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Is judge ordering Google to violate privacy law in Viacom case?

By: Daniel Chubb | July 7, 2008 | 6 Comments

privacy law in Viacom case

The outcome of the Viacom vs Google’s YouTube is still unclear but what’s even more confusing is how a judge could order Google to violate existing privacy law, according to some legal experts.

We reported a couple of days ago about the $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube and how users may worry where their personal information ends up.

Google is very willing to help in this matter but did state that it will ask Viacom to respect users’ privacy, but can we trust that this information will never be used in the future and how can we tell if it has?

YouTube just might have to turnover its viewing logs to Viacom, we understand why they want this information but the privacy aspects involved can be far reaching.

Viacom say they do not want any personally identifiable information but this is just what the court has ordered Google to hand over in the form of log files. If the judge is ordering Google to violate a privacy law the in Viacom case, how is this possible and what could the outcome be?

The truth will be that its near impossible to ever prove how someone has attained your personal information and if this involves the end user being accused of copyright infringement, proving these records weren’t used is near impossible.

Should YouTube give this information and if the logs are anonymized, will YouTube users be happy with that?

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  • http://salon.com john

    you can either have convenience or privacy. take your pick.

  • Evelyn Saks

    Oh heck guys, what’s a little privacy worth …. when a $1 billion dollar payout is at stake? … and anyway, Google “will ask Viacom to respect users’privacy” Sweet! So, YouTube users, how happy will we be handing over even more access to our private information to enable some squillionaire media personality to rake in an extra billion dollars? I’d say we would be just about as happy as knowing that a peeping tom has been given permission to view our private lives.
    To paraphrase George Orwell: welcome to the future!

  • Rich

    Isn’t it a general principle that during discovery the least information required to fulfill the desired goal is what should be ordered disclosed?

  • http://dkoi.com Parasa

    Indeed. This is another example of the violation of our privacy laws so that Gi-anT can squeeze the rest of money out of consummers. On another note you-tube could only help premote the lowsey slop that these crapy writers actors and studio directors are puking up and spoon feeding you the general public.

  • Moogle

    Is there a way to disbar that judge? forever?

  • Matt’s Wife

    Why isn’t Google fighting this? Why aren’t the user’s voicing their concerns to Viacom and Google?

    We can’t just sit here passively and let this happen without having our voices heard. This has less to do with YouTube and more to do with the future of the Internet! If our privacy isn’t honored by the courts or Viacom, we must speak out loud and clear.

    Don’t just post a few sentences and then go away from this issue, get involved. Call, email and post. Let Viacom, the Judge and Google know how we feel. If we don’t YouTube will be just the tip of the iceberg.