YouTube will be allowed to mask users' identities when it offers viewership data to Viacom and other copyright holders, according to the Associated Press.

YouTube said Monday that it would change user IDs, IP addresses and other identifiers before revealing the data to Viacom as required under the court order that has been criticised by privacy activists.

"We remain committed to protecting your privacy and we'll continue to fight for your right to share and broadcast your work on YouTube," stated the company's blog posting.

Viacom sued YouTube's owner, Google Inc., for at least US$1 billion, stating YouTube's business "willfully infringe(s)" copyrights on Viacom shows. U.S. District Judge Louis L. Stanton last week ordered Google to reveal the video-viewing habits of YouTube users to Viacom.

The YouTube database includes information on when the video is played, viewer's login ID and the IP address, which can be used to trace specific individuals, or at least their employers or hometowns, according to the AP article posted by Media InfoCenter.

Viacom struck an agreement with YouTube Monday, which, in order to preserve the anonymity of the records, allows YouTube to swap the identifiers under a protocol that YouTube has a week to propose.

The new values will still be used to determine which individual watched which clip and when, but the personally identifiable information - such as first initial and full last name in a user ID will be masked, according to the AP.

Moreover, the data would be disclosed only to the plaintiffs, likely under a court-sanctioned confidentiality order, but not to the public.