Louis Gray

no, it is not evilness - they are getting into Just Yet Another Company: their original personnel list is dumped with File'n'Rank employees - silpol

The discrepancy is that even if IP addresses alone aren't personally identifiable, a list of videos watched correlated by that unique identifier may be. Consider AOL's problematic release of 'anonymized' search data. The unique ID had no personally identifiable meaning, but linking searches into a search history did, since some of those searches were for their own name, address, or even SSN. In YouTube's case, a watch-history that includes some very rarely-watched videos in addition to the more popular videos can give an accurate picture of who the user is, especially when they watch the personal videos that they themselves uploaded. - Kevin Fox

A problem with "owning" part of the Internet. Better would be millions of distributed video content sites, not owned by anyone. - nadim

I don't think anyone who simply watches needs to be worried. Youtube merely streams videos. Even if one were to stream copyrighted content, no copy is made by the viewer, unlike say, a VCR. Youtube may have exhibited without permission however I suspect any user lawsuit will be for uploading. On the other hand, Youtube's use of filtering technology gives them a defense against a contributory infringement claim, but their own content "standards" kill a DMCA safe harbor defense. IANAL, though. - Andrew Feinberg

Nadim, it's called Bittorrent, and it exposes your IP much more freely. What exactly constitutes "personally identifiable" is a very complex issue -- as Kevin points out, almost anything can be personally identifiable with enough data processing or in combination with other data sources. The judge and Viacom are the guilty parties here, trying to blame google only distracts from that fact. - Paul Buchheit

Google's choice in this matter is keeping those logs in the first place. They can't hand over information they don't have. If the information is useful to them in aggregate they can not log IP addresses/username information to begin with. That way they can't hand it over, period. Of course, I have no idea what value this data collection provides to Google, but the choice is still theirs. - nadim

This "don't store it" argument is silly. Should Google also not store my email in case Viacom decides that they want a copy of that as well? What we need is actual legal protection. Saying "don't store it" is just running away from the problem. Viacom will soon be getting access to your PC and government mandated ISP logs, and it won't matter what Google has saved. - Paul Buchheit

In this specific case, I believe not storing the information would have prevented the information from being disclosed to Viacom. They are going after the low hanging fruit, and Google has what they need readily available to hand over. Going to individual ISP's would be much more work, and currently I don't think ISP's are prepared for these kinds of requests (correct me if I'm wrong). You're right that in the future this may change, and we do need a legal solution either way. - nadim

Paul, there is a huge difference between storing my email and tying my IP and ID to views. And Google arguing with the EU that they had the right to do exactly that for things like ad targeting is what got them into this mess in the first place. - Cyndy

Also, I think Google could have put up more of a fight handing the data over, even appealing that decision. They definitely have the legal resources and clout. Their relationship with Viacom seems more important to them than protecting user data. Yes, I realize there is some speculation on my part here. - nadim

First, Google has a storied history of fighting orders to disclose user data. Second, people are conflating Google's desire to collect and associate user names and IP addresses (which LOTS of sites do) with Viacom's discovery request for the same information. Users voluntarily give such information to Google. They aren't voluntarily supplying it to Viacom. - mrshl

Cyndy, my email is much more private than my youtube viewing history. If Viacom can get whatever data they want, what's to stop them from taking my email too? - Paul Buchheit

This is reassuring for now: http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2.... - nadim