Legal questions about photographing bullying and
then posting it online have arisen after an incident where a teenage girl “Sharkeisha”
beat “ShaMichael Manual”.
There are questions as to whether the person who
photographed the incident, which occurred in Texas, could face criminal and
civil liability, as well as those who posted the video online on many
sites. Most major sites like YouTube
took the video down as TOS violations, for fortunately there is no legitimate
link to give. But the legal question is
troubling. What if someone links to
it? What if someone embeds it in a blog?
The question was discussed on CNN and the general
impression was that a person would have to be an intentional participant in the
original bullying to be criminally liable, at least in most states.
The comments was offered that every viewing of the
incident online was like another “sucker punch”. Embedding it could be viewed
as “intentional infliction of emotional distress”. Yet I found many legitimate
news sites had apparently embedded videos of the incident.
The incident could be related to the “knockout game”
where people are punched in public and videotaped. The comment was made that, in the Internet
world, some people crave attention and “fame” so much they will do anything “bad”
to get it.
Huffington Post has a story (Dec. 6) and video about
the incident here. Rolling Out has a story “5 facts” that
seems helpful here.
It’s obvious that this will cause more questions
about Section 230.
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