Watch A Certain YouTube Video? Google Just Turned All Your Personal Info Over To The Feds
Chalk up another win for conspiracy theorists:
“If you watch certain YouTube videos, investigators demanded your data from Google.”
“Investigators have approached Google and said ‘We want to know who watched certain videos, give that information up.’ So as Chase [DiBenedetto] writes, if you’ve ever jokingly wondered if your search or viewing history is going to put you on some kind of watch list, your concern may be more than warranted.”
“Google was ordered to hand over the names, addresses, telephone numbers and user activity of YouTube accounts and IP addresses that watched certain YouTube videos, which was part of a larger criminal investigation by federal investigators.”
It turns out the feds had sent a link to this video to a single “suspected cryptocurrency launderer,” but was able to get a warrant for personal details on everyone who watched it.
Also, it wasn’t some sort of illegal video, either. They were “public YouTube tutorials on mapping via drones and augmented reality software. Forbes says the videos were watched more than 30,000 times, presumably by thousands of users unrelated the case.” But the government now has their personal data. And the past five years has shown that if the deep state gets your data, they won’t hesitate to abuse it to advance their interests.
Google says they “push back” against overbroad demands. But given how woke Google has become, how hard do you think they’re going to push aback against data demands targeting the right?
“This is the latest chapter in a disturbing trend where we see government agencies increasingly transforming search warrants into digital dragnets.”
“It’s unconstitutional, it’s terrifying, and it’s happening every day.”
“When you’re on the internet, your actions are being tracked by all kinds of entities.”
“The scary part is they’ve got this information on you to begin with, but we’ve known that for a while.”
“Your car is snitching on you, and so on so is your smartphone, and now so is Google, on occasion.”
“‘We want the information on tens of thousands of people,’ and suddenly you realize ‘OK, this is an extremely broad search. Couldn’t you narrow it a little better than that?'”
Asking for such information in a search warrant is an overly-broad abuse of power and violation of privacy rights, and also suggests sloppy investigative technique on the part of the feds.
Here’s hoping the courts quash such requests in he future.
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4 Responses to “Watch A Certain YouTube Video? Google Just Turned All Your Personal Info Over To The Feds”
[…] of the ‘blockade’ on Cubans, Part 2, and America’s Rashida Tlaib foreign policy BattleSwarm: Watch A Certain YouTube Video? Google Just Turned All Your Personal Info Over To The Feds Behind The Black: Red China’s Long March 6 rocket launches remote sensing satellite, Engineers […]
So Google has data about people that the Feds don’t? That seems unlikely. Or is it just about their playlists? That seems unhelpful, in light of rampant society-wide password sharing.
I’ve seen this story, of course, but as Louis said, ‘Sometimes…things…just don’t add up.”
Google=Feds.
[…] of the ‘blockade’ on Cubans, Part 2, and America’s Rashida Tlaib foreign policy BattleSwarm: Watch A Certain YouTube Video? Google Just Turned All Your Personal Info Over To The Feds Behind The Black: Red China’s Long March 6 rocket launches remote sensing satellite, Engineers […]
So Google has data about people that the Feds don’t? That seems unlikely. Or is it just about their playlists? That seems unhelpful, in light of rampant society-wide password sharing.
I’ve seen this story, of course, but as Louis said, ‘Sometimes…things…just don’t add up.”
And a judge approved this? That’s a huge problem.