YouTube Hands Over User Data [User Privacy Matter?]

[Iced_Bullet]

Read this on a *cough* P2P site.

 

[Full More Detailed Article]

 

[Full Case .pdf]

 

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.

[Nipper]

When will the big companies realise that people viewing there videos on youtube may actually help them (free advertising anyone?) more than it does hurt them...

[TimBud]

My word there are going to be some big stinks about this.

Surely thats a huge infringement of the DPA?!

[Eudemon]

Not a very informed site that, Google's lawyers put forward that because they just wanted to know what has been viewed and uploaded there was no need for IP's or usernames thus only what has been viewed has been handed over. (better explanation shown below)

 

 

Read youtube's blog instead to keep upto date on this.

04 July 2008 | Posted By: The YouTube Team | Permalink

The Law And Your Privacy

 

As you may have seen in the news, YouTube received a court order to produce viewing data from our database, including usernames and IP addresses. In order to protect our community's privacy, we strongly opposed this motion when Viacom and others filed it.

 

The court felt differently and ordered us to produce the data. Viacom said that they need general viewing information to determine the proportion of views on YouTube of copyright infringing content vs. non-infringing content.

 

Of course, we have to follow legal process. But since IP addresses and usernames aren't necessary to determine general viewing practices, our lawyers have asked their lawyers to let us remove that information before we hand over the data they're seeking. (You should know, IP addresses identify a computer, not the person using it. It's not possible to determine your identity solely based on your IP address. Rather, an IP address can reveal what geographic area you're connecting from, or which Internet service provider you're using.)

 

Why do we keep this information in the first place? It helps us personalize the YouTube experience, getting you closer to the videos you most want to watch. We have many features on the site that help users discover and share compelling content, and we're improving the video experience through recommendations, related videos, and personalized directories that help you find meaningful videos.

 

We'll continue to fight for your right to share and broadcast your work. The court did impose some encouraging limits -- they agreed with us that Viacom should not have access to private videos or our search technology. Also, the information we provide will be designated highly confidential under court order and only Viacom's outside counsel and experts will have access to it.

 

Legal matters aside, our focus remains on providing you with the best possible YouTube experience and we continue to be committed to protecting your privacy. Every day, millions of creative people from around the world are posting new, original content. You, our community, are creating the YouTube experience now and tomorrow.

 

Sincerely,

The YouTube Team

[Nipper]

Not a very informed site that, Google's lawyers put forward that because they just wanted to know what was being viewed they had no need for the IP addresses to be part of the handover thus only the usernames and what they viewed and uploaded has been handed over.

 

 

Read youtube's blog instead to keep upto date on this.

 

Thanks for the clearup, I still am not happy that they are handing over info about youtube users, surely is someone makes their account private (for whatever reason)(is it possible?) they shouldn't have the info given to some corporation worried about copyright infringement which is probably doing them more good than harm in the first place.... I guess I will never understand how they work :/

[TimBud]

Nice one Diablo! :)

[Who]

Big corporations are such stupid money grabbing idiots. They take down guitar and bass tabs off websites (do they ever consider that in 10 or so years, those which rely on tabs to get on their feet will be the artists they sign), they take down lyrics, and now they sue one of the biggest entertainment mediums going. with internet speeds so fast now you can bit torrent all the videos off youtube anyway, if the offending videos go down, I know what I will do...

[Baltoman]

This is ridiculous

[Andreas¹]

I have no idea what all of this means, can someone clarify it for me please? :(

[hesonly5]

Basically, YouTube monitor who you are, where you are, your IP, ISP, etc as well as what videos you watch, which they kept private. They have now been given a court over to hand this information over to largo corporations so that they can try and clamp down on copyright infringments.

[Fridge Magnet Rabbit]

FARSE!!! seriousley, youtube remove the copyright infringing material the best they can, they dont need other big companies to do it for them...just tell the youtube team what sort of thing they want removed...and remove them

[Pherelas]

Isn't that illigal due to the data protection act?

[CarMadMike]

Isn't that illigal due to the data protection act?

 

Im sure theres a massive team of lawyers Debating over that answer

[hesonly5]

FARSE!!! seriousley, youtube remove the copyright infringing material the best they can, they dont need other big companies to do it for them...just tell the youtube team what sort of thing they want removed...and remove them

 

I'm not sure they do. TBH, how many videos do you watch on YouTube that aren't tele/music/games/other copyrighted media. IMO, YouTube wouldn't be anywhere near as popular without most of the copyright protected media on there.

[Iced_Bullet]

Indeed randy, good point.

 

They remove them once a company has complained. Videos of Kimi crashing into that car (I forget which) in Monacco this year. Within 1 hour of the videos being uploaded, they'd been removed due to 'Valiation Reports from the F1 blah blah' ...

[Fridge Magnet Rabbit]

I'm not sure they do. TBH, how many videos do you watch on YouTube that aren't tele/music/games/other copyrighted media. IMO, YouTube wouldn't be anywhere near as popular without most of the copyright protected media on there.

ive seen loads but! so many put in the copyright info to a) get out of trouble and b) hopefully keep the movie up

anyway, Youtube only take down vids if a company has complained...