Google and Viacom fight over YouTube employee records

In the latest fight over who knew what when over at YouTube, Viacom wants to know which videos YouTube employees have watched and uploaded to the site. Google is just saying no.

According to sources cited by News.com, the dispute over what YouTube employees may or may not have done is holding up a final agreement to anonymize personal information belonging to YouTube users. Knowing what YouTube employees did gets down to the nitty-gritty if YouTube (the company) either knew about copyrighted materials being on the site (Interesting question, since an employee would have to view a copyright work to confirm it was not supposed to be there before deleting it) and/or uploaded copyrighted materials. The latter means big bucks to all parties.

Google has been accused of encouraging massive copyright violations through YouTube, so if employees were intentionally "salting" YouTube content with copyright material, it means the company could be liable for billions.

For more:
- News.com reports Viacom wants YouTube employee records

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