I was slightly (but only slightly) relieved to see a statement from Viacom on its request for YouTube user data. From the Electronic Frontier Federation:
Viacom’s Statement on YouTube User Data Controversy
July 3rd, 2008
Posted by Kurt OpsahlViacom released the following statement today in response to the YouTube user data controversy (first reported on this blog):
“It is unfortunate that we have been compelled to go to court to protect Viacom’s rights and the rights of the artists who work with and depend on us. YouTube and Google have put us in this position by continuing to defend their illegal and irresponsible conduct and profiting from copyright infringement, when they could be implementing the safe and legal user generated content experience they promise.
The Court’s recent decision has triggered concern about what information will be disclosed and how it will be used. Viacom has not asked for and will not be obtaining any personally identifiable information of any user. Any information that we or our outside advisors obtain — which will not include personally identifiable information — will be used exclusively for the purpose of proving our case against You Tube and Google, will be handled subject to a court protective order and in a highly confidential manner.
. . .
Additional helpful articles have also been posted at Salon (gives a nice overview of some of the history surrounding viewer privacy), The New York Times (includes Google’s request to redact information that would potentially identify individual users) and Forbes (clarifies some of the safeguards Viacom states it will be using).
This is all well and good, but I’ve gotta tell you, I’m pretty irate about all the assaults on my privacy lately. Between the judge’s evident unconcern for the potential privacy rights of YouTube users, Viacom’s sweeping request (why not just request the statistical analysis in the first place, instead of asking for all the user data?), and Google’s/YouTube’s storage of all of that user data (stop trying to “target” me for marketers!), I feel like I’m trapped in an Orwellian world that does NOT resemble the one more poetically described as the “land of the free”. (And don’t even get me started on the mass of … poop that is the upcoming Senate FISA vote.) It may seem a little strange to hear from someone who blogs here, but I’m actually a pretty private person, and I do NOT enjoy this feeling that my every move is being accounted for by some corporate (or governmental) entity. Please, at least honor the minimal privacy safeguards that still exist in today’s society. At least let me have that.
Stephen, I know you deserve the break, but please come back refreshed and ready to make me laugh again, because I’m going to need it after this week’s frustrations!
As Ms. I wrote:
“It may seem a little strange to hear from someone who blogs here, but I’m actually a pretty private person, and I do NOT enjoy this feeling that my every move is being accounted for by some corporate (or governmental) entity. Please, at least honor the minimal privacy safeguards that still exist in today’s society. At least let me have that.”
You are speaking my language, Ms. I!
My friends and family often wonder why I get so irate when I go to a store and the cashier DEMANDS (not asks for) some element of personal information about me, before they will even ring up my purchase. I just want to conduct a transaction here, OK? I don’t need to be bagged, tagged, or otherwise unwillingly collected in anyone’s freakin’ database!
Then when I look said cashier in the eye and say, “No, you don’t need that information.” they look at me like I got a horn sprouting out of the middle of my forehead or something.
Whether it’s zipcodes, phone numbers, addresses, what have you…no, no, and NO! And don’t get me started on those BS shopper “loyalty” cards the supermarkets are constantly pushing. Extort my personal information so I can get a “deal” by paying the real prices that the items should be marked at already? Um…how about NO? I refuse to shop at those stores. (I’m talking about YOU, Safeway…)
Corporations uber alles. An individual’s expectation to some level of privacy, much less some dignity…be damned.
Sorry DB, Ms. I, and fellow Zoners for the long post, but man, this story has hit a raw nerve with me.
Viacom is *seriously* On Notice… >:-[
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Yeah, I’ve become increasingly paranoid about, oh, everything I do on the internets. Like, “If I say this in this way, and for whatever reason run for public office in the future, is it going to get dug up and used against me?” (And as someone who actually posted a couple of the TDS clips in question, I’m even more paranoid of late.)
This article that ran in Popular Science a couple months ago about someone trying to keep completely anonymous for just a week was really interesting. The bit about buying the *prepaid* cellphone and them asking for his birthday, but actually just needing a random number for an activation code? WTF, people? And that guy just giving away his mother’s SSN? ARGH!
My dad blew up at someone when we moved my brother into a new apartment a year ago because they asked for his SSN, and he kept going on about how that was illegal, etc etc. We all rolled our eyes at him, but now I kinda want him to go yell at all these people just blithely giving away their info. And that man can yell.
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These corporations are like children sticking their fingers in the dike to stop a flood. Ask the RIAA and Metallica how this BS worked out for them.
Newsflash, boardroom boys. The internet’s here already.
You can send out cease and desist letters, you can tell your writer’s what they create is meaningless if it’s piped through the Net and they shouldn’t be paid, you can tell the public that buys your garbage that they shouldn’t watch anything on any site but yours because YOU deserve to be paid, and you can spend more money and more money on lawyers trying to stifle and squelch and control everything your fingers are in and on and choking while relying on some artistic integrity argument that’s said with a wink and a nudge while kicking the “artists” in the you-know-what on another day (writer’s strike, hello?), and you still won’t stop it.
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The only thing that makes this whole situation slightly more tolerable is a quote from Stephen’s White House Correspondent’s Dinner speech: “…if anybody needs anything else at their tables, just speak slowly and clearly into your table numbers. Somebody from the NSA will be right over with a cocktail.”
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