Tags: copyrights, Digital Media, Google, legal hassles, Viacom, Video, Video Sharing, Web Services, YouTube

Google told to release YouTube records to Viacom

Search engine giant Google has been ordered by a US based court to provide data related to video-viewing habits of YouTube users to Viacom.

This ruling has been criticized by privacy groups. Google responded in a statement: “We are disappointed the court granted Viacom’s overreaching demand for viewing history.”

Viacom and Google are fighting a legal battle over uploads of copyrighted videos on the popular video sharing service.

Viacom wanted these records to show that videos containing copyrighted media were more popular than user generated material.

Electronic Frontier Foundation attorney Kurt Opsahl spoke about this ruling: “The court’s erroneous ruling is a set-back to privacy rights and will allow Viacom to see what you are watching on YouTube. We urge Viacom to back off this overbroad request and Google to take all steps necessary to challenge this order and protect the rights of its users.”