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A judge in New York has ordered Google, which owns the video website YouTube, to hand over the details of every person who has ever watched a video on YouTube.
Google purchased YouTube for $1.65bn in October 2006
The order came as part of a ruling in a copyright case.
The media giant Viacom has accused YouTube of infringing its copyright by allowing users to post its programmes on the site for everyone to see.
The BBC's technology correspondent, Rory Cellan-Jones, explains.
Listen Listen to Rory Cellan-Jones (1 min)
Google and Viacom say they have had discussions about ways to ensure the data is protected to assure anonymity.
However, internet privacy advocates are still worried.
Kurt Opsahl is a Senior Attorney with the Electronic Frontier Foundation in Washington.
Listen Listen to Kurt Opsahl (2 mins 36 secs)
Ricardo Reyes is head of communications for YouTube.
What is his reaction to the court ruling that all their user records have to be made available to Viacom?
Listen Listen to Ricardo Reyes (3 mins 9 secs)
First broadcast 4 July 2008
