Here's one for the black helicopter files: is Yahoo! blocking the sending of YouTube URLs via its splendid IM service? Yes, says this post on Slashdot:

This morning I attempted to copy and paste a youtube.com URL to two of my friends via Yahoo IM. But they kept complaining they did not see anything. Actually they saw all the text message lines except the line with the youtube URL. Is YIM blocking the competitor out?

Slashdot reported:

We verified in this office that a fully formed youtube.com URL could not be passed on YIM; changing the URL to read youtubex.com caused it to go through. Any other URL we tried worked.

Well, we tried it this morning and there's no problem whatsoever. Which begs the question: if Yahoo! is not acting to prevent the dissemination of Google's $1.6bn crap home video archive, who else can save humanity from the relentless onslaught of mass mediocrity?*

Bootnote

*Yes, we know: lawyers. Hundreds and hundreds of lawyers filing breach of copyright suits.