

MTV and MySpace will test a new technology this month that will automatically replace pirated content – uploaded by users – with ad-backed content that is perfectly legal. The innovative technology, which has been developed by Palo Alto-based startup Auditude, is based on the company’s patented video identification tool.

MTV’s conciliatory approach is a straw in the wind as more content providers will be tempted to follow its lead.

Image Credit: Cnet