Turns Out Viacom Is Really Interested In What Google Employees Are Uploading/Viewing On YouTube
from the Google-janitors-are-supposed-to-know-copyright-laws dept
With all the fuss over a court telling Google it needs to give Viacom its log files, Google and Viacom have been discussing ways to hand over the data and retain anonymity (not an easy task). However, apparently one key point is that Viacom is most interested in finding out what Google employees were uploading and viewing on YouTube. That’s an interesting, if sneaky, strategy, as in theory Viacom could use that to try to prove that Google employees “knew” that certain content was infringing, which potentially could remove some DMCA safe harbors. However, that would be a huge stretch in terms of the meaning of the law. If anything, this move shows how much Viacom’s case appears to be based on grasping at straws. If the best it can do is try to show that some Google employees viewed or uploaded infringing material, that’s a pretty weak case — rather than focusing on the fundamental issue of how much responsibility Google has over the content users upload.
Filed Under: copyright, dmca, employees, ip address, privacy, usernames
Companies: google, viacom, youtube
Comments on “Turns Out Viacom Is Really Interested In What Google Employees Are Uploading/Viewing On YouTube”
How dumb
The whole thing is just stupid.
Makes good TV!
Oh, the Drama!
Please let us know when this will be turned into a made-for-tv special! Who is playing the old geezer that runs Viacom? I have a suggestion-Jack Nicholson should be casted for the part!
Re: Makes good TV!
You are spot on!It will definitely be a thrilling TV series. Each party is now claiming some form of innocense and ordinary folks like us are left wondering which party is really culpable. Was the judge that made this ruling knowlegeable about the issue involve in this saga as expalined in this expert’s analysis of the matter: Viacom, Google/YouTube Flap Hits Slippery Slope(http://www.internetevolution.com/author.asp?section_id=565&doc_id=158450&F_src=flftwo)
Monkey See, Monkey Do
If Viacom is worried of Google Employees Infringing, it makes you wonder where they got that idea. Did Viacom Employees illegally upload videos to YouTube?
Re: Monkey See, Monkey Do
I have said this for months Viacom people upload to YT probably on orders, it explains how some stuff is outtakes or footage not used.
Its understandable that Viacom might be digging for information that would prove that Google was systematically, as a business practice, uploading Viacom’s content to increase revenues.
Re: Revenues
YouTube doesn’t have revenues.
Re: Re: Revenues
Youtube doesn’t have revenues? Am I misunderstanding the word? What is the money they get from the ads that show alongside the videos called? I figured that would be called “ad revenue.”
Viacom employees upload the bestest stuff.
Instead of worrying that someone put a clip of a tv show on there, they should be thanking them for giving exposure for their product. I never watched the john stewart show until somebody emailed me a link to clip, I though it was funny and started watching the show. Instead they likely now want to charge for downloading show clips, which means I won;t pay and will not watch anything they put out.
makes me want to boycott all their products for being such greedy morons.
Watching?
Watching?
Wouldn’t it stand to reason that they might be viewing content to see if it is infringing?
Uploading I could understand, but watching?
Re: Watching?
That’s kind of the point, though: if a YouTube techie watched a clip that was copyrighted, then Google loses the defense that they didn’t know. That is, they left it up intentionally even when they knew it was infringing.
But has been noted before, there’s no real good way to tell the difference between pirated content and content that was posted legitamately. also, just because an employee did know a clip was infringing, that doesn’t mean that the employee told the rest of the corporation or took actions they should have to have the clip removed.
who fucking cares
Re: Re:
Obviously you don’t.
even if a google / youtube employee watched an infringing video how would they know it was infringing if Viacom had not sent a take down notice concerning it.