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YouTube Hands Over User’s Info to Fox

techcrunch.com — YouTube has reportedly identified a user accused by 20th Century Fox Television of uploading episodes of the show 24 a week prior to their running on television

Who dugg this? Made popular Feb 14, 2007

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  • durrty, on 10/12/2007, -1/+222Please note they did this "Three weeks after receiving a subpoena from the U.S. District Court in Northern California". So they didn't just "hand them over". Mostly dugg for this piece of advice at the end of the article:

    "Perhaps the rest will stop linking their personal information to accounts used in illicit activities."

    What a novel idea.
  • Scatropolis, on 10/12/2007, -3/+82Oh come on he was putting the shows on even before they were on TV. That's just asking for trouble.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -6/+43upholding the law is evil?
  • derek20cali, on 10/12/2007, -1/+34Read the ***** article; the information was subpoenaed.
  • threepio, on 10/12/2007, -26/+59Said Google, owner of YouTube, "We're not technically doing evil. We're just handing the info over to OTHER PEOPLE who are going to do evil. That's okay, right? Right??"
  • DannySpace, on 10/12/2007, -3/+35Lemme guess, now it's time to jump on the "I Hate Google/YouTube" B-Wagon? Look, the uploader left a trail; it's his own damn fault on all accounts!
  • triplehelix, on 10/12/2007, -1/+29i don't conduct much in the way of illicit activity online, except some p2p stuff, and i still don't link my real info.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28VirutalBall...yeah..damn it! Nothing is secure when you violate laws! How terrible.
  • joshua5, on 10/12/2007, -0/+23 this show is the property of 20th Century Fox. They created it, they funded it, they produced it, and you watch it. yes uploading copyrighted material to YouTube is breaking the law.

    Google flexed rather than flinch - and rightfully so - when the US Government wanted random user search data but this is FAR from the same thing. contrary to the apparent belief around here, you do NOT have personal rights to distribute copyrighted content as you see fit. sometimes its fun to stick it to the corporations but give me a freaking break people!
  • funkytaco, on 10/12/2007, -1/+23Well the fact that the video was posted before it was aired makes me think they are going after an employee, not an average youtube user.
  • drizek, on 10/12/2007, -0/+19The reason fox went after him was because he uploaded it before it aired. That is illegal on many many levels, depending on how he acquired it. If you upload an episode of something a day after it airs, the worst any company has done was just ask youtube to take it down.
  • dojonz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18since the 21st Century?
  • Scott2, on 10/12/2007, -2/+19Google is not above the law.
  • OUChevelleSS, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17Well this is fine by me because it's an insider problem on Fox's end.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+16anamanaman...this case is FAR worse than those who upload the latest episode a few minutes after it aired.

    They are not singling only one person out. EVERY network, both broadcast and cable will do the same thing to EVERY person who uploads entire episodes of highly rated/anticipated shows BEFORE THEY AIR.

    That directly hurts their profits.
  • skored, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14Here is a direct link from yesterday's article that TechCrunch is basing this story on: http://www.internetnews.com/xSP/article.php/3659401
  • thewump, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Yeah.. what he said. Why should google spend a dime on litigation to hide the identity of a ***** idiot?
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -3/+13boo urns
  • daborg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+8Google is not afraid of lawsuits, they just don't see the point of protecting people who blatantly commit obviously illegal acts on their sites. I don't blame them for a second.
  • anamanaman, on 10/12/2007, -10/+17Handing over personal data to a private party for a crime that is rampant on the entire network is evil. You cant just single one person out like that.
  • SuckMyDigg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8You spelled felching wrong.
  • dkm201, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8But... but... we have the RIGHT to redistribute copyrighted content that we don't own... don't we?

    I get my entire worldview from this site so that's what I think.
  • cherryroo, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9Long live internet cafes, open wireless hot spots and TOR for anonymity
  • SloppyJoe, on 10/12/2007, -3/+10Good. Whoever did it was an idiot anyway...

    You can't just go around doing whatever you want. I'm all for watching TV online... I'm its biggest fan (means I could get rid of my cable bill) BUT posting something that hasn't been released yet is just wrong. Now after its been released... I think things are a little fuzzy... My opinion is that since I pay the cable co. each month, I have the right to watch any show that comes on the channels I receive any time that I want. But not before it has been aired. Why? Because I could have recorded it and watched it later.. So what if someone else recorded it and I'm watching their copy.. I have the right to view it anyway...
  • shanaya, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6Don't admit your guilt unless you absolutely have to :p
  • 1jaxstate1, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6The idiot deserves to get ratted out. I just don't understand why some people do the things they do. They are going to nail him to the wall for showing episodes before they air. That's a major no no.
  • joshua5, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7mr president?
  • guardy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4any one posts pre-air tv episodes on public website is stupid.
  • victortrash, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Thats probably the most intelligent comment in this thread so far funkytaco.
  • thewump, on 10/12/2007, -2/+6There is fraud and there is fraud.. airing a show BEFORE a network is fraud on such an IDIOTIC level that it deserves punishment. I know if I was part of youtube there is no friggin WAY I would risk getting sued by fox to protect someone so moronic.

  • Branden, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3@daborg:
    You are going to have to invest in something to be able to watch the shows legally. You could either buy a tv, a tuner card, wait for the DVDs, or buy them on iTunes. Otherwise it would be like trying to access Digg without an internet connection. You would either have to legally pay for your own internet connection or illegally hijack someone's wifi.
  • Scott2, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3info about a copyright violations, handed over under subpoena. good.
  • 350Zed, on 10/12/2007, -21/+24I'd hardly call enforcing copyright law "evil".
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4I defend people who upload shows after it's been on TV free for everyone, but the reason it's free is because of advertising, and to take away the initial funding source is an attack on the show's very existence. We should be applauding youtube. If more people got away with this, THERE WOULD BE NO SHOWS to upload.
  • kevin2735, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3"In an e-mail to internetnews.com, a 20th Century Fox Television spokesperson said that Google and Live Digital complied with subpoenas issued by the U.S. District Court in Northern California and disclosed to Fox the identities of two individuals who illegally uploaded entire episodes of "24" prior to its broadcast and DVD release. "

    Youtube is probably not capable of revealing the identity of the users. What they would have revealed is the IP information used to create and access the youtube account in which the copyrighted material passed through. The may also reveal the name used to create the account, but so many people use false names you cannot rely on that alone for any kind of prosecution. 20th Century Fox will still need to resolve that IP information to the ISP in order to reveal the ISP subscriber account used to control the Youtube account. That is the only way to truely tell where the material originated from.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7It is sad that your life has come to the point where breaking the law is fine by you, but not watching a TV show properly is a big crime.
  • AMSRay, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4It's one thing to copy a TV show as it's broadcast and post it, it's entirely different when you post a show before it's ever released. It's a given that theft or breach of contract or who-knows-how many other crimes were committed for that person to have a copy to upload. Many people watch "24" to see what's going to happen after the previous season cliff-hanger. If the ratings were just a fraction off from Fox expected, they could sue for millions. Can you imagine how much you would get sued for if you released the winner of survivor before the show aired? You pull a stunt like this you better leave for some other country with no extradition agreements.
  • ggavinmoss, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3It's not just the fear of litigation, it's the fact that Google probably wants to work with large (c) holders such as Fox in the future. Stonewalling Fox would definitely put a damper on that.
  • thewump, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6Hey Broomet, can I have some of that crack you are smokin?
  • klawz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Try usegroups, ***** peerguardian, it just doesn't work - RIAA/MPAA pay companies to go out and get regular accounts on normal ISPs, making peerguardian a false sense of security, somewhat like home alarm systems. Back in the late 90s I'd say it worked pretty well when these companies were foolish enough to do this from their own network(s).
  • PaulLev, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Lumbering TV network dinosaur vs. the information age, chapter x ... bound to end the same as silent movies vs. talkies ... http://paullevinson.blogspot.com/2007/02/viacom-dinosaur-goes-after-youtube.html
  • DevlinD, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Its just so funny that everyone here is thinking that Google took some moral low ground here by handing the user over when in actuality if any big media company came banging on the doors of...pretty much any other video sharing website on the face of this planet with the same complaint, I doubt even 3 MINUTES would have passed before these guys caved and handed the guy over. Like please, name one other site upon which you post video content where it clearly supports the posting on contraband material.

    And if you want anonymity...how about just dont give them your real info. A brilliant idea that has been echoed by pretty much everyone else that commented on this article.
  • typo180, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I wonder how much say Google had in it. They say YouTube runs independently of Google - so I imagine they could have made the call on their own.

    But either way, would you be mad if they had handed over user information of someone involved in a child pornography ring? I know the two aren't really comparable, but it's not like he was just uploading the episodes he recorded from TV.
  • TBagwell, on 10/12/2007, -5/+7what are you, ***** retarded?
  • jake13jake, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I really don't mind this article. YouTube has enough content that is easy enough to access in order to compete with these shows that are being uploaded anyway. The video content market on smaller scale projects is having a much smoother transition into the digital age than the music industry is. Seriously, despite their crappy design, I've watched more on YouTube this year than I have TV.
  • gheide, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Is the personal information supplied to youtube verifiable as the actual person that did the upload? Maybe it's a friend of this person that happened to get their hands on the "goods", and using that friends information to create an account on youtube... Their form just ASKS for zipcode, gender, DOB and email address... How many people know this much info about their friends?? Also, how can youtube prove without question of a doubt that this information is the actual user that uploaded the files?? Digital times are getting pretty scary...
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3For liability purposes, it is the ocean that will kill you, not us.
  • Nick22, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Its tough being one of the biggest sites on the net.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Company complies with the law! Film at 11!

    /sarcasm
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Write them a letter about it, and wait for the DVDs. Sucks for you, but its the only way to stay "legit".

    Either way, you should be watching Heroes when it airs, then downloading 24. Heroes is way better.
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