In another wonderful invasion of American privacy, YouTube has recently been ordered to hand over all of its viewer data to Viacom. “Why,” you ask, “why does this cute and cuddly conglomerate have to know that I just really like watching playthroughs of old Zelda games for NES? Is that really necessary?” Viacom thinks so, because it's suing YouTube for copyright infringement to the tune of $1 billion, and a judge ruled that granting them the right to snoop will help their cause. What a philanthropist.
The good news is that Viacom will only be given your IP address, which means that if IP address. 47.32.97.08 watches a lot of naked BMX bike racing, they will only be known by that number. HOWEVER, if 47.32.97.08 also happens to be the star of a YouTube show in which they dance in a fairy costume against a backdrop of Full House clips, Viacom will take the time to track that sucker down and initiate legal action. I mean, I’m fucked, personally. I switch it up a little and wear hospital scrubs instead, but the sentiment is there. Remember how the RIAA started arresting college students and mothers of two? It’s kinda like that. Those were the days...
YouTube’s parent company Google has attempted to warn its users by linking to its privacy policy at the bottom of the site, but some dude’s still totally going to get busted for his fan montage of Angela from Who’s the Boss? He only wanted to see her answering the door in a bathrobe 50 times in a row. What’s so weird about that?
