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Google subpoenaed by airline
AMERICAN SEEKS PERSON WHO THEY SAY POSTED COPYRIGHTED VIDEO
By Elise Ackerman
Mercury News

American Airlines wants Google to reveal the identity of a person who the airline says posted a copyrighted video on Google's video Web site.

Filed under the controversial Digital Millennium Copyright Act, a subpoena issued Feb. 21 demands ``all documents'' concerning the person who posted a video titled ``Flight Attendant, Upside Down,'' on Google Video.

The airline claims the clip was excerpted from a copyrighted training video. If the video is copyrighted, Google will probably be forced to comply, said Cindy Cohn, legal director for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a San Francisco-based group that advocates for digital rights.

The airline's request highlights the limited protection of anonymity online. Although many Web sites say they will protect users' privacy, many also say they will turn over some material in legal disputes -- for example, copyrighted material.

``Hosts like Google won't be able to protect your anonymity, and in many instances won't be interested in it,'' Cohn said.

In a statement to the Mercury News, Google said it ``complies with valid and appropriate legal process, including subpoenas.''

In a response to airline lawyers, Cathy McGoff, Google's compliance manager, said the company would forward the request to the poster of the video. McGoff also requested that American Airlines file its request in court.

Cohn said the request follows a legal precedent established a few years ago during the record companies' battles with Napster. By forcing American Airlines to go to federal court, Google is providing the poster the chance to file an objection.

If the video poster does not take action, Google will respond to the subpoena in 20 days, McGoff wrote in a letter filed in court.

Three days before receiving the subpoena, Google had filed its objections to a Bush administration demand for Internet search data, arguing that turning over the information would expose its trade secrets and violate the privacy of its users.

American Airlines also appears to have subpoenaed YouTube, a popular video-sharing site, over the flight attendant clip. YouTube did not require American Airlines to make the request in federal court.

Julie Supan, the San Mateo-based company's marketing director, declined to comment on the subpoena.

In an e-mail, Supan directed the Mercury News to YouTube's privacy policy, which states: ``We may release personally identifiable information and/or non-personally identifiable information if required to do so by law, or in the good-faith belief that such action is necessary to comply with state and federal laws (such as U.S. Copyright Law) or respond to a court order, subpoena or search warrant.''

rickair7777

On those rare occasions when I want to post anything really controversial, I do it from a public WLAN or PC using a one-time only user account. Problem solved.