Some of you may have read about the court ruling in the US, that ruled that Google must hand over its entire user log to Viacom as part of a copyright infringement lawsuit Viacom have filed. The logs are massive, 4 TeraBytes (over 4000 GigaBytes) worth of users and their viewing history on YouTube. This has annoyed me for several reasons, firstly what has this to do with their current lawsuit? Secondly Are there any conditions attached to this data? and lastly and perphaps most importantly Is this not a blatant breach of people privacy rites and whatever personal (if any!) the United States provides for its citizens?
Some justification for my first point maybe that they are only going to use this information to find out how much of their copyrighted material is available in YouTube and how many times it has been viewed. But can a private company whose sole purpose is to make money and increase profits really just ignore all that information that can be used for Marketing? Imagine it, one of the biggest entertainment companies in the world with access to millions of peoples personal details and viewing preferences. We could see a wave of spam and targeted marketing that nobody signed up for. What’s more if there are no conditions attached to the data, what is to stop Viacom selling the lists to spammers. I don’t believe that this is simply about the court case and an attempt by Viacom to gain access to a huge bank of data that SHOULD be kept confidential by Google.
There are various news reports that are quoting the various laws that this ruling may be infringing on. I’ll link to these at the end of the post.
But more worrying to me is that in recent times the US has become hypocritical and seem to have reverted to the dreaded McCarthyism of the 50’s and the cold war. Recently I found out that the Irish government have given the US government to carry acts of rendition on IRISH citizens that they believe have broken US law and allow them to take them out of the country without going near a court or the Irish judicial system. Also the US government is negotiating with the EU to make this “privilege” Europe wide.
America is after doing a 180 on its views. After the long staunch against communism and steel resolve for the freedom of expression and speech. It seems that American citizens must now be careful about what they say and think in public. Michael Moore’s films while they should be viewed with a pinch of salt do present a somewhat accurate account of what has been happening in American politics and law making in recent years.
But alas Europe is not much better, given the blatant bitch slap given to democracy and due process recently with Ireland’s rejection of the Lisbon Treaty. As soon as that NO vote was announced the treaty should have been dead in the water and abandoned. But no, at the EU in Brussels other member states were encouraged to continue and ratify the treaty. The country has voted NO and that should be it there should be no re vote. There needs to be a new treaty drafted and explained to the people in clear terms not with that farce of a leaflet they sent out.
Democracy which has been around since Ancient Greece, comes from to words Demo and Crate which mean power to the people. This seems to be failing lately as governments try and place more and more restrictions on their peoples. The words of V from the movie V for Vendetta ring especially clear to me lately.
There are of course those who do not want us to speak. I suspect even now, orders are being shouted into telephones, and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning, and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn’t there? Cruelty and injustice, intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who’s to blame? Well certainly there are those more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable, but again truth be told, if you’re looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror. I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn’t be? War, terror, disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you, and in your panic you turned to the <Insert Relevant Government here>
And to finish another quote from V,
“People should not be afraid of their governments, Governments Should be afraid of their people”
Links to reports on the YouTube ruling.
BBC Reports
EFF.org Report
