Daniel:
I’m not surprised that Youtube ignores it. US Copyright Law, as amended by the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, protects them from being sued as long as they take down content when presented with a properly filled out DMCA takedown form.
From what I’ve heard, what Goran said about editorial actions in Europe applies in the US. As soon as a site starts taking editorial actions, they can be held accountable for any they fail to remove, as they have willfully preempted their DMCA safe harbor rights.