I am posting this in GD because I get the feeling that a debate is going to emerge, but first I have some questions regarding this.
My first question is about the simple reason behind this. Why is it necessary to have this information to pursue a copyright suit? No clear answer is provided in the article, other than that “A markedly higher proportion of infringing-video watching may bear on plaintiff’s vicarious liability claim, and defendants’ substantial noninfringing use defense." Why then do they need usernames and IP addresses? Is it because the simple number of viewers could be inaccurate due to people watching the video more than once or something?
Secondly, is this a violation of privacy, and if so, to what extent? Could this set a precedent for this kind of information being made available to other corporations or the government? Or does this sort of thing happen all the time, just never on so large a scale?