Why Are People Being Sent To Jail For Unlocking A Mobile Phone?

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

Mon, Jul 14th 2008 6:41am — Mike Masnick

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.

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Filed Under: copyright, dmca, employees, ip address, privacy, usernames
Companies: google, viacom, youtube

16 Comments

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Mustached Potato, 14 Jul 2008 @ 7:29am

How dumb
The whole thing is just stupid.
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Blue Basketcase, 14 Jul 2008 @ 7:41am

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!
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- Abdul, 14 Jul 2008 @ 8:35am
  
  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)
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Roger W, 14 Jul 2008 @ 7:54am

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?
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- Mike Allen, 14 Jul 2008 @ 9:22am
  
  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.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Jul 2008 @ 8:20am

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.
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- Sublimemm, 14 Jul 2008 @ 8:23am
  
  Re: Revenues
  YouTube doesn't have revenues.
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  - Ragaboo, 14 Jul 2008 @ 8:43am
    
    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."
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Hoeppner, 14 Jul 2008 @ 8:23am

Viacom employees upload the bestest stuff.
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Annoyed with the whole industry, 14 Jul 2008 @ 9:16am

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.
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PRMan, 14 Jul 2008 @ 10:34am

Watching?
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PRMan, 14 Jul 2008 @ 10:35am

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?
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- Anonymous Coward, 14 Jul 2008 @ 10:56am
  
  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.
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Anonymous Coward, 14 Jul 2008 @ 11:26am

who fucking cares
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- Liquid, 14 Jul 2008 @ 12:09pm
  
  Re:
  Obviously you don't.
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wasnt me, 14 Jul 2008 @ 12:18pm

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.
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