Editor-At-Large: Privacy is down the YouTube and real friends are history

Teenagers weaned on the instant gratification of the internet do not understand the dangers that lurk in its virtual world

By Janet Street-Porter
Sunday, 6 July 2008

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Funny how we worry about ID cards, CCTV cameras and erosion of our privacy, and yet we spend hours logging on to the internet without a care.


I loathe the idea of the Government storing my personal details on some bound-to-fail computer system and I baulk at the amount of personal information handed over to American immigration every time a British citizen visits the US.

Now, a court ruling in the US means that any shred of privacy you thought you had on the internet will be violated too. Google, which owns YouTube, has just been ordered to hand over the details of 100 million people who logged on to the video site, many of whom are British citizens.

Google is currently locked in battle with the communications company Viacom, which claims that millions of hours of unauthorised clips are watched on YouTube, so infringing its copyright and depriving it of valuable income. The details it wants include users' names, email addresses and details of the clips they viewed. All of which leads to the question, should we expect the same standards of privacy on the internet as we do in the real world?

My anxieties are probably not shared by the younger generation who are the prime users of sites such as YouTube. For them, this is the obvious way to conduct their lives. But apart from loss of privacy, there's another aspect of the internet causing concern, and that is how prolonged use of social networking sites and chatrooms can affect the ability to make friends and communicate in the real world.

Last week, one of Britain's leading psychiatrists attracted attention when he claimed that the generation born after 1990, who were five or younger when the internet really took off, will find it harder to form lasting friendships than their parents did. The constant fast-paced interchange possible on the internet, where you can adopt another persona, can leave users feeling let down by the real world.

Studies in Australia and the US have shown that people who spend hours on the internet can end up lonely and with fewer real friends than those in previous generations. Although there's no hard evidence of an internet suicide pact among the 22 young people who have died in Bridgend recently, they all belong in this age range.

Fooling around on the internet and playing at being another person isn't harmful in itself – as long as you accept that, in the real world, it takes a lot more work to get on with people. Real friendships are ultimately far more valuable, but they take more effort than the click of a mouse to sustain.

Christie's revenge is a dish best served in court

I'm loving the soapy drama unfolding in New York, where one-time supermodel Christie Brinkley has insisted that her messy divorce from hubby number four, Peter Cook, is heard in open court.

She claims he spent £2,000 a month viewing internet porn, and instead of arguing over who keeps the wedding photos they are bickering over who gets which boat and custody of their daughter, the unfortunately named Sailor Lee.

Christie sobbed buckets recalling the discovery that her husband was cheating with a teenager from his office, and the girl in question has turned up in court wearing exactly the same outfit as Christie – a super-tight beige skirt and a crisp, white shirt. After marrying Billy Joel, you'd think nothing shocked Christie.

Why more of us are glad to be like Gay

Depending on which survey you read, we've got between £140 and £155 less a month to spend – which is bad news for the chairman of Marks & Spencer, Sir Stuart Rose, who faces anxious shareholders at their AGM later this week.

Poor trading figures, with food sales down 4.5 per cent on 2007, have led city experts to predict he might be out of a job soon. Sir Stuart claims we are in the worst economic downturn since the 1990s – although rivals seem to be weathering the storm.

Less disposable income means we have to relearn the art of frugal living, and what better role model than eco-gran Gay Cossins, who grows her own fruit and veg, concocts make-up and medicines, and swims daily in her rainwater pool. She's insulated her home so well she pays just £86 a year for gas and electricity, and her weekly shop costs £10.

All over Britain, there are more and more of these Good Lifers. In fact, I'm about to head north to thin out my lettuce and check on my tomatoes. Mind you, I'm going on the train so they won't be quite as cheap as Gay's.

Love all? I think not ...

I tried to watch the BBC's Wimbledon coverage but recoiled in horror and swiftly reached for the remote. Not Murray's pitiful showing against Nadal, but the ghastly appearance of the team in the commentary box.

The two Johns, McEnroe and Lloyd, have hardly a full head of hair between them. And all the sexual charisma they exhibited as professional players has vanished with middle age. Now it's more like Steptoe and son. And then there was Sue Barker's eye make-up (black liner with little flicks), frumpy frocks and helmet hair, which reminded me of Hyacinth Bouquet.

Thank God the Williams sisters can be relied on to look glamorous at all times.

Viacom Demands YouTube User Data in Copyright Lawsuit

COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT? Viacom is suing YouTube and its parent company, Google, for copyright infringement. In its $1 billion lawsuit, Viacom demanded Google turn over personal information about YouTube users. Google refused, but last week a New York District Court judge ordered it to comply with Viacom's request.

by Laura Major
Informify Staff Writer
July 7, 2008

Viacom owns Paramount Pictures, MTV, VH1 and Nickelodeon. It says that Google benefits financially when viewers watch pirated video clips on YouTube, and that these clips are copyright protected. The suit, filed a year ago, is in the "discovery phase" during which attorneys from each company gather evidence to build their case.


Google Asks Viacom if It Can Block Some Data to Protect User Privacy
Google says it wants to protect the privacy of YouTube users. It has asked Viacom if it could block out user names and IP addresses from the data it must release to Viacom.

Google Senior Litigation Counsel Catherine Lacavera said, "We are pleased the court put some limits on discovery, including refusing to allow Viacom to access users' private videos and our search technology. We are disappointed the court granted Viacom's overreaching demand for viewing history. We will ask Viacom to respect users' privacy and allow us to anonymize the logs before producing them under the court's order." (The Washington Post, 7/4/08)

Viacom says the court order forbids it to have direct access to the data and it has no intention of identifying individual users.

"We are investigating techniques, including anonymization, to enhance the security of information that will be produced," said Viacom's General Counsel Michael D. Fricklas. "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." (The New York Times, 7/4/08)

Google's Earlier Claims about Personal Data, User Identity Weaken its Case
In court, Google made the argument that handing over user information to Viacom would expose the identity of individuals who accessed videos on YouTube. It said it's possible to trace a user's identity through the IP address.

However, as Judge Louis Stanton pointed out, Google's own blog says, "... the IP addresses recorded by every website on the planet without additional information should not be considered personal data, because these websites usually cannot identify the human beings behind these number strings.... We ... are strong supporters of the idea that data protection laws should apply to any data that could identify you. The reality is though that in most cases, an IP address without additional information cannot." (Google Public Policy Blog, 2/22/08)

Privacy Advocates Disagree with Court Ruling that YouTube Must Release User Logs
Privacy advocates criticized the Judge Stanton's ruling. They pointed out ...

IP addresses linked with search terms can identify individuals
IP addresses linked to a small group can identify the group's members
Login IDs are not always pseudonyms and can identify the user
Video Privacy Protection Act of 1988, which protects a user's viewing habits, should have prevented this ruling
Copyright © 2008 Informify
Informify by Email!

Question for Readers:
Do you use YouTube? How do you feel about Viacom demanding access to YouTube user logs in this court case?

YouTube and Viacom Showdown: Your Data Becomes Not So Private

By: Corey Tate

I've heard it said that YouTube knows more about you than your mother. That's probably true, since they know what you've been searching for and what YouTube videos you've watched. Now Viacom will know more than your mother as well, because a judge just ordered YouTube to hand over all of that information as part of the ongong YouTube-Viacom court battle.



Viacom requested the information to help build its case on the $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against YouTube, and thus Google.



The judge's order raises concerns for privacy advocates like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and YouTube users. The IP addresses (like the address numbers on your home, but for your computer) and viewing habits of tens of millions of people will be not so private anymore.



The gray area here is that although the IP address does not give Viacom your name, it does give them a way to track you down in case they want to file a lawsuit against you for uploading copyright infringing videos.



Take a look at the tactics pursued by the RIAA to hold users accountable for their actions with the P2P arena, and you'll find that the first step to their tracking down users was to contact Internet service Providers with the IP addresses of their customers. From there, they would send letters to the users to initiate the legal process, and sue the users for copyright infringement.



A statement from Viacom contends that the data will only be used for the YouTube-Viacom case. "Viacom has not asked for and will not be obtaining any personally identifiable information of any user. 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."



Part of the response from Google has been to add a privacy link to the bottom their home page that links to their Privacy Center. Google also had tried to argue that the IP address' and account names should be redacted, or blocked oout, prior to handing the information over to Viacom. The Judge said no.



A posting Google's Public Policy Blog reads "The new "Privacy" link goes to our privacy center, which was revamped earlier this year to be more straightforward and approachable with videos and a non-legalese "Privacy Overview" to make sure users understand in basic terms what Google does, doesn't, will, and won't do in regard their personal information."

Area businesses post videos on YouTube to attract customers

In a matter of three years, online video phenomenon YouTube has proven to be a leading venue for showing off dumb things friends and pets do or providing pointers on how to make cheese.

Less established is the Web site’s ability to promote a small business. But a growing number of Capital Region manufacturers, retailers and doctors are posting professional and homemade videos on online video-sharing Web sites, trying to draw attention to themselves in a realm dominated by urban ninjas and cellphones popping popcorn.

Area businesses may be new to YouTube, but the Orem, Utah-based Blendtec has already tapped the Web site’s marketing potential. Since late 2006, the blender manufacturer has run a video series called “Will It Blend?” It has 78,790 YouTube partner subscribers, more than any other video channel on the Web site.

YouTube promotion
To view the video being shown on YouTube to promote Lexington Vacuum, an Albany business, click here.
During each approximately 80-second “Will it Blend?” episode, Blendtec founder Tom Dickson throws everything from glow sticks to a crowbar into a blender. In a recent episode, a white lab coat-clad Dickson blends a Nintendo Wii “Mario Car” video game wheel. He pours the white powdery remains of the hand controller on a table and proclaims, “Nintendo dust!”

Going viral
Blendtec’s comic and bizarre videos have achieved marketers’ much-coveted viral status, meaning they have widespread viewership in a region or globally. For a business, going viral could give their brand awareness a big boost. But area online marketers warn that creating a video that becomes a YouTube hit can be costly, even though people can post videos on the Web site free.

“Not everything you do is going to work,” said Dan La Bate, a co-owner of Engines of Creation, an Amsterdam Web design and marketing firm.

The video for Harmony House Marketplace in Cohoes is an example of a simple YouTube production. It features an interview of the wine sellers’ two owners as they stand outside their Remsen Street business. Diane Conroy-LaCivita and Jane LaCivita Clemente, cousins and co-owners, retell how they came to open the Capital Region’s only New York-only wine seller in November 2006.

Since an Albany wine connoisseur filmed and posted the video on YouTube in August, it has been viewed 200 times, compared to 195,600 for the “Will It Blend?” episode with the Nintendo wheel controller. But Conroy-LaCivita said the video is not a complete flop.

“We’ve had quite a few people come in based on seeing it,” said Conroy-LaCivita. “. . . It was like two seconds of preparation, and then we went out” to film the video.

Over the past four months, the Central Business Improvement District has posted 10 videos about Central Avenue businesses in Albany. They include McVeigh Funeral Home, Ichiban Restaurant and Lexington Vacuum. The short videos — most less than six minutes long — provide vignettes of some of Central’s mainstay businesses.

The Capital Region Global Business Network in December also posted a series of videos on YouTube about six area companies, including Gurley Precision in Troy and Adirondack Specialty Adhesives in Albany. But unlike the Central BID videos, the Global Network’s videos were developed specifically for an awards cerement hosted by the Albany organization.

“There’s some feedback to it. People say, ‘Hey, I saw you on such and such.’ It validates our existence and they feel comfortable coming here,” said Lexington owner Mark Garzia. He recounts the 62-year history of his business in a YouTube video, which has been viewed over 80 times since late March.

Since Internet search engine juggernaut Google acquired YouTube in 2006 for $1.65 billion, the San Mateo, Calif.-based online video Web site has become the world’s third-leading Web site.

Nineteen percent of global Internet users visit YouTube daily, according to Alexa Internet, a San Francisco-based Web site ranking firm. In January, one in every three of the 9.8 billion videos watched in the United States during that month were viewed on YouTube, according to comScore, a Reston, Va. Web site tracking firm.

Brand awareness
With that drawing power, marketers have tried to use YouTube to raise brand awareness or drive traffic to businesses’ Web sites.

The Mountain View, Calif.-based Google in spring moved to enhance YouTube’s advertising allure by rolling out a free analytic tool. The new YouTube Insight allows posters to see how often their videos are viewed in different geographic locations, how videos were found and when audiences tune into them.

A recent study by the Synergistics Research Corp. found that 36 percent of financial institutions believe it is OK to advertise on video-sharing sites but said it is unusual because people go to them for entertainment and not information.

While 34 percent of survey respondents said posting content on YouTube or Yahoo Video is useful and effective, 12 percent deemed it a waste of time. Seven percent of financial institutions viewed the practice as a risk to the their reputation, according to the survey by Synergistics, an Atlanta financial institution marketing research firm.

Dr. Steven Yarinsky, a Saratoga Springs plastic surgeon, said he has no qualms about having a video about his practice on YouTube, alongside the videos of rock concerts and strange talent acts. He likened posting his 88-second infomercial on YouTube to advertising in television or newspapers, which include an array of crime, sports and entertainment stories.

“It’s a nice segue to our other marketing,” Yarinsky said.

The Saratoga surgeon contracted Einstein Medical to handle his online marketing, partly with the YouTube video. The San Diego-based Einstein has ramped up its online video streaming efforts since Google’s acquisition of YouTube.

“Consumers don’t want to read content-heavy Web sites. They want to see the doctor and listen to him talk,” said Einstein Medical’s Delana Ricasa.

Engines of Creation in Amsterdam is beefing up its Web design firm’s video offerings. While they have developed video content for clients’ Web sites, they have not greatly utilized online video-sharing Web sites in their marketing campaigns. But that could soon change.

“We’ve definitely heard more buzz. . . . We’ve definitely heard more requests [for putting videos on YouTube] than the previous year,” Engines co-owner Paul Langevin said.

Textbook case
Mary Jane Books, a college textbook store in Albany, posted two videos on YouTube last summer, one produced by its staff and one produced by the Capital Region CW television network. In one video, students do everything from dance at a strip club to play music on a curb to raise money for school books.

The commercials have aired on the University at Albany’s campus television network and the Mary Jane’s Web site, and the bookseller posted them on YouTube more as an afterthought. While the YouTube posts have not afforded May Jane much attention, owner Carole Renzi said she is aware of the buzz surrounding quirky online video sharing Web site promotions.

“We have a lot of creative people that work here, so we may come up with something,” Renzi said.

Teens on YouTube quest attacked in NY's Oniontown

DOVER, N.Y. - A pair of 17-year-olds who drove to Oniontown after a series of YouTube videos portrayed the hamlet as a run-down, backwoods dump were pelted with rocks by an angry group of young residents, authorities said.

The teens, from Mahopac, N.Y., about 30 miles south of Oniontown, were recovering from head and face injuries. State police troopers arrested a 17-year-old from the tiny community Thursday and charged him with criminal mischief for taking part in the assault. The investigation is ongoing, and additional arrests were expected, police said.

State police investigator Eric Schaefer said it wasn't the first time out-of-towners were attacked by local residents. "The biggest recommendation at this point is for everybody to stay out of there," he said. "Anybody that doesn't belong there, anybody that's not a resident, just stay out of Oniontown."

In one YouTube video posted in May called "Oniontown Adventures," three boys with foul mouths supposedly drive up to the town. While there, they mock the poverty they find _ giggling at the garbage strewn along the streets and the abandoned cars in the front yards of trailer parks. They tour the area, with one person in the backseat filming, and spew nasty epithets about Oniontown residents. Other videos with different people on camera similarly depict the Dutchess County community as the brunt of jokes.

Attack on teens blamed on YouTube video

DOVER - Two Mahopac teens are recovering from injuries received when they were attacked by a group of youths in Dutchess County who were accused of throwing rocks at their car.

The incident took place earlier this week in the hamlet of Oniontown—a community in the Town of Dover—that was depicted recently in a derogatory light posted on the Internet site YouTube. The videos portrayed the hamlet as a run-down, tobacco road, garbage infested community.

The Putnam youths drove to Oniontown and according to State Police at Dover were attacked by a group of teens who ambushed their car. A female passenger suffered head and facial cuts and was treated at a local hospital while the male driver was less seriously injured but also required hospital treatment.

State Police Investigator Erich Schaefer said Friday this was not the first time “out-of-towners” were attacked by local residents: “My advice is simple: If you are not a resident of Oniontown, stay away.”

Troopers arrested a 17-year-old from the tiny community and charged him with felony criminal mischief for allegedly taking part in the ambush. Schaefer said the investigation was on-going with additional arrests expected.

In one of the YouTube videos called “Oniontown Adventures,” three boys with foul mouths supposedly drive up to the town and mock its poverty giggling at the abandoned cars in front of trailer parks and trash littered streets. They spew nasty epithets about local residents.

Meanwhile, reaction to the assault in Mahopac was met with both anger as well as disdain. Outside the Mahopac Village Shopping Center, a young man who identified himself as Tom called the attack “senseless. What kind of creepy people live up there? How can you attack a car for no apparent reason?”

A 17-year-old girl from Mahopac who said her name was Trish said she was “grossed out” by the report. “I know these guys. They wouldn’t hurt anybody and drove to that weird place because it was on You Tube. The attack sounds like a horror movie.”

US courts demand data on YouTube users

Monday, 7 July 2008

Google has been ordered to supply its opponent in a $1 billion copyright suit, Viacom, with data that could identify visitors to its video site YouTube, the New York Times reports.

Viacom owns the copyright to various TV shows and movies, and is suing Google for what it alleges are breaches of that copyright by allow clips from them to appear on YouTube.

To support its case, Viacom asked the US Federal Court to order Google to give up the login name and IP address of every user who has watched a video on YouTube. On Wednesday, the court agreed.

Viacom says it will only use the information to pursue its case against Google, and both have said they will take measures to ensure the anonymity of YouTube users is preserved.

Even so, the move has triggered a wave of protests from privacy groups and internet user advocates concerned that it may be used as a precedent to support further privacy breaches.

Some groups have been arguing for some time that Google should protect the IP address information it has more closely to ensure privacy is maintained. Google has previously rejected those demands on the basis that IP addresses can’t be used in that way, but in this case it attempted to argue that YouTube data should be kept from Viacom precisely for that reason.

“It is an ‘I told you so’ moment,” Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, told the New York Times.




Read more on confidentiality on the internet

Filipino classical music on YouTube

By Pablo Tariman
Philippine Daily Inquirer
First Posted 00:37:00 07/07/2008


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Close this MANILA, Philippines - Some years back, someone alerted me about the YouTube video of a Miss USA contestant playing a Chopin scherzo.

I noticed she had added some unknown ornamentations to make the piece more exciting. The strange dynamics and phrasing she applied to the piece got lusty response from the audience. For me, it was an entertaining introduction to YouTube.

A few months later, I realized all the classical artists of consequence were on YouTube and they were being watched by thousands and even million of audiences that totally eclipsed the usual attendance in the concert hall.

The Internet is full of artists’ websites, and I wonder if they would be a way of gaugeing the worth of an artist.

But I have realized that the YouTube is nothing but a video-sharing website where users can upload, view and share video clips.

Now you can see millions watching artists play Bach and Beethoven on YouTube.

But is there a Buencamino on the YouTube?

Cecile Licad plays “Larawan” on YouTube. Thus far, there is only one “Mayon Concerto” by Buencamino on YouTube, and it is played by Ingrid Sala Santamaria, who is now in Pagadian City in Zamboanga del Sur in the course of her 16th Romantic Piano Concerto Journey 6 tour with Reynaldo Reyes.

Santamaria is no Internet user and she had to go to the house of her daughter Crispy Laurel to find out what it is all about. As she watched herself play “Mayon Concerto” in a performance taken from her Dipolog concert early this year, she marveled at the new computer technology.

She learned it had a space for comments from viewers for instant feedback and she could actually count how many viewers she had thus far.

From the Internet, I discovered that over 100-million videos were being watched every day, and 2.5-billion videos were watched in June 2006. Some 50,000 videos were being added per day in May 2006, and this increased to 65,000 by July.

In January 2008 alone, nearly 79-million users had made over 3-billion video views.

“I am glad I still made it to the age of YouTube at the twilight of my performing life,” said Santamaria. “Possibilities for more audiences for classical music are, indeed, limitless.”

As a few curious “Mayon Concerto” views grew by the hundreds, I kidded Santamaria: “If your ‘Mayon Concerto’ exposure grew by the millions, you had better prepare to brace for Internet fame, which can translate into more concerts and possibly an invitation to Oprah’s show.”

Some of the comments Santamaria got on YouTube:

From Blue Yoyi: “The sound recording is not very good but hearing and watching Ms Santamaria play is a great enough experience for Filipino classical music lovers such as myself.”

From EyesTrained: “Wow! I’ve been looking for ‘Mayon’ on YouTube for a long time now. This is indeed a gem!”

From a layman: “I don’t know much about the technical merits of piano playing but I like this piece very much.”

Watch Ingrid Santamaria at http://www.youtube/rpcj.

Gerodias, Ismail in concert

Soprano Rachelle with pianist Najib Ismail will team up with classical guitarist Rafael Neira on

July 12 at the BDO Francisco Santiago Hall.

Their program: Ponce’s Sonatina, Dyen’s Tango en Skaii, Puccini’s “O mio babbino caro,” Albeniz’s “Asturias,” De Fallas’ “Dance of the Miller,” Jobim’s “Samba do aviao” and the guitarist’s own compositions namely “Nueva Direccion,” “No Se” and “Do You Love Me.”

YouTube Monks Storm European Pop Charts

All Things Considered, July 6, 2008 - The monks of Heiligenkreuz Abbey in Austria sing ancient Gregorian chants in their 12th-century church — and then post them to YouTube. Their technological savvy landed them a record deal, and now their album is storming the European charts and arriving in America. Father Karl Wallner talks to host Andrea Seabrook about balancing pop stardom with the religious life.

YouTube party to TV debate

TVNZ will partner with YouTube to put Internet users in the box seat at this year's televised election debate.


The two companies will set-up a website where people can submit video questions, the pick of which will be displayed on a giant screen in front of a live television audience and put to party leaders.

TVNZ's head of emerging business, Jason Paris, says the format will be closely modelled on a debate between candidates for the US democratic nomination that was hosted by Google-owned YouTube and CNN last year.

No money will change hands. "This is just a great partnership between the two brands – probably the biggest online brand, behind Google, and New Zealand's biggest public broadcaster."

Depending on the timing of the election, the website is likely to go live at the start of September, several weeks before the debate takes place.

"Both TVNZ and YouTube will be driving people to upload their questions to the site, which will be YouTube and TVNZ-branded.

"Imagine an election site just like a YouTube site, where people will be able to upload questions, and vote for which should be put forward."

Mr Paris says the state-owned broadcaster will retain editorial control over the televised debate, which will be fronted by Mark Sainsbury. "He will be moderating, but the intention is to get as many YouTube questions in there as possible. It is up to political leaders whether they wish to respond or put comments up on the website themselves."

TVNZ hopes the format will make the election more appealing and "get the younger demographic more interested".

"If you look at TVOne, and to some extent One News, we are stronger probably in the older demographic. Bringing in YouTube, it's a complementary brand that extends our brand into that younger demographic."

The first YouTube clip shown to US democratic nominees during the CNN debate invited them to do something "revolutionary" and answer questions directly. Reuters reported the YouTube- submitted questions "were at turns funny, personal and esoteric" and that the format worked, "albeit fitfully". Barack Obama remarked that all the questions reflected cynicism.

Will the Viacom vs. YouTube Court Order Threaten Users' Privacy?

U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton for the Southern District of New York filed on Wednesday for Google to turn over user data to Viacom for videos uploaded and played on the multimedia site. In the $1 billion dollar lawsuit, YouTube must turn over terabytes of logs to Viacom showing video-viewing habits to crack down on video piracy. This has caused an upset amongst web users due to privacy fears.

The information Viacom had sought involved the user data in its original format, but Viacom stated in a statement after privacy advocates voiced their concerns which stated, "Viacom has not asked for and will not be obtaining any personally identifiable information of any user." Currently it is being reported that Viacom will only be able to see what IP addresses watched which videos and uploaded videos, which is still a privacy nightmare for most since the company could get in contact with the ISP's to try to pinpoint who actually was using the IP at that given time. However, this approach could be unlikely due to the number of individuals who use proxies and other internet protection software which would make it unreliable.

Although user names are not an official pursuit for Viacom, YouTube may very well have to turn over all data with IP records included. For the sake of Goggle web users, Google wants to protect users privacy by removing any data such as user names and IP addresses, but the company is quoted as putting its foot in its mouth due to a post on its Google Public Policy blog in February which was referenced in the judges order to hand over data. The post states, "the IP addresses recorded by every website on the planet without additional information should not be considered personal data, because these websites usually cannot identify the human beings behind these number strings."

According to Google senior litigation counsel Catherine Lacavera she stated in an email statement Thursday, "We are disappointed the court approved Viacom's overreaching demand for viewing history."

Viacom has been allegedly asking for an outrageous amount of information which even includes the source code for the search function that powers both Google and YouTube as well as information of every video removed from the site, database information on videos hosted on YouTube, and copies of all private videos.

"Google need not disclose its search code to Viacom, but its YouTube subsidiary must disclose a database listing who watched what video, when, and from where," Judge Stanton ordered.

Viacom Inc., owns Comedy Central, VH1 and Nickelodeon, amongst others.

One would find this as a disappointment as Viacom has been pointed as using the video sharing host themselves to serve videos. Could this suit actually take a twist?