Secondly;
I understand why they want users I.P. adresses, to know who watched these videos, I really don't care.
Thirdly;
I ws under the impression that once it was on T.V. it was public? Only thing I can think of, is Youtube making a profit (Which they do, ads and whatnot) so would that be considered 'selling' those clips?
They have no need for our IP addresses. All they want to prove is their own content is more popular than "amateur" content uploaded by users. While IP addresses are public information, they could, with proper assistance of ISPs, potentially identify users. Though, if they agree to scrub the data, IP addresses will probably be replaced by an appropriately mapped random number.
As for 3: No, that's not true. I mean, Sony v. Universal established that time-shifting (i.e. recording shows to watch them later) was fair use, but this was for personal use. The owners still retain their copyrights, and you can't reproduce their work for public viewing without their permission.
Now, I don't much care if it is released what I watch on Youtube, so in that sense it's not a "big deal". But, the reason it is a big deal, is because the way American courts work on precedence. It sets a precedent where companies can be forced to turn over large amounts of personal data about their users to facilitate a lawsuit. Today it's youtube.. maybe tomorrow it's what you typed into a search engine.. then maybe the contents of your inbox. That's why it's scary.
that is Top Secret
