Chances are you’ve heard recently about an order made by a judge for the Southern District of New York for Google to turn over user data to Viacom for videos uploaded to and played back on the megasite YouTube. The extent of the demand is quite extraordinary. The data Viacom has asked for stretches back a few years’ time, and seeing that the video host now serves user requests for billions of clips every month, Google’s compliance on the matter would no doubt toss this case firmly into the realm of very high-profile ligitation. Privacy advocates are atwitter.
Well, the heads in Mountain View, CA, have responded. In short, they’ve agreed. With two big exceptions. They want to deliver the records not including IP addresses and usernames.
Viacom made its request for YouTube’s logbook as part of a $1bn lawsuit that the content producer first filed in early 2007. The reason for the latest information request, granted by Judge Louis Stanton this past Tuesday, is that it wishes to “demonstrate video piracy patterns” on the video site.
So, no worries? Well, it depends. This is a legal proceeding, and as such necessitates a process. All parties need to work out the details of the transfer, and while the basic statements delivered by Viacom and YouTube appear on the whole to be in agreement in keeping specific user data removed from the court battle, there’s at least one particularity that may be contentious.
To refer to the quote above stating that Viacom “will not be obtaining any personally identifiable information,” it is perhaps arguable that computer IP addresses don’t technically fall under that designation. YouTube wrote in a blog post noting this fact, saying very plainly that “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.”
Therefore, while user names may not be an official pursuit for Viacom, YouTube may have to capitulate to the data request with IP records included. Which certainly won’t make privacy hawks happy.