Court order on YouTube user data fans privacy fears

[Jahness]

Court order on YouTube user data fans
privacy fears


By Kenneth Li and Eric Auchard

A U.S. judge's order to Google Inc to turn over YouTube user data to Viacom Inc sparked an outcry on Thursday from privacy advocates in the midst of a legal showdown over video piracy.

Viacom, owner of movie studio Paramount and MTV Networks, requested the information as part of its $1 billion copyright infringement lawsuit against the popular online video service and its deep-pocketed parent, Google.

Judge Louis Stanton of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York ordered Google on Tuesday to turn over as evidence a database with usernames of YouTube viewers, what videos they watched when, and users' computer addresses.

Privacy activists from the Electronic Frontier Foundation said in a blog post the order "threatens to expose deeply private information" and violated the Video Privacy Protection Act, a 1988 federal law passed after Supreme Court nominee Robert Bork's video rental habits were revealed.

Representatives of both companies said they were looking to work out how to comply with the court order to share video data while ensuring personally identifiable information is secure.

Viacom responded in a statement that it needs the data to demonstrate video piracy patterns that are the heart of its case against YouTube. But it sought to diffuse privacy fears, saying it had no interest in identifying individual users.

"Viacom has not asked for and will not be obtaining any personally identifiable information of any user," Viacom said.

"Any information that we or our outside advisors obtain ... will be used exclusively for the purpose of proving our case against YouTube and Google (and) will be handled subject to a court protective order and in a highly confidential manner."

Google senior litigation counsel Catherine Lacavera said her company was looking to resolve the issue quickly in a way that balanced Viacom and other plaintiffs' need for evidence in the case while "carving out some space for user privacy."

Lacavera said her company was pleased the court's decision had put limits on evidence discovery, including refusing to allow Viacom access to YouTube's search technology or to users' private videos on the site.

But the Google attorney called on Viacom to allow YouTube to anonymize user data -- in other words, redact rows of data containing usernames or unique computer Internet addresses.

In closed-door hearings ahead of the ruling, Google attorneys had argued against turning over such data without eliminating personally identifiable information.

"We are disappointed the court granted Viacom's overreaching demand for viewing history," she said. "We will ask Viacom to respect users' privacy and allow us to anonymize the logs before producing them under the court's order."

(Editing by Braden Reddall)

Court order on YouTube user data fans privacy fears - Yahoo! News

Copyright © 2008 Reuters Limited.

[nattyreb]

Guess we better enjoy YouTube as long as we still can!

[Jahness]

Originally Posted by nattyreb

Guess we better enjoy YouTube as long as we still can!

Greetings!

True indeed Queen nattyreb. Things will not be the same. There is no privacy on the internet plain and simple.

I appreciate you sharing.

Peace!

[Nefertiti]

They just putting this out there?!...(The news of no privacy I'm telling some folk)Fact is there never was none

[Idris24434]

Yes you can attain privacy! Why must we insist upon using YouTube in this day and age? When will people of color build their own servers, and network infrastructure, and stop pissing away time and dignity on “Fool Tube”! I pray YouTube dies, and die with a Bang! We can do better! Rednecks run their own web, DNS, Active Directory, and File servers. As do Pakistanis, Liberians, and everyone else. We could build our own servers if we took a few courses, and/or apprenticed under someone skilled. We do not have to be on our knees.
Basic Requirements
Small business DSL or Cable account 55.00
P III or better workstation class computer (used) 75.00
Smoothwall firewall ran on a P II or better old PC free
MS Server 2003 ( bootleg) free
PHPBB software or XAMPP free
No-IP software free
Assorted cables, modems, and other software 250.00
One could be up and running for under 400.00
Pride, Dignity, Privacy, Skill, tradition = Priceless

In case anyone is wondering if I have my own servers, and web sites, the answer is yes.

[TheStruggle]

Originally Posted by Idris24434

Yes you can attain privacy! Why must we insist upon using YouTube in this day and age? When will people of color build their own servers, and network infrastructure, and stop pissing away time and dignity on “Fool Tube”! I pray YouTube dies, and die with a Bang! We can do better! Rednecks run their own web, DNS, Active Directory, and File servers. As do Pakistanis, Liberians, and everyone else. We could build our own servers if we took a few courses, and/or apprenticed under someone skilled. We do not have to be on our knees.
Basic Requirements
Small business DSL or Cable account 55.00
P III or better workstation class computer (used) 75.00
Smoothwall firewall ran on a P II or better old PC free
MS Server 2003 ( bootleg) free
PHPBB software or XAMPP free
No-IP software free
Assorted cables, modems, and other software 250.00
One could be up and running for under 400.00
Pride, Dignity, Privacy, Skill, tradition = Priceless

In case anyone is wondering if I have my own servers, and web sites, the answer is yes.

Money is short but I would like to know what's the address to these websites for the basic requirements.

[Idris24434]

The information I am giving is not from a website (if thats what you mean) Its from knowledge! Send me a private message so we dont take up space, and I will help you like that!

[Nefertiti]

Originally Posted by Idris24434

Yes you can attain privacy! Why must we insist upon using YouTube in this day and age? When will people of color build their own servers, and network infrastructure, and stop pissing away time and dignity on “Fool Tube”! I pray YouTube dies, and die with a Bang! We can do better! Rednecks run their own web, DNS, Active Directory, and File servers. As do Pakistanis, Liberians, and everyone else. We could build our own servers if we took a few courses, and/or apprenticed under someone skilled. We do not have to be on our knees.
Basic Requirements
Small business DSL or Cable account 55.00
P III or better workstation class computer (used) 75.00
Smoothwall firewall ran on a P II or better old PC free
MS Server 2003 ( bootleg) free
PHPBB software or XAMPP free
No-IP software free
Assorted cables, modems, and other software 250.00
One could be up and running for under 400.00
Pride, Dignity, Privacy, Skill, tradition = Priceless

In case anyone is wondering if I have my own servers, and web sites, the answer is yes.

When it all die then what

[Idris24434]

Originally Posted by Nefertiti

When it all die then what

Nefertiti
Thanks for responding to the convesation sister. Software does not die, it is just a program that is being ran on top of another program known as the OS or operation System. The hardware on the other hand does degrade over time with the main problem being heat. I prevent this by running my systems in a room with a/c.
My network runs 99.99% of the time just like Google or the Hosting service that this forum pays their hard earned money to.
I keep my hardware stable by running mirrored drives for the OS. Therefor if one dies, I simply pull it our without shutting down the system and pop in another harddrive.
My website, and data base run as a RAID ie. on three seperate harddrives. If one dies I perform the above operation.
My harddrives are enterprise grade so the come with a five year warrenty unlike comsumer grade which come with one year. Seagate warrenties my drives even if I buy them used or on E-Bay!
As far as electrical storms or power outages I take care of that with an external battery or two.
Once a year or every couple years I let my members know in advance that I will be shutting down for a day. During that time I can upgrade old motherboards, RAM, etc..
My electric bill is five dollars more than normal.
In this day and age a skilled techncian can (and they do) run websites off of thumb drives! One just needs to know how.
If your site is really active with say 2000 members, you can ask for a donation to be deposited in your paypall account. If 10% of your members give 5.00 then you have enough money to pay for upgrades. Its not hard at all! We as "People of Color" have to start waging war between our ears, and not with our trigger finger, mouth, or fist. Once again I said "WE" self included.
I hope I have done something to assist someone in the struggle!
Peace

[Jahness]

Originally Posted by Idris24434

Nefertiti
Thanks for responding to the convesation sister. Software does not die, it is just a program that is being ran on top of another program known as the OS or operation System. The hardware on the other hand does degrade over time with the main problem being heat. I prevent this by running my systems in a room with a/c.
My network runs 99.99% of the time just like Google or the Hosting service that this forum pays their hard earned money to.
I keep my hardware stable by running mirrored drives for the OS. Therefor if one dies, I simply pull it our without shutting down the system and pop in another harddrive.
My website, and data base run as a RAID ie. on three seperate harddrives. If one dies I perform the above operation.
My harddrives are enterprise grade so the come with a five year warrenty unlike comsumer grade which come with one year. Seagate warrenties my drives even if I buy them used or on E-Bay!
As far as electrical storms or power outages I take care of that with an external battery or two.
Once a year or every couple years I let my members know in advance that I will be shutting down for a day. During that time I can upgrade old motherboards, RAM, etc..
My electric bill is five dollars more than normal.
In this day and age a skilled techncian can (and they do) run websites off of thumb drives! One just needs to know how.
If your site is really active with say 2000 members, you can ask for a donation to be deposited in your paypall account. If 10% of your members give 5.00 then you have enough money to pay for upgrades. Its not hard at all! We as "People of Color" have to start waging war between our ears, and not with our trigger finger, mouth, or fist. Once again I said "WE" self included.
I hope I have done something to assist someone in the struggle!
Peace

Greetings Idris24434!

Your information is right on point and very practical. Our people need to start not only using technology more efficiently, but they also have to understand that until they own their own in all aspect of their lives they will continually be dependent on our oppressors.

I agree with you and have said the same things so many times that sometimes I wonder if they are even listening.

It is not very costly to build your own system, create a server from an old CPU or even buy a used computer or use parts from old ones to create a more efficient used one. All it takes is some time and patience.

As far as software goes their is so much good 100% free software out there for people to use, that I still don't know why they insist on giving their hard earned money away.

We have to get into the mindset of learning to do for ourselves. The area of technology should be no different.

Much appreciation to you for taking the time to assist our people in the struggle and for once again reminding them that they can and should learn to do things for themselves or work as a collective to help each other out to achieve the same goals.

Peace & Blessings!

[Nefertiti]

Eh I understand technology, And is a good listener too!...My question was when it all die then what?...its man made its bound to break! I don't know maybe the question did'nt fit here or something cause aint none of it is hard to figure out...But I comprehend what your saying here

[Idris24434]

Originally Posted by Nefertiti

Eh I understand technology, And is a good listener too!...My question was when it all die then what?...its man made its bound to break! I don't know maybe the question did'nt fit here or something cause aint none of it is hard to figure out...But I comprehend what your saying here

...and what I am telling you is that you do everything in your power not let it break! Just like Google, or YouTube, or the local college. You are proactive not reactive. You replace components as part of an ongoing maintanance plan. Don't forget that you have redundant hardware. So when one component does (on rare occasion break) your replace that part but without shutting down the system. The goal is not to stop things from breaking, but to stay up and running as close to 100% as humanly possible. If a Network Administrator follows this plan it will not die, because it is impossible for everything to break at the same time.
Peace
PS. Anything more please send me a personal message.