Privacy Online? Not So Much...

If you've ever watched or posted a video at Google's YouTube service then your information is about to be handed over to the Viacom Corporation.

Google has been ordered to hand over details of YouTube users' viewing habits by a judge presiding over a copyright infringement case against the site.

Viacom, the parent company of MTV, filed a $1 billion lawsuit against the video-sharing site last March. It demanded that Google, which owns YouTube, should hand over data about how people use the site, arguing that the information would show that copyright-protected material was routinely posted and watched.

Judge Louis Stanton of the US District Court granted the request, ordering Google to divulge details of every video clip uploaded to the site, along with viewers’ YouTube usernames and IP addresses.

It's really not very "speculative". My user ID, along with all the others, will be turned over to a private corporation for an unknown purpose. They'll also have access to IP numbers and logs of what people have watched, as well as what they may have posted. Will they be going after everyone who's ever looked at one of these video clips? Like any corporation they're about making money. What's a faster way to make money than following the same path as the RIAA and extorting it via threatened lawsuits?

Make no mistake. This ruling bodes ill for the future of privacy rights in this country. All because some ill educated geezer of a judge has no idea what he's even ruling on. Here's hoping that the EFF, Google and interested parties appeal this bad decision to a higher, and better educated court.

Technorati Tags:
YouTube, Google, Privacy, Libertarian

The End Of The World (In Five Parts)

Well, I finally ran across something at Google Video that was worth watching and recommending. Somewhere in my surfing this morning I ran across a link to an End of the World movie that's been posted on Google and I must say that this BBC thriller is well done. I must admit to a perverse fascination with the TEOTWAWKI genre of fiction. While I generally dislike the Horror genre (it's rarely scary and mostly just gorily camp or just plain gory) a well done End of the World movie will not only creep me out, it will send cold chills down my spine and do for me what a so-called Horror movie should.

"Horizon - End Day" is a well done BBC docu-drama that doesn't bother to go into mind numbing detail as they explore 5 separate end of the world scenarios. The movie is well paced and not boring in the least. The scenarios run down the list; from Pandemic Flu, Asteroid Strike, Mega-Tsunami, a Yellowstone Super Volcano Eruption to the creation of a "strangelet" particle in a Super Collider that destroys the planet.

End Day runs like Ground Hog Day, as research scientist Dr. Howell lives through these separate events while replaying the same day (until he manages to flip the switch that destroys the world in the final scenario). The truly horrifying aspect of all these scenarios is that they are plausible and ripped from the news of the day. That adds the real chill for me! The almost 56 minute movie was visually well done and had only a few mistakes that I noticed, (a European car in NY, airport gangways marked Berlin that were supposed to be in NY, etc). You could do worse than to download this movie and watch it. Do download it, tho. The version which runs online is not as good as the downloaded Google version. The player for Mac and Windows is a free download, (I don't know if their is a Linux method of playing the movie. I hope there is, tho!).

If you're looking for a short, chilling film that's free...here it is!



Download and enjoy!
(A tip of the hat to whomever I found the original link through. I can't remember!)


Technorati Tags:
End of the World, Google Video, BBC