Sucks to be anyone who’s ever seen any copyrighted work on YouTube

One of the interesting things about the YouTube – Viacom battle of the (digital) Millenium is that even the discovery requests seem like they could do a lot of damage:

Next up is a 12TB database containing logging information on every video ever watched at YouTube. Viacom wants to see just how often infringing clips were viewed, then compare this against noninfringing ones to prove its contention that YouTube, in the early days, was an engine powered mostly by the gasoline of illegal content. The database will also show which username and IP address watched every video, a move with potential privacy implications.

It seems to me that the award of this kind of potentially incriminatory private data is a much, much bigger coup than the ultimate relief they’re seeking. I mean doesn’t this basically give Viacom (and other media companies) the ability to launch huge legal actions against literally millions of Americans?

Presumably YouTube could be indemnified for most of these (HOPEFULLY — although I’m sure they have some perfunctory “uh, don’t watch copyrighted stuff guys” in their EULA that might shield them). But given that many of the big Internet-age media lawsuits have been more about intimidation and punishment than actual recovery, I’m not so sure that it would matter.

I’m not an expert on copyright law or anything, but it seems like this gives Viacom a HUGE asset they can use for future litigation. And, frankly, virtually everyone I know has accessed SOME copyrighted work on YouTube at some time in their life. This could be a bigger deal than the RIAA lawsuits.