Judge Orders YouTube to Give All User Histories to Viacom

[nivi]

http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/2008/07/judge-orders-yo.html

Google will have to turn over every record of every video watched by YouTube users, including users' names and IP addresses, to Viacom, which is suing Google for allowing clips of its copyright videos to appear on YouTube, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Viacom wants the data to prove that infringing material is more popular than user-created videos, which could be used to increase Google's liability if it is found guilty of contributory infringement.

Viacom filed suit against Google in March 2007, seeking more than $1 billion in damages for allowing users to upload clips of Viacom's copyright material. Google argues that the law provides a safe harbor for online services so long as they comply with copyright takedown requests.

Although Google argued that turning over the data would invade its users' privacy, the judge's ruling (.pdf) described that argument as "speculative" and ordered Google to turn over the logs on a set of four tera-byte hard drives.

The judge also turned Google's own defense of its data retention policies -- that IP addresses of computers aren't personally revealing in and of themselves, against it to justify the log dump.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation has already reacted, calling the order a violation of the Video Privacy Protection act that "threatens to expose deeply private information."

The order also requires Google to turn over copies of all videos that it has taken down for any reason.

Viacom also requested YouTube's source code, the code for identifying repeat copyright infringement uploads, copies of all videos marked private, and Google's advertising database schema.

Those requests were denied in whole, except that Google will have to turn over data about how often each private video has been watched and by how many persons.

Geez, privacy and the courts just don't get along lately.

 

[QuoVadisNation]

Viacom requested for evidence that they needed in a lawsuit; youtube refused because that evidence would (it will) be used against youtube in their ongoing one billion dollar lawsuit. Big deal.

 

[bhsup]

Hrm. Now I feel kind of guilty for using YouTube. I just assumed they had some policy in place to ensure nobody's copyrighted works were being pirated.

 

[Mise]

Viacom wants the data to prove that infringing material is more popular than user-created videos

Why would they need IP addresses and user data to prove that?

 

[Kraznaya]

C'mon Google! You can hire better lawyers than that!

 

[LucyDuke]

Google must divulge the viewing habits of every user who has ever watched any video on YouTube, a US court has ruled.

The ruling comes as part of Google's legal battle with Viacom over allegations of copyright infringement.

Digital rights group the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) called the ruling a "set-back to privacy rights".

The viewing log, which will be handed to Viacom, contains the log-in ID of users, the computer IP address (online identifier) and video clip details.

While the legal battle between the two firms is being contested in the US, it is thought the ruling will apply to YouTube users and their viewing habits everywhere.

Viacom, which owns MTV and Paramount Pictures, has alleged that YouTube is guilty of massive copyright infringement.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7488009.stm

Creepy!

"We will ask Viacom to respect users' privacy and allow us to anonymise the logs before producing them under the court's order."

Good, but might not be good enough.

 

[Cutlass]

"accidentally" delete the records

 

[Trajan12]

I read this. It's absolute BS. There's no real reason for them to have the IP address of every user, their name, and their viewing history. If they wanted to know the extent of the Copyright Infringement, they can check the amount of views right under the video.

Viacom simply wants to harass Google.

 

[LucyDuke]

I read this. It's absolute BS. There's no real reason for them to have the IP address of every user, their name, and their viewing history. If they wanted to know the extent of the Copyright Infringement, they can check the amount of views right under the video.

Viacom simply wants to harass Google.

Well, yes. I got the impression that they'd be looking at usage patterns. An anonymized, but still unique, IP would allow them to do that.

 

[Gooblah]

There already was a thread on this...but anyways, this is crap. They just want to piss off Google, and there are grounds for a lawsuit here (c'mon ACLU! You can do the right thing!)

 

[bhsup]

Indeed, the ACLU should get involved. I would think protecting a copyright would be a very valid civil liberty issue. I sure know that I would like to know something I had copyrighted would be deserving of protection.

 

[LucyDuke]

There already was a thread on this...

Ooo... I missed that.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=281388

Mods wanna lock this one up, please?

 

[Ginger_Ale]

Moderator Action: Threads merged...

 

[Trajan12]

Why would they need IP addresses and user data to prove that?

Exactly. Anyone can check how popular copyrighted videos are in comparison to non copyrighted videos by looking at the handy set of statistics right at the bottom of the frikken' screen.

 

[Valka D'Ur]

Sheesh. So Viacom wants to know if and how often I catch up on my soaps via YouTube (because for some reason I couldn't watch them on TV)? I just watch them. I have never downloaded them, or even posted links for other people to follow. I've never uploaded anything to that site (don't even know how).

But since my IP doesn't stay the same all the time, they can knock themselves out...

 

[LucyDuke]

On a related note... I have never been able to find a single Family Guy clip on YouTube. So is it just that nobody's uploading any Family Guy, or maybe it's not all that difficult to get copyrighted material removed from YouTube quickly?

 

[Trajan12]

On a related note... I have never been able to find a single Family Guy clip on YouTube. So is it just that nobody's uploading any Family Guy, or maybe it's not all that difficult to get copyrighted material removed from YouTube quickly?

Well, I know YouTube tries to stop Copyrighted material from being uploaded in the first place. The second line of defense is to flag it and wait for a moderator to remove it. What we're seeing here is the typical unwillingness of corporations and computer illiterates(Often one in the same) to understand that not all bad stuff can be blocked out perfectly. If no one flags a video as copyright infringement, the people who maintain the site couldn't surf through the dozens of millions of vids looking for every infringement even if they devoted all their efforts to it. So a lot of those videos are going to get through whether Viacom likes it or not.

Spraying Cheez Whiz into the wind...

 

[LucyDuke]

Well, Viacom ought to stop crying and call up Fox for some advice. Might be cheaper to implement whatever Fox is doing to protect their copyright than to pay all these lawyers to sue the crap... oh right. I get it.

 

[Tycoon101]

I want a court order to force Viacom to release the lists of people who watch their crap, so we can know who to get medical attention to when their shows are found to be dangerously stupid.

 

[bhsup]

Well, I know YouTube tries to stop Copyrighted material from being uploaded in the first place. The second line of defense is to flag it and wait for a moderator to remove it. What we're seeing here is the typical unwillingness of corporations and computer illiterates(Often one in the same) to understand that not all bad stuff can be blocked out perfectly. If no one flags a video as copyright infringement, the people who maintain the site couldn't surf through the dozens of millions of vids looking for every infringement even if they devoted all their efforts to it. So a lot of those videos are going to get through whether Viacom likes it or not.

Spraying Cheez Whiz into the wind...

If they can't do it on the backside, they should review all content before allowing it to go live.