Poor, poor YouTube. The courtrooms just can’t get enough of ya’! According to Wired’s Threat Level blog the judge in the Viacom/Google lawsuit has made a ruling which forces Google to turn over “every record of every video watched by YouTube users, including users’ names and IP addresses,” to Viacom.

Although Google argued that turning over the data would invade its users’ privacy, the judge’s ruling described that argument as “speculative” and ordered Google to turn over the logs on a set of four tera-byte hard drives.

So, according to the judge: Viacom being able to monitor what YouTube users are watching is not a violation of the users’ privacy. Did I miss something here? The Consumerist says, “Viacom is arguing that it needs the data to prove that its copyrighted material is more popular than user created videos,” but I can’t help but think Viacom has some other nasty plan involving this data. YouTube users’ - be wary.

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Technology helps prevent crime. That’s a no-brainer. London’s use of CCTV has turned the city into a near police state and GPS has led to more arrests for car theft. As of yesterday, New Yorkers will be able to send text messages, picture messages and video to 911 and 311. This will enable citizens to report crimes of all types, as well as provide evidence so the police ultimately have less work to do. By next year, images and video sent to 911 will be pushed to patrol cars and will be used as evidence in trial. All in all, the technology only took about 18 months to develop and cost $250,000.

While I find this to be a great improvement to public safety, it also makes me weary of my privacy. What if someone is drinking in public and they get snapped by an angry friend? Not good.

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In a move that shows a blatant disregard for civil liberties and personal freedoms, a Rhode Island school district will be testing out a program that monitor’s student movement via RFID chips in backpacks. Right now, 80 children are using the RFID-equipped backpacks. Buses will also receive GPS units.

Parents and faculty will be able to login to a system to find out where their children currently are and where they have been. Tracking buses is one thing but this is just too big an invasion of privacy. Watching your kids all the time is the sign of someone or something that is insecure and a paranoid freak. Hopefully the pilot program will get canned before it goes any further.

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Most guys under oath wouldn’t even admit to looking at porn at the office, but it happens. We know it happens. It’s one of those don’t ask, don’t tell type of things. No matter how many people there are who look at porn, or who are just plain goofing off on company time, there is always the risk that you will be the one who is caught actually in the act.

The USB Privacy Mouse includes a special button which allows you to set a predetermined window to pop up when you’re goofing off at work, not to mention all of the key-features of a standard mouse, such as 800dpi of movement ability and a scroll wheel,. So when your boss turns the corner towards your cubicle, click the privacy button, and a work-friendly window will pop up to save your ass. Get your own for $20. — Andrew Dobrow

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