Twitch has become the premier streaming site for most if not all gamers, from both a producer and consumer standpoint. For those behind on the current state, it was bought by Google recently. Follow this news, Justin.tv, the parent site that spawned Twitch shut it's doors just yesterday. Following that development, the official Twitch blog announced two new policies involving past broadcasts/VODs and third party content identification systems, recommending users export their past broadcasts before deletion, and to, you know, not listen to music while streaming.

The two policies come as the first heralds of changes to come with Youtube/Google integration (the third party ID system being lifted directly from Youtube it seems) and are the first two roadblocks with this purchase. The question these policies raise is one of balancing the new resources a Google branded Twitch can offer versus the historically unwelcome transitions Google integration has bought (see the Youtube Google+ complaints still to this day being lifted.) These new policies reflect a very similar contested point in the balance of free speech versus copyright law that has been brought up in other corners of the online world.

The question I pose tonite is this: how far will Google press on, and how much of a response, negative or otherwise, will we see from both big names and normal users of the site?