Yeah, this is what all the big media companies do in some form or another. Youtube is no exception. The DMCA is the reason: it outlines pretty clearly how they must act, which you could characterize as "shoot first, ask questions later".
I wouldn't really say this is
Youtube's fault per se. It's impossible to run such a large site in any other way under the rules that govern them.
edit: on another note, Youtube's channel design was finally switched to the boring, stale, corporate new one. The people who chose to temporarily go back to the old one, including me, now have the same as everybody else.
Again, the Youtube help forums have exploded with negative feedback. I'm pretty sure the designers knew this was going to happen and that everybody would hate it, but to Google, the sake of the Product is no longer front and center, it seems.
Here's what that change looks like:
http://wedemandhtml.com/tmp/youtube_channel_comparison.png