YouTube users from watchers to watched


Bobbie Johnson
July 6, 2008 - 11:40AM


The internet giant Google has been told to hand over the personal information of every person who has ever watched a video on YouTube as part of a billion-dollar court case in the US.

A judge in New York has ordered Google, which owns the YouTube website, to pass on the details of more than 100 million people to Viacom, the US broadcasting company that owns the MTV and Nickelodeon channels.

The data will include unique internet addresses, email accounts and the history of every video watched on the website, giving Viacom's experts the ability to conduct a detailed examination of the viewing habits of millions of people around the world.



The decision is the latest twist in a long court battle between the companies over claims that Google encourages copyright infringement on the video sharing website. Judge Louis Stanton, who is presiding over the $US1 billion ($1.04 billion) lawsuit, said the data handover was required for Viacom to build its case.

Google's lawyers had argued that the cost of producing complete logs of YouTube's viewers would be prohibitive. But that line of reasoning was rejected by the court, which said that concerns over privacy were speculative.


Civil liberties campaigners fear the ruling could set a precedent for the level of privacy afforded to people using the internet, and that internet companies could now be sued in order to get hold of sensitive personal data.

"The court's erroneous ruling is a setback to privacy rights," said Kurt Opsahl, a lawyer for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, an online civil liberties group. "We urge Viacom to back off this overbroad request and Google to take all steps necessary to challenge this order and protect the rights of its users."


YouTube, which was founded in California in 2005, was bought by Google just a year later for $US1.65 billion and has since become the biggest video site on the web. Its videos are watched more than 2.5 billion times each month.

The site is used by a number of broadcasters as an outlet for their videos and clips - but some rivals claim it is a hotbed of piracy and encourages people to upload copyrighted television shows. Although Google has brought in systems to help with the removal of illegal material, Viacom argued that it does not go far enough and launched its court action in March last year.

The court's decision also means that Viacom has succeeded in getting hold of the same information that the American Government has failed to access in the past.

In 2006, the US Department of Justice asked Google to reveal information on millions of web searches conducted on its website, as part of a wide-ranging investigation into illegal activity online, but Google successfully argued that such a move would invade users' privacy and expose commercially sensitive information.

In a statement on Thursday, Google said it would lobby for the data it provides to be scrubbed clean of personal information.

Guardian News & Media



Yeah good luck getting that info "scrubbed". Why would viacom want it otherwise?

Next stop: Dystopia.

George Orwell ball deep in this bitch!

All their gonna get from me is "I got these cheezeburgers man!" and the Pork and Beans video.

Big Brother is watching you! God i love that book! Only good thing to come out of an English lesson.

I got these cheeseburgers man.....I'LL SUCK YO DICK!

Damn me too. I also read it @ school in 1984!


which I found kinda significant at the time

Viacom vs You = BOYCOTT




yeah, riight...

quick someone get me a bucket I'm gonna hurl


Viacom brands:

MEDIA NETWORKS
Atom Entertainment
AddictingGames
Shockwave
Atom.com


BET Networks
BET
BET J
BET Gospel
BET Hip Hop
BET Event Productions
BET Pictures
BET On Blast
BET Mobile
BET International


CMT
CMT Pure Country
CMT Loaded
CMT Mobile
CMT Radio
CMT On Demand


COMEDY CENTRAL


GameTrailers
GT Marketplace


GoCityKids


Harmonix


Logo
AfterEllen.com
AfterElton.com
365gay.com




MTV Networks
MTV
MTV Jams
MTV Hits
MTV Books


MTV Tr3s


MTV2


MTVN International
TMF (The Music Factory)
Game One
Flux
VIVA
QOOB
MTV OVERDRIVE
Lazona.com
MTV Boombox
MTV Revolution


mtvU
mtvU.com
College Media Networks
RateMyProfessors.com


Neopets


Nick at Nite
Nick Jr.
Noggin


Nickelodeon
Nick GAS
Nicktoons Network


Nickelodeon Consumer Products
Nick Arcade


ParentsConnect


Quizilla


Rhapsody


Spike TV
Spike Filmed Entertainment


The N
The Click


TV Land


VH1
VH1 Classic
VH1 Soul
VHUno
Vspot


Virtual Worlds
Virtual Hills
Virtual Laguna Beach
Virtual Pimp My Ride
LogoWorld


Xfire


FILMED ENTERTAINMENT
Paramount Pictures Corporation
DreamWorks Studios
MTV Films
Nickelodeon Movies
Paramount Home Entertainment
Paramount Pictures
Paramount Vantage


[This has been a public service announcement]

i've been stealing things from most of those things for years. great.

Neopets?

That was epic back in day.

tamagotchi > neopets?