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July 3, 2008
Judge Hands Viacom Access to YouTube Access Logs
The EFF on a court ruling that probably ought to bother you:
“Yesterday, in the Viacom v. Google litigation, the federal court for the Southern District of New York ordered Google to produce to Viacom (over Google’s objections):
“all data from the Logging database concerning each time a YouTube video has been viewed on the YouTube website or through embedding on a third-party website
…
“The Logging database contains:
“for each instance a video is watched, the unique ‘login ID’ of the user who watched it, the time when the user started to watch the video, the internet protocol address other devices connected to the internet use to identify the user’s computer (‘IP address’), and the identifier for the video.
Here’s the part that slays me:
“Today’s court order made no finding that Viacom could not be accommodated by any other means, nor were the YouTube users provided with notice and an opportunity to contest the claim.
“Instead, the Court focused on some statements made by Google on its blog:
“We … are strong supporters of the idea that data protection laws should apply to any data that could identify you. The reality is though that in most cases, an IP address without additional information cannot.”
Which brings us to a point that gets made time and time again, but seems worth harping on once more: It doesn’t matter if Google or any other gigantic aggregator of tons of your personal data avoids being evil until the end of time. All it takes is a judge with a nasty sense of irony urge on by an equally gigantic entertainment conglomerate with an axe to grind to flush Google’s good intentions down the toilet along with your privacy. If Google is forced to hand over what it has been told to hand over, you now not only have to trust Google with personal information, you have to trust Viacom.
(Link)
Posted by mhall at 2:05 AM | Add Comment
This is a complete invasion of privacy on the part of Viacom and our user information doesn’t have any relevance to their billion dollar lawsuit against Google. Google should be able to anatomize the user information before handing over 12 terabytes of personal information so my privacy and the privacy of millions like me are protected. I have a campaign that will force Viacom to allow Google/YouTube to protect us or 100,000 will boycott Viacom and all its subsidiaries: https://www.thepoint.com/campaigns/stop-viacom-from-invading-our-you-tube-privacy