4 July 2008 10:35 AM, PDT | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news
Viacom's efforts to keep its TV shows and movies off YouTube has resulted in a court ruling that could have profound implications for websites in general. Under the ruling the video website must turn over to Viacom the user names (but not the actual names) of every YouTube user, their IP addresses and a list of videos that each user has watched on YouTube. Under the ruling, the data would only be disclosed to Viacom and would not be made public. Google, which owns YouTube, expressed disappointment with the ruling but did not indicate whether it plans to appeal.
