Hey there!
I'm writing this in class so I don't have time to write too much, Papabear. At the end of school last year, I nearly broke my ankle doing a shuffle dance on the last day of school. Someone recorded my pain and they put it on YouTube. I recently found out about this, and found the video. I found a way to track the IP address of the user, so that I may find out exactly who this is, and may notify the police, and possibly sue the person who did this. Things like this have, as I told you in my last letter, gone on for much too long, and I think it's time to strike back. Is it legal for me to track the person's IP, first of all? And will I have grounds for a lawsuit if I can identify the uploader? I think I'm finally ready to do this and stand up for myself , and I just need those questions answered before I do. Thank you in advance for your advice. Sincerely, Kodachi Devil Squirrel (KodaDS) * * * Dear Kodachi, This is an excellent question in today’s YouTube nutty world, and thank you for writing about it. The short answer to your question is: you can sue people for anything, but in this case you will not win. Why is that? Because you were taped in a public place, and according to my legal consultant, the courts have ruled repeatedly in such cases that when you are in a public place you have “no reasonable expectation of privacy.” This is why you can turn on the TV and see videos of people walking into mall water fountains while on their cell phones. What you CAN do is contact YouTube and ask them to remove the video because it was posted without your permission. They might or might not do that for you, I don’t know. The situation would be different if you were, say, in your bedroom and someone videotaped you doing something silly or embarrassing in private. A note to all those video-happy furries out there who like to record stuff: it is always best to get a signature on a waiver form from people you record before you post them in a public forum, such as YouTube. This covers your furry butt from possible legal action, especially in the case of recording minors. We are living in a peeping Tom world, folks, where everyone is armed with a tiny recording device everywhere you go. Just something to keep in mind, everyfur. As for as tracing someone's IP address, sure, that is analogous to researching and finding someone's mailing address. Nothing illegal about it, as long as it doesn't go further than that, such as using that information to try and access computer files. Hugs, Papabear
13 Comments
Dumarsi
10/20/2012 04:56:38 am
Sad this is, people are too quick to sue people these days.. what ever happened to being nice, trying to work things out like civilized people, instead of rushing to the courtroom over petty stuff. While I agree this is hardly petty, but its not like they caused the injury directly to you. I would ask the person who posted the video to remove it, privately, if possible, then go from there.. We don't need our judicial system clogged with stuff like this- I'd so hate to see this on Judge Judy or the Peoples Court..
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Maxi50
6/1/2014 07:32:11 pm
lol you are so funny, of course the person filmed the guy in pain for good reasons, it was obvious it was for his own good, well in my case if i didnt sue him i guarantee you that the "civilized way" like you are talking was by smacking the idiots face because its exactly what he deserves for being such an asshole, but guys like you love to be a bunch of pussys and defenders of the idiots
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Papabear
6/2/2014 02:01:31 am
Calling someone online a "pussy" when you know you are safe from physical attack is self-referential, especially when done under a pseudonym. 5/2/2013 09:01:01 pm
Thanks! Regarding this article, I am interested very much! I believed that you will find the thing which you liked!The situation would be different if you were, say, in your bedroom and someone videotaped you doing something silly or embarrassing in private.
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6/19/2013 05:11:49 pm
I really enjoy this theme you've got going on in your web page. What is the name of the template by the way? I was thinking of using this style for the site I am going to construct for my school project.
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Papabear
6/19/2013 11:29:46 pm
I use a service called Weebly and it is one of their templates. I simply substituted the default art for my own for the top banner and played with the fonts a bit. Nothing elaborate; it is a simple site with a simple purpose :-3 Glad you like the look.
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6/23/2013 03:17:58 pm
Informative article, just what I was looking for.
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6/25/2013 05:14:36 pm
Can you please send by e-mail me the code for this script or please tell me in detail concerning this script?
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Papabear
6/26/2013 04:01:06 am
Go to Weebly.com if you're interested in the template.
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David
1/10/2014 10:09:54 pm
Simple terms
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JMB4000
8/18/2014 11:11:50 pm
Tracking someone's IP address is illegal... Just to let you know
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Papabear
9/1/2014 05:05:10 am
It is not illegal under some circumstances to track an IP address. If you get it from, say, your web browser, you are not doing anything illegal. If you hack into someone's computer, yes, that's illegal. If you combine the IP address with other personal information, that is illegal. But simply tracking the IP address is not against U.S. law because, in and of themselves, they are not considered personal information. Now, JMB4000, if you are from Europe, then yes, I believe in many European countries it is considered illegal. Not in the USA, however.
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10/13/2016 06:04:59 am
It is a cheap alternative to spending advertising dollars like water, and it can quickly get you to the top of engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo. Without SEO, as it is also known, you can expect to pay far more in ad dollars than you are capable of just to remain competitive with small- to medium-sized businesses.
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