Techotic

Two weeks ago, A federal judge has ordered Google to hand over to Viacom its records of which users watched which videos on YouTube. But it seems Viacom has backed down its demand for all users’ viewing history of every user who has ever watched a video on YouTube and instead Google, will now hand over the database but without data that could identify users.

“We are pleased to report that Viacom, MTV and other litigants have backed off their original demand for all users’ viewing histories and we will not be providing that information,” said a statement on the YouTube blog. The new ruling means that Google will still have to hand over the data logs but in an “anonymized form”, meaning it will not divulge usernames and IP data. An earlier Viacom request that Google be forced to hand over the source code of YouTube has already been denied by a US court on the grounds it is a “trade secret”. Despite Tuesday’s agreement, the companies are yet to agree the process of information disclosure regarding viewing of YouTube clips by employees of YouTube and Google. This is expected to be settled in the coming weeks. The cases are expected to come to trial in 2009 or 2010.

[via bbc]