Viacom's goal with that data is to prove that, as a whole, infringing videos are more watched that user-generated content, and therefore, YouTube profited from Viacom's pirated content. So their (stated) intent isn't to go after individual users and, as someone pointed out below, they've been forbidden from doing so.
Even if Viacom's goal were to go against individual users, there'd be no point in taking stuff down now - logs go back several years, so you'd be screwed either way.
Given that the vast majority of Google's revenue is advertising, it shouldn't surprise anyone that they keep track of every. single. thing. that takes place on their servers. What you search for, where you click, what you watch, what you write, which software you use, how often you visit - all that stuff is marketing gold.
personally i think if they're going to be looking at all the IP-addresses, they may take it a step further like the RIAA (the music people who sue downloaders) and start sending out Anonymous court filings (lawsuits).
It may establish a president for other companies like Paramount, and Fox and other studios and media companies to track their materials.
CNET News.com reported that Viacom is under strict instructions from the court not to use the data for anything other than proving the prevalence of infringement on YouTube.
Viacom, therefore, is forbidden from targeting individual users in the manner of the Recording Industry Association of America's lawsuits against individuals found to be downloading illegal music.
Once the data is made anonymous and analyzed, whatever numbers Viacom learns can only be used for the purposes of its lawsuit. Exploiting the data in other ways would result in the company being charged with contempt of court, said a source close to Viacom.I think we can
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Even if Viacom's goal were to go against individual users, there'd be no point in taking stuff down now - logs go back several years, so you'd be screwed either way.
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what?
(copies & pastes hollywoodgrrl's comment)
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It may establish a president for other companies like Paramount, and Fox and other studios and media companies to track their materials.
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CNET News.com reported that Viacom is under strict instructions from the court not to use the data for anything other than proving the prevalence of infringement on YouTube.
Viacom, therefore, is forbidden from targeting individual users in the manner of the Recording Industry Association of America's lawsuits against individuals found to be downloading illegal music.
http://www.forbes.com/technology/2008/07/03/youtube-google-viacom-tech-security-cx_ag_0703youtube.html:
Once the data is made anonymous and analyzed, whatever numbers Viacom learns can only be used for the purposes of its lawsuit. Exploiting the data in other ways would result in the company being charged with contempt of court, said a source close to Viacom.I think we can ( ... )
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