Google Ordered to Hand Over YouTube User Information
YouTube-owner Google and TV mega-corporation Viacom are still at it in the courts. Everyone's favorite search engine was just dealt a painful blow, one that may or may not affect the legal case between the two, but is surely enough to make anyone who has ever watched and enjoyed a YouTube video feel a little uneasy. Google has been ordered to hand over the viewing history of YouTube's entire member base, including usernames and the unique identifiers that indicate which computer those members are logging in from.Viacom is contending that YouTube's visitors watch far more copyrighted material than user-created material, and that the site's entire business model is based on stealing content from others. That's debatable, but one thing is for sure: Viacom having access to everyone's viewing history makes us a little nervous. There will not be any directly personally identifiable information included in the logs, like names or addresses, but as has been shown time and again by lawsuits from the MPAA and RIAA, all that is needed is an IP address to subpoena an Internet Service Provider into divulging a name, address, and phone number.
No, we don't think Viacom will start suing people directly for watching Daily Show clips on YouTube, but it's more than a little disconcerting to know that they now could if they wanted to. [Source: USA Today]
