Someone's posting nudes of my student online!

January 31, 2010 9:05 AM

I run a nonprofit education center in the Philippines, and a few of our students come from a background of the sex industry. One of my students used to work online for a live webcam sex site, where members pay by the minute. Well, it recently came to his (and my) attention that one of the members who paid for a private chat with him used screen recording software and then posted the video to a blogspot.com site. What can be done to get it removed? If this got out to too many people, his professional future could be completely destroyed.

I've clicked "Report Abuse" on the blogspot site and complained about it twice in the last week to no avail. In the last couple days, they've posted more photos and video of him, without his consent (and without the knowledge that he'd been recorded in the first place). Are there any legal options that can be used? Does anyone have connections to employees at Google who could help us? You have no idea how much it would mean to him. You can email me at [e-mail]

(I already searched the blogspot page and there's no contact information for the author to be found anywhere)

posted by anonymous to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

You could try sending a DMCA takedown notice. But give the amount of porn out there, it's unlikely that anyone would ever notice.
posted by delmoi at 9:29 AM on January 31, 2010

I assume they aren't posting the material using his real name? If not, how is anyone going to find it and link it to him?

(In 15 years someone will probably use the facebook omnidatabase to tag names on all internet media, but he can worry about that when it comes to pass.)
posted by benzenedream at 9:41 AM on January 31, 2010

Besides being identifiable in the video, is there anything else that identifies him, ie: did he use his real name? How did he find this video, I wonder. I am just wondering how it could affect his professional life unless it was a popular site specifically with people he knows. Otherwise it's just one more screenshot of porn on the internet and he can always deny deny deny it's him, if ever presented with the evidence. Unless there is some really unique identifying feature (like a face tattoo) no one could prove it was him.

Of course you should try all avenues to have it taken down, but it has likely been shared all over the internet by now. Keep complaining to the site - it will likely take a while to get a response, but be persistent and clear that the video is being distributed non-consentually.
posted by smartypantz at 9:45 AM on January 31, 2010

This is why the DMCA exists. Copyright ownership of that video partly is owned by the actor.
posted by damn dirty ape at 11:36 AM on January 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

Does DMCA have any legal standing in the Phillippines? Just asking, because this may present a complication with that plan.
posted by lleachie at 12:25 PM on January 31, 2010

It doesn't matter, the host (Blogspot) is in the US and respects the DMCA. Have you been using that specific (DMCA) form to submit your complaints?
posted by anaelith at 12:37 PM on January 31, 2010 [1 favorite]

Any chance he was a minor at the time? (Very, very sad if he were, and I'm glad he is in a much better place now.) If he were, of if there was a chance he were, I'd be sure to emphasize that fact in your complaints. And I'd complain daily.
posted by zizzle at 3:37 PM on January 31, 2010

Hooray! The DMCA Takedown Notice worked! This has completely made our day... Thank you guys so much; it's a route that had never even occurred to me.
posted by premiumpolar at 2:07 AM on February 1, 2010 [2 favorites]