The ongoing Google-Viacom litigation saga hit a milestone yesterday when the two sides agreed to changes in a previous ruling over the release of YouTube user data.Since being purchased by Google in 2006 for a reported $1.65bn, the video sharing website has landed its parent company in hot water, most notably last year when media conglomerate Viacom decided to sue Google for $1bn for copyright violation.
Viacom, whose assets include Paramount Pictures, DreamWorks and Comedy Central filed an amended lawsuit earlier this year, identifying over 150,000 incidents of alleged copyright infringement, pointing out unauthorised uploaded clips of South Park, The Colbert Report and MTV Unplugged.
Most recently, veteran online news provider TechCrunch reported the litigation spilling over to users, with a court ruling in favour of Viacom's request that the search engine hand over user information, including usernames, associated IP addresses and the videos each user has watched on YouTube. Google would even have to include a list of videos removed from YouTube either due to DMCA notices or by the user's own volition.
Unsurprisingly, this ruling lead to protests from concerned parties, not only because it was a violation of users' privacy and beyond what Viacom requires for its lawsuit, but also due to the notoriously litigious nature of the conglomerate, leaving individuals open to private lawsuits.
Luckily, cooler heads have prevailed, and a new order, filed yesterday by the US District Court states that Google will now substitute user ID, visitor ID and IP addresses for anonymous, but unique identifiers. The new order will make it significantly more difficult for Viacom to discern which individuals have watched a particular video.
Google remain steadfast in their assertion that they are not in violation of copyright law and may be able to use Viacom's ailing public image to their advantage. CNet quoted Ricardo Reyes, a Google spokesperson as saying the law was on their side.
Viacom, in response to the criticism about privacy violation, released a statement on its website claiming they did not ask for and would not be obtaining any personally identifiable information of any YouTube user. In a Q&A on the litigation process the company also stated that the litigation was currently in the "development" stage and that it expected a court date to be set for early 2009.
