The US Attorney's Office in Kentucky has ordered Google to disclose to authorities who viewed certain YouTube clips during a certain period of time, Forbes reported.
Posted March 24, 4:41 p.m.
An open lane privacy issue in Kentucky
Police are looking for someone with the online moniker “elonmuskwhm” who is suspected of selling bitcoin for cash, which may be illegal under several US laws. They now want to extract information about who watched certain clips on YouTube with a total of more than 30,000 views. Under the order, police want to recover the name, address, phone number and user activity of all Google accounts that viewed the clips between January 1 and January 8, 2023. Authorities also want the IP addresses of people without Google accounts who viewed the clips. Videos.
It's not known exactly what they think they can find by extracting information about a much larger number of people they're looking for, as police keep their cards close to their chests, but they believe the information may be relevant to the material found in an active operation. investigation. The technique involved police using a secret name to send suspects YouTube videos showing drone mapping and augmented reality software, then asking Google and YouTube who had viewed the videos.
The court ruled in favor of the Public Prosecution, but at the same time it asked Google to remain silent about the matter, until now. Forbes notes that it cannot confirm or deny whether Google has handed over the information to the authorities. Critics point to the measure as unconstitutional because it potentially involves innocent people in the case and violates the Constitution's ban on stopping free speech and freedom from unreasonable searches.
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