Legal Question in Technology Law in California
Youtube Cyber Gangs
Dear Lawyer,
My brother and I had a promising comedy channel on youtube, in 3 months we had over 100,000 video views and over 150 subscribers.
Then we ran across a guy running a channel, that didn't produce his own videos, instead this person was more interested in organising an online gang.
This guy used his channel to accrue a gang of other members, with enough members in his gang he could implement a strategy for getting ligitimate accounts banned.
Youtube employ a system where if enough people ''flag'' a video, that video will automatically be banned by the youtube system. Similarily if enough people ''flag'' an account, that account is automatically suspended.
He threatened us and taunted us using direct private emails, like a cat with a mouse, then had all his gang members flag our account, and its been suspended, youtube support ignores our emails to try report this issue.
We have kept a record of all emails he sent us, and our responses. Both in screen shot mode, and actually video'd off the youtube website. (ie proof of this)
So the question is now, is there any legal way that we can get Youtube to pay attention to our plight? And can we take this cyberterrorist down?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Youtube Cyber Gangs
The first step I would take is to review YouTube's posted policy on such matters--check the website. Is this user violating the terms of the agreement? I would have to review all of the emails--why are they doing this? Do they object to the content? Are they a competitor to your business? Can you figure out who they are?
I hope that helps identify some issues. You may contact me by phone if you would like to hire a lawyer.
Sincerely,
RP