‘We won’t get personal user data’: Viacom
p2pnet news P2P | Freedom:- Viacom says it hasn’t asked for, and won’t be getting, “any personally identifiable information of any user”.
“Screw you, Viacom,” posted Stan Schroeder on Mashable, “responding angrily to the news judge Louis L. Stanton has ordered Google to hand IP addresses and other YouTube user data over to Viacom,” p2pnet said yesterday.
Now, “Any information that we or our outside advisors obtain – which will not include personally identifiable information – will be used exclusively for the purpose of proving our case against You Tube and Google, will be handled subject to a court protective order and in a highly confidential manner,” Viacomn promises in a statement in response to the YouTube user data controversy, says Deep Links.
Viacom begins >>>
It is unfortunate that we have been compelled to go to court to protect Viacom’s rights and the rights of the artists who work with and depend on us. YouTube and Google have put us in this position by continuing to defend their illegal and irresponsible conduct and profiting from copyright infringement, when they could be implementing the safe and legal user generated content experience they promise.
In addition, says Kurt Opsahl in the Deep Links post, the New York Times reports >>>
Google and Viacom said they had had discussions about ways to ensure the data is further protected to assure anonymity.
“We are disappointed the court granted Viacom’s overreaching demand for viewing history,” Catherine Lacavera, Google’s senior litigation counsel, said in a statement.”We are asking Viacom to respect users’ privacy and allow us to anonymize the logs before producing them under the court’s order.”
Michael Fricklas, Viacom’s general counsel said: “We are investigating techniques, including anonymization, to enhance the security of information that will be produced.”
Mr. Fricklas added that Viacom would not have direct access to the information Google produces, and that its use would be strictly limited. Viacom would not, for example, be able to chase down users who illegally posted clips from “The Colbert Report” on YouTube.
“The information that is produced by Google is going to be limited to outside advisers who can use it solely for the purpose of enforcing our rights against YouTube and Google,” Mr. Fricklas said.”I can unequivocally state that we will not use any of this information to enforce rights against end users.”
It is encouraging to see that both Viacom and Google are responding to the important privacy interest raised by the court’s order. We plan to continue discussions with the parties on ways to protect the privacy of the YouTube users and ensure that their rights under the Video Privacy Protection Act are given effect.
Stay tuned.
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p2pnet – Screw you, Viacom, July 3, 2008
Mashable – Again, One Clueless Person Destroys the Privacy Of Millions, July 3, 2008
Deep Links – Viacom’s Statement on YouTube User Data Controversy, July 3, 2008
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July 4th, 2008 at 9:57 am
this (allegedly) vulture Michael Fricklas is confusing something here!
it’s not just about “They enforce their rights” (oh how genereously from THEM that they say they will not do that against users!)!
It’s about VIOLATING the rights of the users!
By for example receivening a copy of a video that is copyrighted by the YT user and is now in the pool of “deleted videos” they demanded!
What a bunch of criminal *beep*les are these viacom guys and this Michael Fricklas?
you *beep*les are the bad guys here! And you are not on the moral highground that you can claim to be so “generously” to not “hunt” users!
Shame on you Viacom!
July 5th, 2008 at 1:01 am
Happy 4th of July everybody!! Enjoy your online freedom, while it lasts…
July 5th, 2008 at 7:34 pm
“We won’t get personal user data”
That’s the biggest lie I’ve ever heard, Viacom.
July 6th, 2008 at 4:22 am
The Viacom paradox, if they search the YouTube data is that they will find that thousands, if not millions of judges, lawyers, FBI Agents, politicians, corporate leaders, bankers, educators, pastors, etc. and their children and spouses are copyright infringement “thiefs”.
That would be embarrasing and that would destroy the “if you copy you are a thief” argument.
No, Viacom does not want to see the data.
July 6th, 2008 at 6:35 am
Well, I cannot wait to see if the viacom takes a page out of the RIAA/MPAA handbook and attempts to send “take-down” notices and/or takes ppl to court for copy-right issues.
After all they have 4-terrabytes of information to pool through, I’m sure that every single person on those 4 hd’s are not “judges, lawyers, FBI Agents, politicians, corporate leaders, bankers, educators, pastors, etc.”, surely there’s enough BAD ppl out there to get their fill…
What college has YET to receive any notices by the RIAA? Yale? I can’t remember, but I bet you 100% that not a single “threat” will be raised against any of those ppl…
just watch
July 6th, 2008 at 9:48 am
but be aware if you are a pastor
those are not in the “don’t touch”-class of MAFIAA anymore!
(german RIAA branch had a press release back some time that they cought a pirating pastor!)
July 8th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
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