Google – Viacom Suit Heats Up, YouTube Users Flame Viacom on Privacy Concerns
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A few days back, we had reported about Google’s YouTube being sued by Viacom, which owns brands like MTV, Nickelodeon and Paramount, for almost 1 billion dollars, claiming that several of Viacom’s video shows had been illegally broadcast on YouTube. Viacom had also asked for access to YouTube’s source code and its search API but had been denied the same by the judge citing that such a request was “considered against its value and secrecy“.
Although the opportunities looked bright for Google, the US District Judge Louis L. Stanton ordered them to hand over all statistical data, like user names & IP addresses, regarding the Viacom videos that have been watched on YouTube. Such an order had raised a furor among the YouTube users over security concerns and prompted Google to ask Viacom to anonymize users and the logs to protect the users’ privacy.
…YouTube has filled its library with entire episodes and movies and significant segments of popular copyright programming from Viacom and other copyright owners, neither YouTube nor the users who submit the works are licensed to use…..
…The search code is the product of over a thousand person-years of work. Singhal Decl. 9. There is no dispute that its secrecy is of enormous commercial value. Someone with access to it could readily perceive its basic design principles, and cause catastrophic competitive harm to Google by sharing them with others who might create their own programs without making the same investment.
Although Viacom maintains that it needs users’ data only to prove its case of YouTube’s copyright infringement, such an order didn’t go too well with the YouTube Community. There have been petitions making rounds in the online atmosphere asking the judge to revert his decision. Moreover, every single hour witnesses a new flamed video mushrooming on YouTube, condemning the decision.
Viacom might have gone an extra yard in its effort to prove the case but all the negative publicity just might go against its brand image. People might argue that negative publicity is also publicity, at the end of the day. My question is, did a conglomerate as huge as Viacom need negative publicity in the first place?
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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