*The Right to Anonymity*

Think for a moment, about how speech works in public. If you hear someone in a restaurant sing part of a commercial jingle, you might recognize the content. But would you recognize the person?

It's an interesting thing to think about online. Because suddenly, that's exactly what a few people can do online. On July 1st, Viacom demanded that Google hand over identifying information on Youtube users. Why? Because 4.1 billion videos are there, about 38% of all videos online.

And some of them, are copyrighted.

I'll leave you a moment to gasp in horror.

Then I'll ask you if that should matter. And why should it matter? After all, I see hundreds of thousands of images and words each day. Most of them are probably copyrighted. It would be almost impossible for any stranger to guess what I looked at on any given day. And then came the internet. And now it's possible for any number of companies to track my viewing habits, without my permission or knowledge.

The closest analogy I can think of, is if the Nielsens were entitled to peer into my windows, to see what I was watching and when I changed the channel on my TV. And that creeps me out. I do not belong to the market. If Viacom wants to know what I like watching, they can ask the Nielsen people, because that's what they're there for. I do not need the internet to become a window into my home and my habits retroactively.

There are many companies that would leap at the chance to know all our political ideas. Or how many socks I purchase a year. The fact is, I simply don't want to be followed like this. The expectation of privacy and anonymity in our day to day affairs is not something we should sacrifice without due consideration.

But its becoming resoundingly clear that it is not my choice to make. For an excellent examination of the legal details and implications of this decision, please see this article from the Electronic Frontier Foundation:

http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2008/07/court-ruling-will-expose-viewing-habits-youtube-us

And then consider joining the Youtube Revolution. At least if we name every video "Viacom Sucks" or "Colbert Report", they will have a harder time finding their own material.
http://www.media-alliance.org/article.php?story=20080708174812680