Court rules YouTube clips no longer private

Published on Friday 4 July 2008 01:49

INTERNET giant Google must divulge the viewing habits of every user who has watched any clip on YouTube, the popular online video-sharing service, a US court ruled yesterday.

Dismissing privacy concerns, the judge, Louis Stanton – sitting in New York – authorised full access to the YouTube logs after Viacom and other copyright holders argued that they needed the data to show whether their copyright-protected footage was more popular than amateur clips.

The viewing log, which will be handed to Viacom, contains the log-in ID of users, the computer IP address (online identifier) and video-clip details. The data will not be published, but disclosed only to the plaintiffs.

Although the case is being heard in the US, it is thought the ruling will apply to YouTube users across the globe.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a digital rights group, called the ruling a "set-back to privacy rights". Simon Davies, a leading privacy expert, said campaigners had warned Google that IP addresses were personally identifiable information.

He said: "The chickens have come home to roost for Google. Their arrogance has resulted in the privacy of tens of millions being placed under threat."

Catherine Lacavera, Google's senior litigation counsel, said in a statement: "We will ask Viacom to respect users' privacy and allow us to anonymise the logs."