YouTube: In 2008, YouTube was ordered to turn over records of every video watched by its users, including names and IP addresses, to Viacom, which was suing the company for copyright infringement. Since YouTube collected and maintained "deeply private information" linking individuals and their viewing habits, this information was available when Viacom came calling. Eventually, a compromise was reached and the data was anonymized before being turned over to Viacom. However, this close call resulted in extensive press coverage and outrage by YouTube users and privacy advocates.

YouTube/Google: As part of an ongoing suit against YouTube/Google for copyright infringement, in 2007 Viacom sought and obtained a discovery order forcing YouTube to disclose all "video-related data from the logging database," including information identifying the users who watched each video. YouTube continued to fight for the privacy of its users and in 2008 reached an agreement with Viacom to anonymize the IDs and IP addresses of non-Google employees in any data conveyed to Viacom.