Another day, another court case furthers a dangerous precedent when it comes to who’s responsible for misconduct on the Web. Last time it was eBay that was dealt the blow when they were held accountable for it’s users selling items illegally. This time Google takes a hit as a US judge ordered the Web giant to turn over significant amounts of YouTube user data to Viacom to help determine whether or not Google’s YouTube is profitting more off copyrighted materials than user uploaded clips.

The data Google is to hand over includes records of every video watched by YouTube users along with logs that include various user data (such as IP address and viewing histories). Google must also hand over copies of all videos it has ever taken down. Viacom did ask for more, such as YouTube’s source code and copies of all private videos, but the judge threw those requests out.

While this case is definitely similar to the eBay case in that Viacom is trying to hold Google responsible for the actions of its users, I can definitely see Viacom’s side here. If Google really is profitting mostly on copyrighted material uploaded to YouTube, then there’s definitely a big problem here. If Viacom can somehow find that Google made X dollars from Viacom’s properties, then yeah, I agree Viacom should be paid that money.

The issue right now, though, isn’t whether or not Viacom deserves any compensation from copyright infringement. No, the issue is how the heck can a judge order Google to hand over pretty much all its user data? The reason the judge is doing so is that apparently Viacom can get more money in the settlement if they find YouTube users watch copyrighted material more than user-created material. I don’t understand why Viacom is entitled to more money if copyrighted videos are watched more. To me, it should be as straightforward as giving Viacom a percentage of all profits Google has made off of copyrighted materials. Who cares about any other videos and why should Viacom be given access to any of that data?

Some of you may be screaming right now “what about the privacy issues?” Well, the judge is using Google’s own defense against privacy issues by saying IP addresses don’t really give away much personal information. I think I actually agree with this as well, so I don’t really see this being a big privacy thing. What I do have a problem with is that Viacom will basically be getting a huge amount of insider data on YouTube and how it works – which they could potentially use against Google down the line. Perhaps Viacom will start their own video site and use Google’s stats as a way of getting a leg up on them? Perhaps that’s a stretch, but I know I sure wouldn’t want another company being able to see how many users I have, what their viewing tendencies are, and what videos and pages are most popular – especially if that company has business related to the services I offer with my company.

Let’s make this case a whole lot simpler. Google shouldn’t be profitting off of Viacom’s copyrighted properties. As such, if Google has made $1 billion off Viacom’s copyrighted materials, Google should pay $1 billion to Viacom (or perhaps some agreed upon percentage of the number). Viacom and the courts should get access to any relevant data, which in the case should only consist of videos containing Viacom’s copyrighted material and user history relating to those specific videos. Viacom should not get access to any other data as it shouldn’t have any bearing on the case.

In the end, my main concern is that this may set some sort of precedent that any company out there can sue another company and perhaps get that company’s insider stats and secrets to maybe use against them in some way. While the judge didn’t go handing over YouTube’s source code, the detailed user stats he is making Google release could be considered much more valuable.