Damn, Felicia Day is everywhere. From The Guild to Dr. Horrible to machinima sitcoms, this organic online video star is on a roll. Now she appears as a neurotic fairy in The Legend of Neil, a parody of The Legend of Zelda created by her Guild costar Sandeep Parikh.

Yes, I know The Legend of Neil is produced by Comedy Central, which is owned by Viacom, which is a bunch of douchebags. I’ll let that slide just this once, just for Felicia.

Post from: EveryJoe

Felicia Day in The Legend of Neil

Giving in to overwhelming public outrage, Viacom has granted YouTube’s request that they be allowed to anonymize your viewer information before handing it over.

Of course, liars that they are, Viacom claims they never asked for your personal info. Bullshit. They asked for all that and more. And they could have easily used it to sue you or your loved ones.

I suspect this is not the last we’ll hear of Viacom’s shenanigans in their billion-dollar suit against YouTube. Good work fighting them off this time, guys. Let’s remain vigilant, lest they try something else.

Post from: EveryJoe

Viacom Backs Down on Suing You

Viacom obviously does not need your personal YouTube info to prove its purported point. They can use your personal information, however, to sue you. Viacom knows it, YouTube knows it, and people know it. Judge Louis Stanton, who ruled in favor of Viacom violating your privacy, either doesn’t know or doesn’t care. That’s why YouTube’s lawyers are asking Viacom’s lawyers that any data YouTube gives Viacom be anonymized first.

“Of course, we have to follow legal process. But since IP addresses and usernames aren’t necessary to determine general viewing practices, our lawyers have asked their lawyers to let us remove that information before we hand over the data they’re seeking,” says YouTube on their blog.

I doubt Viacom’s lawyers will grant that request so easily. Viacom Chairman Sumner Redstone and Viacom CEO Philippe Dauman both show little regard for customers. They would love to make an example out of you.

Post from: EveryJoe

YouTube Responds to Viacom

Courtroom: 21C
Chambers Phone: +1 (212) 805-0252
Deputy Phone: +1 (212) 805-0123
Fax: +1 (212) 805-0389

US District Court Judge Louis L. Stanton is the guy who told YouTube to give all your personal information and viewing history to Viacom, thus allowing Viacom to invade your privacy and probably sue you. Mail, phone, or fax him a piece of your mind.

(Info via the US District Court and FindLaw.)

Post from: EveryJoe

Judge Louis Stanton’s Contact Details

How fitting that we should fight oppression on Independence Day. YouTubers were swift to protest Viacom invading your privacy.

A YouTube search for the terms “Viacom” and “YouTube”, sorted by date, yields pagefulls of protest videos from the last 24 hours. These are just some of those protests.

Post from: EveryJoe

YouTubers Trash Viacom

YouTube, of course, argued that this would violate your privacy. Stanton dismissed that argument as “speculative”.

Yes, you read that right. Judge Louis Stanton says that the privacy implications of handing all your personal information to Viacom are merely “speculative”.

Speculative. Speculative! As a tech blogger, I’ve heard a lot of stupid things from a lot of stupid people over the years. Stanton’s statement has to be the stupidest thing I have ever heard. How the fuck did this guy become a judge? How much did Viacom pay Stanton to say something this stupid?

Why the Hell would Viacom need all your personal information for these legal proceedings? Purportedly, it’s all part of Viacom’s fishing expedition to prove their claim that most of YouTube’s views came from Viacom content.

Viacom obviously doesn’t need your personal info for that purported purpose, and they know it. I don’t think Viacom really wants to prove their claim. Having your personal info and viewing history will enable them to do something far more sinister.

With your name and viewing history, Viacom can sue you just for accidentally clicking through to an MTV clip on YouTube. In fact, given how indiscriminately Viacom takes down YouTube videos, they’ll probably sue you for watching any clip on YouTube.

This isn’t about the law at all. In fact, it’s against the law — specifically the Video Privacy Protection Act. This is about spreading fear.

Apparently, Viacom isn’t satisfied with terrorizing YouTube uploaders through indiscriminate takedowns. They’re stepping up their campaign by terrorizing every YouTube viewer through lawsuits.

If Viacom gets your YouTube info, they can and probably will sue you. Viacom versus YouTube just became Viacom versus you. Will you let Sumner Redstone take your house away?

Post from: EveryJoe

Viacom Will Sue You

At a recent conference in Korea, John C. Dvorak found out just how much Viacom chairman Sumner Redstone hates fans of his shows:

[According to Redstone] When you post a clip of The Daily Show on YouTube, for example, that may indeed have a positive effect on the show and its ratings, but it’s not your decision to make. In the world of the media giants, a fan has no special privileges and is not part of the marketing department.

As a fan, your job is to watch a few ads (or buy a ticket), enjoy the show, tell your friends about it, and get out of the way.

Screw that. Redstone should be thanking fans for promoting his shows on YouTube. As Dvorak points out, a ten-minute YouTube clip of a one-hour show is clearly an excerpt, thus qualifying as fair use.

This is why I rarely link to Viacom stuff, even from their official site. If Redstone doesn’t want customer evangelism, why the Hell should I give him any?

(Image via BusinessWeek.)

Post from: EveryJoe

Sumner Redstone Hates You

BayTSP CEO Mark Ishikawa, whose company sends all those indiscriminate takedown notices (a million a month!) to YouTube on behalf of Viacom and other studios, has a funny take on copyright law. He complains that YouTube’s copyright filter isn’t doing its “job”.

Two things, Ishikawa:

1) YouTube is a DMCA safe harbor. As such, it falls upon the copyright holder to send takedown notices. Stop complaining that YouTube is not doing your job for you.

2) DMCA takedown notices require sworn statements. You send lots of inaccurate takedown notices. That means you’ve committed multiple counts for perjury.

Corporate dogs should know their place. STFU, Mark Ishikawa.

(Photo by JD Lasica. It’s BY-NC, so if that professional copyright troll Ishikawa complains, he can go fuck himself.)

Post from: EveryJoe

Viacom Dog Doesn’t Know the Law

A symbolic setback for Viacom in its $1 billion suit against Google’s YouTube. On Friday, US District Court Judge Louis Stanton denied the media conglomerate’s claim for punitive damages in the case. If the court had let the claim stand, it could have taken the damages associated with the lawsuit into funny money territory — at least theoretically.

Viacom is suing Google’s YouTube for a nice round $1 billion, but even that is a more-or-less made-up number based on a very large number of alleged copyright violations.

Frankly, I’m surprised it took a whole year to junk this ridiculous suit. That’s what happens to lazy old media giants who make stuff up instead of actually filing the paperwork required by law. Expect another rash of perjurous takedowns in petty retaliation.

Post from: EveryJoe

Viacom Loses $1B Suit Vs. YouTube