Your YouTube viewing habits are no longer private

[Rick Munroe]

Another blow to our privacy rights, thanks to Viacom, Google and the U.S. courts. What's next?

 

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/privacy-of-youtube-users-under-threat-859983.html

 

The personal viewing habits and online identities of millions of YouTube users are to be handed over to an American media giant after a court rejected arguments that such a move amounted to a massive invasion of internet privacy.

 

Under the terms of a US court judgment, Google, which owns YouTube, must now surrender the details of video-watching histories, IP addresses and usernames, to Viacom, which wants to use the data to prove that the site is hosting thousands of television and other media clips in breach of strict copyright laws.

 

Last night, Google said it intended to comply with the court order and confirmed the ruling would affect "our global log". At this stage, the company had no plans to appeal against the ruling, a Google spokesman said.

 

Privacy groups described the ruling as a dangerous precedent that could lead to worldwide breaches of internet privacy.

 

The Electronic Frontier Foundation, an internet rights group, said the ruling will allow Viacom to see what everyone is 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," the group said.

[Guest ryan2552]

>Another blow to our privacy rights, thanks to Viacom, Google

>and the U.S. courts. What's next?

>

 

It's quite sad to see our privacy chipped away at. Unfortunately, the technology that allows us to communicate in this forum and technology in its entirety allows companies like ViaCom to abuse all the good technology accomplishes.

 

As citizens we can no longer assume anything we are involved in will remain private. The assumed privacy we took for granted no less than a decade ago has vanished.

 

This site is at least worth a look.

http://www.eff.org

[Guest timgetrum]

rick

 

i have not read up on this, but i assume this is part of viacom's "discovery" in a legal action.

 

technically at least, viacom will be extremely limited in what they may do with the data. should viacom violate the explicit restrictions regarding the data, they risk damage awards.

[Rick Munroe]

That's why I asked, "What's next?" You know, they've already begun confiscating and inspecting the contents of peoples' laptops at the airport, right? http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/washington/26airports.html

[Guest ryan2552]

>That's why I asked, "What's next?" You know,

>they've already begun confiscating and inspecting the contents

>of peoples' laptops at the airport, right?

>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/26/washington/26airports.html

 

This happened to Totally Oz well over a year ago. I don't remember the exact circumstances other than he was returning from a trip overseas. He had more than one notebook with him. Customs took them to a room out of his view and apparently kept them for hours. Eventually they were returned, I believe, with many of his photos deleted. He also mentioned that he found specific spyware on his computer.

 

Our privacy is fading like a sunset.

[Rick Munroe]

>He had more than one notebook with him.

>Customs took them to a room out of his view and apparently

>kept them for hours. Eventually they were returned, I believe,

>with many of his photos deleted. He also mentioned that he

>found specific spyware on his computer.

 

I hadn't read that; it's pretty awful. Were the photos removed because they were pornographic? Was he given any explanation or was it all secretive for the sake of "national security"?

[+ ArVaGuy]

I've been aware of this for a long while in part because my job requires international travel. Further a major aspect of my job requires organizing coferences in international locations so I have to pay attention to travel issues.

 

Try this link for more info on the issue the NY Times just seems to have recently discovered. As the article states the practice has more to do with child pornography than catching international terrorists.

 

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/82561/can_us_customs_search_seize_your_laptop.html

[Guest ryan2552]

>

>I hadn't read that; it's pretty awful. Were the photos

>removed because they were pornographic? Was he given any

>explanation or was it all secretive for the sake of

>"national security"?

>

He wasn't given any explanation whatsoever.

 

Here's the link to the thread. This happened nearly two years ago.

http://www.maleescortreview.com/forum/index.php?showtopic=311&hl=customs

[Rick Munroe]

RE: The contents of peoples' laptops at airports

 

Thanks, Anton, for the great advice (as usual). Now, are you going to teach us how and where to encrypt, zip and upload?