14 DAY TRIAL // It seems like YouTube users have nothing to fear anymore. Their user ID, IP address and visitor ID are no longer in danger of being handed over to Viacom, as the company, that sued Google's YouTube last year, asking for $1 billion indemnification regarding copyrights, has backed off its request. If this came to happen because the media company reconsidered its position, the judges rejected some of the other solicitations Viacom came forward with. Hence, YouTube's search and video identification technologies, along with users' private videos will remain a secret to the public eye.
Viacom's decision may have been prompted by the wave of general criticism that gained proportion when it was made clear that the online identity and behavior of no one were safe from being handed over to third parties. As the users who initiated an online petition to prevent this said, they only agreed to disclose some of their private information to YouTube, and certainly not to place it at the discretion of other companies.
The decision taken by the judges also implies that the two should decide, no later than 7 days from the execution of a stipulation signed by both parties, what are the substituting values that YouTube should offer to Viacom. An agreement signed by the corporations, that seals what is it said before, announces that everything related to their employees' behavior is to be privately discussed.
Regarding this, both YouTube and Viacom want to check if their staff had anything to do with the display of unlicensed videos. A possibility that is insinuated is that some of Viacom's employees uploaded the videos in order to increase the popularity of the company. However, Viacom says the contrary. YouTube's jobholders might have themselves ignored the copyright policies and have deliberately brought out some materials that were not supposed to be displayed there.
We probably won't know the final decision in the lawsuit until next year, when it is believed it will come to an end.