Greetings. When some moronic Domino's Pizza employees shot videos of themselves doing mostly unmentionable things to pizza ingredients, then the results ended up on YouTube, the giant pizza chain was launched into a public relations nightmare of truly deep dish proportions.

What's notable for us isn't the disgusting antics themselves, or the question of whether or not the "modified" food products ever actually went out to customers. What's really interesting is yet another example of the immense asymmetric impact that such videos can have, and their rapid dissemination around the world, despite a version of the video being pulled from YouTube after a copyright (!) claim by one of the perpetrators (I do find this particular instance of DMCA invocation to be rather amusing).

However, the videos in their various nauseating incarnations are still widely available all over the Net, and I dare say will remain so in perpetuity. If you haven't had a meal recently and your masochistic streak is showing, a quick Google Search for:

dominos pizza video

and exploration of the resulting links will keep you in stitches -- or some sort of altered mental state -- for quite some time. This isn't for the squeamish, though.

There's no obvious way that Domino's could have prevented this situation, and they're clearly the victims in the drama.

But the take home lesson here is that the raw power of YouTube, other video sites, and the web of e-mail and social networking applications that now seemingly entwine everything, are fundamentally changing our foundational concepts of privacy, information control, intellectual property, and so much more. Pine as some might for the "good old days," the Internet has changed the world, and woe to he who ignores or refuses to accept this fact.

What toppings did you want on that pizza again?

--Lauren--