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Google To Turn Over Records on Videos, Including Porn

By: Sherri L. Shaulis

Posted: 07/03/2008

NEW YORK - A judge has ordered Google to turn over all records associated with every video - including pornographic ones - watched on YouTube as part of a class-action lawsuit filed by Viacom against the search engine.

The suit, filed in March 2007, seeks more than $1 billion in damages from Google for allowing users to upload clips of Viacom's copyrighted material. Though Viacom's material is not pornographic in nature, the request deals with all videos, including those of an adult nature.

In Mark Cuban's weblog Blog Maverick, Cuban notes that the porn videos could make or break the case for both sides.

"Who identifies the porn on Youtube? According to Youtube, it's regular users who police the site," he wrote. "Personally, I don't believe it. Whether it's individuals or technology that keep porn off of Youtube, it really doesn't matter. If Viacom can use this data to show that Youtube manages the presentation of porn in any way, then they lose their DMCA protection.

"Which means they lose their case to Viacom."