The backlash follows U.S. District Judge Louis Stanton's ruling last week that Google must supply Viacom with the records as part of the discovery phase in a $1 billion lawsuit alleging copyright infringement.

While the court denied Viacom's request for YouTube's source code, Stanton did require YouTube to hand over the user information. As a result, YouTube users are calling for a boycott of Viacom.

A Social Media Tit for Tat

By Tuesday afternoon, hundreds of new videos were springing up when "Viacom" was typed into YouTube's search engine. Some of the videos, with headlines like "VIACOM VS YOU = BOYCOTT," "Viacom is a Copyright Bully," and "Viacom Knows You Are Watching This Video," had been viewed more than 100,000 times.

Viacom could not immediately be reached for comment. A statement on its Web site attempts to reassure YouTube users.

"A recent discovery order by the federal court hearing the case of Viacom v. YouTube has triggered concern about what information will be disclosed by Google and YouTube and how it will be used. Viacom has not asked for and will not be obtaining any personally identifiable information of any YouTube user," the statement said.

According to Viacom, the personally identifiable information that YouTube collects from its users will be stripped from the data before it is transferred to Viacom. Viacom said it "will use the data exclusively for the purpose of proving our case against YouTube and Google." Viacom also said it has been in discussions with Google to develop a framework to share the data.

"We are committed to a process that will not only comply with the court's confidentiality order, but that will also meet our commitment to the strongest possible Internet privacy protections," Viacom said, blaming Google for putting the company in a position to have to request the data.

Neither Google nor YouTube could be reached for comment.

The Real Privacy Threat

Greg Sterling, principal analyst at Sterling Market Intelligence, said in the long run Google is more likely to see consumer scrutiny over privacy than Viacom. Most consumers, he reasoned, are more familiar with Viacom's programming, like The Daily Show and South Park, than the parent company. Google, on the other hand, is part of many Internet users' daily lives.

"The danger for Google is if people start fearing their behavior on YouTube is going to be disclosed. They may get concerned about who's got access to the information," Sterling said. "It's the creepy sense of being monitored or having some data somewhere that could be accessed. That vague concern is starting to find its way into the minds of some people."

That said, the bigger privacy concern is not what Google is doing with user data. It's what the government could do with it, Sterling noted. The government has the ability to access user data, telephone calls and other records without a warrant. That should be the focus of privacy issues, he said.

"These Internet companies are enabling third parties like the U.S. government to get access to the information through the centralized collection. It's ostensibly justified through the premise of protecting citizens from terrorism threats," Sterling said. "There are all sorts of abuses that can and will come about with the unchecked ability of law enforcement to access that information. That is the level at which we should debate."