YouTube Ordered to Violate User Privacy

(New York) In a ruling from a copyright-infringement lawsuit filed by Viacom Inc., U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton has ordered YouTube to reveal details associated with users.

Data is to include "how often users watch videos, how much time they spend doing it, their username and their Internet Protocol addresses, the unique identification assigned to individual computers and devices." Viacom promised to handle all personal identifiable information in a confidential manner.

Viacom wanted to have Google, owner of YouTube, disclose its search engine source code, but the judge rejected the request.