Footage from Sendai Airport of Tsunami

Japan Earthquake: Why are Insurance Payouts Called “Losses”

In the article presented here by CBC, the term “losses” is used repeatedly. I feel there is something wrong with calling it a loss because it takes away from the fact that these insurance companies are supposed to be covering these costs: after all, this is their function and sole purpose. The loss is not on the insurance companies part, it is on the insured people.

Earthquake footage from inside grocery store

Man getting rescued

ANN tsunami footage showing tsunami sweeping everything

Raw tsunami footage from a farm near by

Tsunami footage from the street

Video showing cars on the street as tsunami is approaching

Why Does the Media Want to Profit from the Tsunami?

With Youtube’s content id system, it is easy for a company to restrict the redistribution of its content. If you try to publish any footage from any of the news sites, Youtube will block your videos thanks to this tool.

The only reason I can think of right now is because they want to have exclusive rights to the video, to make as much profit as possible. CBC, BBC, and other mainstream news sites show you video ads before the video (for example, in this video showing the devastation from a first-person perspective – an ad plays for 10 seconds before the main video).

Try to capture or rip some of these videos, re-encode them, and re-upload them to Youtube, and Youtube will still detect a signature and block the video. I understand if this was a music production, a movie, or another creative video, but this is a video showing devastation, destruction, and a loss of huge proportions. Maximizing profit on human loss is just not right.