In recent news, Carla Franklin, 23, took Google to court over a defamatory Youtube comment. Alongside the comment were unauthorized videos of her, which were later taken down. Everyone is entitled to the removal of a video that breaches their privacy via the Youtube Report feature, but plenty of people are defamed online everyday without any punishment or legal action. This woman wants to find out the identity of the commenter in an attempt to identify her harasser.
Now, I’m not fully informed about the situation, but it seems this person can be selected out of a group of people as they attend the same private events as her. Since this person has been harassing her both offline and now online, she believes that she has the grounds to demand the identity of the person behind the attacks. Having said this, plenty of other high-profile people are harassed by people wanting to make money off an exciting scoop like Tiger Woods’ infidelity. What makes her so special that she should be able to pursue her harasser?
Unless this person has been continuously threatening her safety and life, she deserves no further action than a simple reply or removal of the offending comment and video. The account would then be suspended for review by Youtube.
[CBS News]
