Google, Viacom reach YouTube deal

NEW YORK (CNN) - Viacom has agreed to let Google strip identifying information from YouTube viewers' data before complying with a judge's order to hand over the records as part of a copyright infringement lawsuit.

Viacom and other parties to the litigation agreed to allow YouTube to remove user names and computer Internet protocol (IP) addresses from the data to ensure protection of users' privacy, YouTube said in a blog posting late Monday night. YouTube is a Google subsidiary.

Instead of providing Viacom the user names and IP addresses for everyone who has viewed a video on YouTube, Google will provide a random, anonymous code number, a spokesman for the company told CNN.

–From CNN's Karina Frayter