YouTube Called Out for Collecting "Deeply Private Information"

In 2008, YouTube's practice of collecting "deeply private information" about its users, including identifying information and records of every video they had watched, led to criticism when the data was put at risk in a copyright lawsuit. Viacom alleged that YouTube users were routinely infringing its copyrights and, as part of the lawsuit, demanded all of YouTube's records about its users. Although YouTube ultimately negotiated a compromise to anomymize data before sharing it with Viacom, the attention drawn by the case "renewed concerns" about the "unprecedented amounts of private data" being collected and the potential that that data could fall into the wrong hands.