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Too Much Free Time

by Mike Masnick

Mon, Jul 14th 2008 6:41am




Filed Under:
copyright, dmca, employees, ip address, privacy, usernames

Companies:
google, viacom, youtube


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.

16 Comments | Leave a Comment

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  1.  
    identicon
    Mustached Potato, Jul 14th, 2008 @ 7:29am

    How dumb

    The whole thing is just stupid.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  2.  
    identicon
    Blue Basketcase, Jul 14th, 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!

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  3.  
    identicon
    Roger W, Jul 14th, 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?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  4.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jul 14th, 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.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  5.  
    identicon
    Hoeppner, Jul 14th, 2008 @ 8:23am

    Viacom employees upload the bestest stuff.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  6.  
    identicon
    Sublimemm, Jul 14th, 2008 @ 8:23am

    Re: Revenues

    YouTube doesn't have revenues.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  7.  
    identicon
    Abdul, Jul 14th, 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)

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  8.  
    identicon
    Ragaboo, Jul 14th, 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."

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  9.  
    identicon
    Annoyed with the whole industry, Jul 14th, 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.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  10.  
    identicon
    Mike Allen, Jul 14th, 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.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  11.  
    identicon
    PRMan, Jul 14th, 2008 @ 10:34am

    Watching?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  12.  
    identicon
    PRMan, Jul 14th, 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?

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  13.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jul 14th, 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.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  14.  
    identicon
    Anonymous Coward, Jul 14th, 2008 @ 11:26am

    who fucking cares

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  15.  
    identicon
    Liquid, Jul 14th, 2008 @ 12:09pm

    Re:

    Obviously you don't.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]

  16.  
    identicon
    wasnt me, Jul 14th, 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.

     

    [ reply to this | link to this | view in thread ]


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