“Google will have to turn over every record of every video watched by YouTube users, including users’ names and IP addresses, to Viacom, which is suing Google for allowing clips of its copyright videos to appear on YouTube, a judge ruled Wednesday.”

Viacom wants to know whether copyrighted or user generated content is more popular. Thats nice to know. What will really tip the balance of power in this case, now that every viewing instance will be in Viacom’s possession, is the answer to how Youtube deals with porn.

Who identifies the porn on Youtube ? According to Youtube, its regular users who police the site. Personally, I dont believe it. Whether its 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.