Have you ever watched a video on YouTube? Have any idea if you were watching copyrighted material owned by Viacom? Are you ready to pay the consequences if you did?

A federal judge in New York has ordered Google to turn over to Viacom a database linking users of YouTube, the Web’s largest video site by far, with every clip they have watched there.

The order raised concerns among users and privacy advocates that the online video viewing habits of tens of millions of people could be exposed. But Google and Viacom said they were hoping to come up with a way to protect the anonymity of YouTube viewers.

Viacom said that the information would be safeguarded by a protective order restricting access to the data to outside advisers, who will use it solely to press Viacom’s $1 billion copyright suit against Google.

That’s right, they are not just going after the people who post copyrighted material, but this sounds like the foundation of a case against those who watch protected material.

Don’t worry though, it’s only your private user information and viewing habits they want to look at. What could go wrong?

Enjoy your Independence Day!

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