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  • Author unknown

    Privacy? Roialties

    http://vitadigitale.corriere.it/2008/07/privacy_roialties.ht...
    153 days ago in Blog Vita Digitale di Federico Cella. Corriere Della Sera · Authority: 142

    Privacy? Roialties Scritto da: Federico Cella alle 17:14 Leggendo in giro in Rete della notizia del giudice che dà ragione a Viacom sulla questione del copyright dei video su Youtube, vedo preoccupazione o addirittura indignazione per la libertà venduta. E la questione della privacy in Internet è sempre molto interessante e senz'altro da tenere monitorata. Però a me, leggendo la notizia, in realtà non è venuto in mente nient'altro se non che Google prima o poi dovrà a trovare una soluzione per il pagamento delle roialties.

  • Author unknown

    You Gotta Fight, For Your Right (to view YouTube clips…)

    http://www.alwritenow.com/2008/07/you-gotta-fight-for-your-r...
    153 days ago in AlWriteNow · No authority yet

    I like my privacy, I also like YouTube, but as the battle between Google and Viacom continues, your days of watching online video clips could sadly be about to become a lot less popular (on YouTube at least). It will surely affect millions of consumers across the world as Viacom, the organisation who own MTV and Paramount Pictures, has recently filed a lawsuit to Google with regards to copyright infringement. This case has become a bit of a long running battle between the two giant organisations, as far back as in March 2007, Viacom claiming that YouTube had without authorisation posted 160,000 clips of their programmes. The football Premier League are also getting their claws in on the action, claiming YouTube users are watching highlights of the football matches. But wait, it gets better. As Viacom attempt to put their foot down on Google and teach them a valuable lesson they will never forget, they have requested from Google the viewing habits of every YouTube user be passed over to them. The details will be passed over to Viacom in the format of the log-in ID, the computer IP address and video clip details of every user. The main worry perhaps will be as to what Viacom will do with this information once they have received it; will they launch lawsuits against YouTube users?! Hmm, personal information in the hands of a large organisation, this is perhaps the biggest threat to users of the Internet since the case regarding music file sharing organisation Napster, which was a not too dissimilar a case. In attempt to limit the amount of copyright material, YouTube have since introduced filtering tools on their website. As for the thoughts by the Google staff on the case, Catherine Lacavera, senior litigation counsel stated: "We are disappointed the court granted Viacom's over-reaching demand for viewing history. We will ask Viacom to respect user's privacy and allow us to anonymise the logs before producing them under the courts order." If 2008 was to be the year for anything, it will surely be the loss (and frustration) experienced of many individuals privacy. This new case has further opened up the lack of privacy and freedom individuals have with what they can view on the Internet. However, the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) are urging Viacom to back down on the case, describing the ruling as a "set-back to privacy rights". Obviously the main concern with users will be that this log data does contain personally identifiable data but Viacom claim that only want to "compare the attractiveness of allegedly infringing video with that of non-infringing videos." This will be a watch this space scenario but for now I think I am going to disconnect my Internet connection, switch off my mobile phone and head to a friends house to watch a (legal) DVD, honest. At least this way, being offline my every move can't be tracked (well for now at least), but this is the fear sadly many individuals privacy is coming to.