Google Must Divulge YouTube Log

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.

The UK’s Premier League association is also seeking class action status with Viacom on the issue, alledging YouTube has been used to watch football highlights.

Legal action

When it initiated legal action in March 2007 Viacom said it had identified about 160,000 unauthorised clips of its programmes on the website, which had been viewed more than 1.5 billion times.

Following the launch of its billion-dollar lawsuit, YouTube introduced filtering tools in an effort to prevent copyright materials from appearing on the site.

We urge Viacom to back off this overbroad request Electronic Frontier Foundation Q&A: What does this ruling mean?

The US court declined Viacom’s request that Google be forced to hand over the source code of YouTube, saying it was a “trade secret” that should not be disclosed.

But it said privacy concerns expressed by Google about handing over the log were “speculative”.

The ruling will see the viewing habits of millions of YouTube users given to Viacom, totalling more than 12 terabytes of data.

Viacom said it wanted the data to “compare the attractiveness of allegedly infringing video with that of non-infringing videos.”

‘Erroneous ruling’

The EFF said: “The Court’s erroneous ruling is a set-back to privacy rights, and will allow Viacom to see what you are watching on YouTube.

“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.”

The body said the ruling was also potentially unlawful because the log data did contain personally identifiable data.

The court also ruled that Google disclose to Viacom the details of all videos that have been removed from the site for any reason.

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They’re not retarded lawsuits. Copyright material is protected material on behalf of the copyright owners. People shouldn’t be posting copyrighted material on Youtube for what essentially is a public broadcast. But, Viacom’s approach is wrongheaded in that it appears they intend to file suit against every person who has watched a video on which they hold the copyright. They can’t file suit against anyone who has watched copyrighted material owned by others nor can they file against people who post their own home made videos. What Viacom and other companies or individuals who own copyrights need to do is find a way they can be compensated for fair use of the material. That may end up making Youtube a pay website for copyrighted material, which would be a fair method. If they try to go against individuals, that could reslut in them having to pay out a sizable chunk of change for attorneys just to collect what could ultimately be a small dollar amount. And the scene would have to be replayed in court after court after court. So, yes, copyright lawsuits in this way are a retarded method. And having to replay in court after court, they’d run the risk that one or more courts could rule against them.