Google must divulge YouTube viewing data

A US court has ruled that Google must hand over its entire log of YouTube viewing data, including user names, to media group Viacom in a $1bn copyright tussle.

The decision has come as part of a legal claim in which Viacom alleges that Google is responsible for copyright infringements committed on the video-sharing site YouTube, owned by Google since October 2006.

The judge also ordered that Google hand over copies of any videos which it has previously taken down.

But the court ruled that YouTube's source code, classified as a 'trade secret', was not to be divulged to Viacom - which owns MTV and Paramount Pictures.

The information to be passed to Viacom also includes IP addresses relating to user's terminals. Viacom requested the data to back up its claim that copyrighted material reproduced unlawfully is more popular on YouTube than lawful user-generated content available on the site.

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit organisation dedicated to 'defending digital rights', has been quick to react with claims that the ruling "threatens to expose deeply private information about what videos are watched by YouTube users".

Many other requests made by Viacom, for information including videos marked 'private' on the site and Google's advertising database outline, were denied.

Viacom's $1bn lawsuit against Google alleges that YouTube's business has grown through allowing users to upload copyright material.

Google responds that it is protected by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, which covers companies as long as illegal material is taken down once notified.

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