The Good, The Bad, The Spin

It’s near impossible to know the exact machinations at work in the Viacom/Google lawsuit, but Google’s and Viacom’s comments about the recent order to turn over data underscore an important point: Both entities, in attempting to iron out copyright infringement of commercial videos posted Youtube, appear to be adamant about protecting the identity, and therefore privacy, of individual Youtube users.

This exchange comes from the New York Times:

In a letter sent Thursday, Google’s lawyers pressed their counterparts at Viacom to accept a more limited set of data. “We request that plaintiffs agree that YouTube may redact user names and I.P. addresses from the viewing data in the interests of protecting user privacy,” wrote David H. Kramer, a partner at Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati.

In a response, a Viacom lawyer wrote that Viacom was “committed to working with Google” on the privacy issue.

Interestingly, Google has rejected demands by privacy groups for more stringent protections for I.P. address records, saying that in most cases the addresses cannot be used to identify users. Yet Google argued that YouTube viewing data should be kept from Viacom, in part, to protect the privacy of its users.

It is the judge in the case who is disagreeing with Google. Again, from the Times:

Judge Louis L. Stanton of the Southern District of New York, who is presiding over Viacom’s lawsuit against Google and YouTube, referenced Google’s past statements on I.P. addresses to conclude that its “privacy concerns are speculative.”

Read all about it at the Las Vegas Sun.

It is not a lost irony that news outfits have to engage in public relations. And really, who doesn’t? If you relate to others, you do public relations. Today’s spectacle comes from the The Idahoe Statesmen. Regular readers of this blog know that, unlike what is read in reader comments in mainstream news sites, I tend to accept what pilloried politicians, government officials and the like say as having some element of truth (what benefit does lying have when the spotlight is on you?).

In other words, I view the inherent journalistic dogma, that officials–particularly those who are public figures or work in government– are de facto liars as being an unfair and ignorant journalistic bias. (more…)