NewsGoogle and Viacom Reach Deal to Keep User Info Private

It seems that either Viacom came to their senses about making Google turn over user data on YouTube, or they didn’t like the bad press that their suit was generating.  They have reached a deal to protect the privacy YouTube watchers everywhere and will allow Google to anonymize YouTube user data.

Previously Viacom succeeded in getting Judge Louis Stanton of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to order Google to turn over as evidence a database what videos users watch, the users' computer addresses, and their usernames. Many groups including the Electronic Frontier Foundation argued that the order "threatens to expose deeply private information" and violated the Video Privacy Protection Act.  Whether the Act, created when VCRs were high tech, could be applied to YouTube was debatable. Viacom and Google’s deal avoids the legal snarl all together.

If you are into deciphering legalese (and we can assume you are into self flagellation  too) you can read the details here.

Your Rights

Read More

Comments 
1
TAGS 
Google, legal, Privacy, law, youtube, viacom, deal, rights
NewsGoogle Asks Viacom to Respect User Privacy

Following up from a previous post, Google is asking Viacom to respect users’ privacy and let them to anonymize the logs before handling them over to Viacom under the court order. “We are disappointed the court granted Viacom’s overreaching demand for viewing history,” Google said.

Efluxmedia.com says that Viacom had said in a New York Times interview, “The information that is produced by Google is going to be limited to outside advisors who can use it solely for the purpose of enforcing our rights against YouTube.”

So the data is going to go to third parties. Somehow, that doesn’t make me feel any better about user privacy. We can hope that there will be a legal challenge mounted in the next few days against releasing user data unfiltered to Viacom.

Viacom v Your Rights

Read More

Comments 
1
TAGS 
Google, lawsuit, Privacy, youtube, viacom
NewsRuling to Expose Your YouTube Viewing Habits

Have you been uploading copyright protected content on YouTube? Have you even been looking at it? Viacom wants to know, and a Judge has ruled in the recent Viacom v. Google case that Google has to turn over “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”.

Kurt Opsahl with the Electronic Frontier Foundation disagrees with the courts ruling arguing that the court, “erroneously ignores the protections of the federal Video Privacy Protection Act (VPPA), and threatens to expose deeply private information about what videos are watched by YouTube users”. The VPPA was passed in 1988 as a result of Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork's video rental history being published during his Supreme Court nomination.

I agree with Opsahl, someone’s YouTube history should be just as private as their video rental history. Privacy is harder and harder to maintain in a world where technology is outstripping existing laws, which often must be judged by people with little experience in technology. We certainly don’t need which version of Star Wars Kid we were watching to be available for anyone to look at, or for companies to go trolling for lawsuits in data. Where do you come down on the issue?

Gavel Rights

Read More

Comments 
3
TAGS 
Google, Privacy, law, youtube, viacom, eff, court
NewsAtomFilms Relaunches as Atom.com, Focuses on Funny

Looks like Maximum PC isn't the only one sporting an overhauled site these days. AtomFilms, owned by MTV Networks (who in turn is owned by Viacom), relaunches today as simply Atom.com. More than a name change, the redesigned site will focus exclusively on comedy because, well, the web apparently isn't funny enough already.

Click through the jump to find out about the many other changes, and how you can not only be a part of it, but perhaps profit from it too.

Read More

Comments 
0
TAGS 
Software, streaming, video, funny, viacom, atom, AtomFilms, Comedy Central
FROM THE ARCHIVECopyright Infringement Goes Meta

Viacom sends a DMCA takedown to a YouTube user for pirating material Viacom had pirated from him first. Infringement is a two-way street.

Read More

Comments 
4
TAGS 
star wars, piracy, copyright, law, infringement, youtube, viacom, commercial, fair use
RESOURCE CENTER

THIS MONTH's ISSUE
FEATURE Windows Tips: Find out what works and what doesn't as we test the most commonly prescribed Windows tipsHOW TO Customize and streamline your Windows desktop Core i7 Check out Intel's next-gen chip, up close and personal The Reactor We preview the first production-ready oil-immersed PC

Don't have an account? Register Now! Forgot password?