Going to be quite scant on details but…
I was out and about, and was messaged by two friends independently saying they were surprised to see me in a YouTube video.
Confused, I asked what they were on about. Turns out, a guy I gave advice to had then started recording me towards the end of our interaction without telling me, and has, weeks later, uploaded it as part of a longer video.
I was pretty tired at the time and doing the guy a favour (out of annoyance), and I don’t like a few things, one of those being that he put me online (which, within hours has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times).
What can I do? I have already messaged him to tell him to remove me, but this seems like a ridiculous invasion of privacy.
You mentioned this was in Europe. You are protected under the GDPR. There are additional laws if this happened in Germany or the UK. Your best bet is private lawyer.
Well there goes my Judge Judy idea.
Depending on where you live, and what service providers you have, you might even get a free lawyer for these kinds of things.
For example in my situation I have free legal help bundled to my mobile data plan for ID theft, gdpr violations, and for removal of images and videos I didn’t concent to have recorded.
Check your services, and you might save a bunch of money.
Not a lawyer or legal expert, just a google-er
Definitely a huge dick move, but if it’s illegal is a different matter. From what I understand, in the US (If this happened in the US) it depends where it took place. If you were in public it’s mostly okay for them to record because “Anyone else could have been listening in” so there is no “expectation of privacy”. If it was in private then that’s easier to argue.
Now, for what you can do. I think this is one of the times you could actually issue a DMCA complaint. While it’s not copyright… we all know youtube has a quick process and err on the side of caution. You can report it and say you’re in it without consent, or if you want to send a full DMCA compliant that could work.
What you could easily do is of course let your friends know this was done without your consent, and be public about it. Nothing like telling the truth, no one likes someone who secretly records them. Don’t let them keep it a private thing, call out how crazy disrespectful it is
Thanks. I told them as much and that it was odd, but I don’t have the opportunity, nor the desire to make it a big thing outside of getting myself taken out of the video. The copyright/DMCA concern requires a lot of detail which I just don’t have, so I went through the recording-without-permission route which seems to be a goer.
I’d send him an email informing you will seek to take legal action if he doesn’t take you offline within 24h.
IANAL (and likely neither is anyone here) - and I think the answer would be “it depends” on other details if you asked a lawyer to make a decision on what you’ve shared. So I think that is the only route if you can’t get YouTube or the blogger to do the right thing.
Some relevant things this might hinge on:
- Is the person posting this doing making videos as a business venture - e.g. by making videos that they hope to profit from (e.g. by including advertising in it, or through YouTube monetisation)? If this was done as part of a business, that could make a big difference (generally businesses are held to a higher standard).
- Which country did this happen in? Laws are different between countries.
- Did they deceive you in any way to get you to do what they wanted for the video?
- Are you a public figure in any way (prior to the video)?
Some potential causes of action that your lawyer could consider if they apply:
- Misleading conduct - if they used deception in the course of their trade.
- Fraud - if they obtained valuable consideration (your video performance) through deception.
- Privacy Infringement - if they processed (including collected) your personally identifiable information (e.g. including images / videos of your face, or the identifiable sound of your voice) without consent or another lawful basis / denial of right of erasure. Some of this could apply to Google too - you might be able to submit a Right of Erasure (right to be forgotten) legal request, and at minimum they might need to blur your face and mask the audio so you aren’t identifiable.
- Copyright infringement - potentially what they recorded counts as a performance and you have a copyright interest in the video. Another one that could apply to Google and be used to take it down.
Those are very good points. It’s very monetised so that will help. Would I submit right to erasure through YouTube?
Thanks a lot.
Depends on your country/state. Ask him to redo that section of the video to leave your presence out of it to respect your privacy. If it affects you negatively in any way and puts you at risk, that is also something you can sue for.
I personally am a fan of being able to record any situation you might want to hold people liable to, but another thing completely is spreading it irresponsibly through social networks as a hit piece for an idea that you want to disseminate a biased and caricaturized version of an interview to represent, specially when they might not even be representing themselves in any capacity. I don’t think they need to take their video down, they just might need to obfuscate your face and voice on request.
I personally am a fan of being able to record any situation you might want to hold people liable to
I am not a public figure, and the questions were pretty innocuous, I just do not want to be filmed in a not-so-public place in an underhanded way without permission, especially when money is being made from the video.
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I’d recommend on googling for “free lawyers in your_region” you might have these options available to you
It would cross borders which I will not be remaining in very long.
Talk to an attorney.
I’m not American, and I don’t have much money.
You don’t need money to threaten with legal action.
Frivolous DMCA takedown request?
Anyone figured out what the video is?
Of course I am curious but maybe we should respect the privacy of the person trying not to be in a YouTube video.
No harm in asking. U cant put the cat back in the bag.
There’s a reason you didn’t ask me and asked everyone else, because you know there’s harm. Stop weaseling.
If ya wanna send me a link be my guest
It must have stung real bad back when you believed (or knew) you’d be mocked if you asked for help, at a time when you were in pain or distress. I’m sorry you had (or have) to go through that. It’s a shit feeling and nobody should be subjected to it.
Just don’t perpetuate the cycle please.
Ur doing an awful lot of projection here. Juat cos ur only way to express your feelings is by taking it out on others doesnt mean thats how everyone thinks.
I might be, but do you feel like my statement was unfair? Do you think it was unwarranted?
If you wanna go jump off a bridge be mine.
Depends are all my friends jumping off the bridge as well?
You can still interact mindfully with the cat. No need to kick it.
Justify it however you like, psycho. Zero empathy individual.
Don’t be a cunt.
Sick cunt or shit cunt?
I found the video here, at about 4:50
