Viacom Wins Access to Google, YouTube User Information

A judge ordered this week that Google must turn over personal records of YouTube users to Viacom, according to court documents. The ruling comes as part of the discovery phase of a lawsuit filed in March 2007 in which Viacom alleges that YouTube users are using the service to upload and view more copyrighted content than organically created video.

The ruling means that Google will have to produce all personal content of users, including names and IP addresses, to Viacom. Viacom's intentions are to get their hands on user information in order to identify YouTube users who are committing copyright infringement.

The contention is that organic YouTube content is not as popular as material that is subject to copyright. Viacom believes " and a judge agreed " that the best way for this claim to be substantiated is for Google to turn over the personal records of users.

Google argues that the content posted to the YouTube Website should be protected because it complies with the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DCMA) and flags material under copyright and remove it from the site. The DCMA was written into law in 1997.

However, using the DCMA as its defense was not compelling enough to a judge who ordered that YouTube user history and information must be turned over to Viacom.

The ruling is not a total loss for Google, however. Viacom originally wanted access to the proprietary source code that YouTube uses for search. That request was denied by the court.