In the latest episode of the high-profile copyright litigation saga between media giant
Viacom and
YouTube, the video sharing site?s parent company Google announced today that it had reached an in-court agreement with its adversary?s legal representation to protect the personal data of YouTube?s users.
The issue of users? privacy rights was sparked by a court decision handed down
earlier this month compelling YouTube to hand over all data from its user logging database to Viacom. The ruling?s justification was to furnish Viacom with the means to demonstrate its contention that viewings of copyright-protected material on YouTube were far more common than viewings of user generated content (UGC).
In its scope, however, the decision included information that YouTube deemed unnecessary to the stated purpose, and which would have enabled Viacom to reconstruct the viewing habits of individual users. The online media industry, consumer organisations and legal professionals joined voices to denounce what they saw as an unconscionable infringement of privacy.
In a
comment posted on its official blog the night after the decision was issued, YouTube
endeavoured to reassure its users, hinting at a possible appeal in stating that, "We remain committed to protecting your privacy and we'll continue to fight for your right to share and broadcast your work on YouTube.?
The substance of the agreement is that Google will be allowed to make user information and internet protocol addresses anonymous before passing on its databases to Viacom. The result is that Viacom will be able to draw a reliable statistical picture of viewing habits on YouTube, but not to correlate the trends observed with the activity of named individuals.
The deal is not restricted to Viacom, but includes other parties engaged in similar litigation with YouTube in the guise of a class action encompassing the FA Premier League, the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organisation and the Scottish Premier League.
A point still in dispute is whether Google should be allowed to anonymize the viewing records of its own employees. It also remains for Google and Viacom to agree on the practical modalities of sharing the information concerned. The cases themselves will probably not come to trial before 2009 or 2010.