District Judge Tells Google To Release Data Logs To Viacom; Ruling Raises Concerns About Invasions of Privacy

A district court judge has granted Viacom's request for access to the database log that Google maintains of videos on YouTube. Viacom  successfully made the argument to Judge Louis Stanton that it needed access to the log in order to determine how often a copyrighted video might have been viewed on YouTube's site or on a third-party's site as part of pending litigation. Google had attempted to argue that such a ruling would expose users to invasions of their privacy.

Plaintiffs seek all data from the Logging database concerning each time a YouTube video has been viewed on the YouTube website or through embedding on a third-party website....They need the data to compare the attractiveness of allegedly infringing videos with that of non-infringing ideos. A markedly higher proportion of infringing-video watching may bear on plaintiffs’ vicarious liability claim,

and defendants’ substantial non-infringing use defense. Defendants argue generally that plaintiffs’ request is unduly burdensome because producing the enormous amount of information in the Logging database (about 12 terabytes of data) “would be expensive and time-consuming, particularly in light of the need to examine the contents for privileged and work product material.”...But defendants do not specifically refute that “There is no need to engage in a detailed privilege review of the logging database, since it simply records the numbers of views for each video uploaded to the YouTube website, and the videos watched by each user”....While the Logging database is large, all of its contents can be copied onto a few “over-the-shelf” four-terabyte hard drives....Plaintiffs’ need for the data outweighs the unquantified and unsubstantiated cost of producing that information. Defendants argue that the data should not be disclosed because of the users’ privacy concerns, saying that “Plaintiffs would likely be able to determine the viewing and video uploading habits of YouTube’s users based on the user’s login ID and the user’s IP address”....But defendants cite no authority barring them from disclosing such information in civil discovery proceedings, and their privacy concerns are speculative. Defendants do not refute that the “login ID is an anonymous pseudonym that users create for themselves when they sign up with YouTube” which without more “cannot identify specific individuals”, and Google has elsewhere stated: 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 Software Engineer Alma Whitten, Are IP addresses personal?, GOOGLE PUBLIC POLICY BLOG (Feb. 22, 2008), http://googlepublicpolicy.blogspot.com/2008/02/are-ip-addresses-personal.html (Wilkens Decl. Ex. M). Therefore, the motion to compel production of all datafrom the Logging database concerning each time a YouTube video has been viewed on the YouTube website or through embedding on a third-party website is granted.

Here are reactions from the Guardian and SFGate.com.