Schools and Youtube

[notmyname2]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? KY

Does a school principal have any legal powers to demand that a video be taken off youtube? There's nothing in the video that identifies the school, we don't say where it is. He thinks it gives students of the school a bad reputation (yeah how). He says it HAS to come down and is threatening to start suspending people he can identify in the video unless they tell him who took it and put it up. People already got into trouble for what happens in the video before the principal found out about the video (nice double jeopardy).

Is there any law about this? Needing permission to film in a public school or anything like that? We probably will take it down and go back to him and say alright it's down. But we wanted to know if there's anything legal (incase, you know, it quietly found its way back onto youtube later).

He says it MUST come down......MUST it?

 

[The Occultist]

People already got into trouble for what happens in the video before the principal found out about the video (nice double jeopardy).

In what way is this double jeopardy?

Is there any law about this? Needing permission to film in a public school or anything like that?

There are laws regarding photos/recordings in "public". In a public location, there are generally few restrictions. When it's a public location, but the vantage point is one that is not accessible to the public, one tends to run into problems. Now, when everything is within in area where public access is not allowed, you will definitely run into problems. My advice: take it down.

 

[notmyname2]

In what way is this double jeopardy?

Yeah, I know it's not technically, but it kinda sucks that people got punished already and now he threatens to suspend them aswell.

There are laws regarding photos/recordings in "public". In a public location, there are generally few restrictions. When it's a public location, but the vantage point is one that is not accessible to the public, one tends to run into problems. Now, when everything is within in area where public access is not allowed, you will definitely run into problems.

Whoa. What? From what I'm reading, the second one is relevant (the public location, vantage point one)? It's a public school but people can't just wander in off the street so does that make it a vantage point that's not accessible? But the people in the video and who took it are all allowed to be there...

 

[quincy]

Whether the school principal has any legal right to demand that the video be removed from YouTube really depends on the content of the video, and could depend on what the school policy is on videotaping on school property. You could check out the school handbook to determine if the videotaping violated one of the school rules. The school principal DOES have the right to suspend students over what is portrayed in the video.

Generally it is legal to film inside a school or on school property, and generally it is legal to film students inside a school or on school property. Again, however, the content of the film matters, and whether school rules prohibit filming. In any case, lavatory or locker room shots could get you into a whole lot of trouble, as could filming a fight between students. Defamation, of an individual or of the school, could come into play, as could invasion of privacy.

Because the school principal is threatening to take action against the students in the film and the filmmakers, the students and the filmmakers have to decide how important this video is, and how much money they are willing to spend to defend their possible rights to showcase it on YouTube, and how willing they all are to do this while suspended from school.

Defending your constitutional rights can be extremely expensive (multi-multi-thousands of dollars) and there can be repercussions felt at your school and in your community. If you are up for the fight and have the money to spend, have an attorney review the video in its entirety. The attorney can better let you know if the principal has any legal action, or if you have any legal action worth pursuing, or whether your best and wisest course of action is to simply remove the video as requested.

 

[notmyname2]

You could check out the school handbook to determine if the videotaping violated one of the school rules.

We really can't see any mention of it. We're 'discouraged' from bringing electronic devices to school but that's the only mention. And there's no mention at all of videotaping.

The school principal DOES have the right to suspend students over what is portrayed in the video.

That's not what he wants to suspend people for though. He wants to suspend them because he asked people who took the video and who put it on youtube and they said things like "don't know" (and they're not all lying), "couldn't see them properly" or my personal favourite, "there's a video??!!!".

Generally it is legal to film inside a school or on school property, and generally it is legal to film students inside a school or on school property.

That's what we thought.

Lavatory or locker room shots could get you into a whole lot of trouble,

No, we're not into THAT type of filming.

as could filming a fight between students.

No, we're not ESPN.

Defamation, of an individual or of the school, could come into play, as could invasion of privacy.

I don't think we've done this. To explain it better, it's a video of people doing something stupid (...potentially dangerous), it wasn't done for the benefit of a camera but a camera was present. The principal found out who was involved, they got punished. Days passed and then he found out that there was a video of the whole thing and that it was on youtube. So now he's going back to the kids that got punished and saying you're going to get punished again if you don't tell me who did it. (this seems extreme)

Because the school principal is threatening to take action against the students in the film and the filmmakers, the students and the filmmakers have to decide how important this video is, and how much money they are willing to spend to defend their possible rights to showcase it on YouTube, and how willing they all are to do this while suspended from school.

Well. It's no Hitch****.

Defending your constitutional rights can be extremely expensive (multi-multi-thousands of dollars)

Land of the free...

We probably will remove it (mostly cos he's telling people who really don't know who did it that they'll be suspended). But we won't be happy about it. We think he's being a bit extreme about the whole thing. So far we think he has NO idea who's responsible (and only a few people actually know) so we have that going for us.

 

[notmyname2]

Oh and also, in the handbook, the only mentions of the internet are - no 'negative postings' - which reads as personal postings, not negative against the school (and it's reputation). And no harassment. Which isn't what we've done.

I really can't see that we've done anything wrong (nothing that they've thought to write a policy about anyway). Maybe we should just go to him with what we know and pled our case that we didn't do anything against any school rules or policies. And hope we don't get suspended. (he seems kinda mad about it all though).


Ha ha, it's offended by Hitch****.

 

[quincy]

Yes, you have to be creative when writing "Hitchc*ck."

Pleading your case to the principal may not be too stupid of an idea. If he understands you had no idea that what was being done was wrong, he may not suspend any of you. Then again, he may. It's sort of a crap shoot.

You mentioned that what was videotaped was potentially dangerous, and that makes the principal's concerns legitimate ones. The school can be held liable for accidents on school property, and the lack of supervision in a school that allows for dangerous acts to occur makes the school look bad. But the fact that a student could have been hurt is the major concern and certainly worthy of suspensions to those involved (if they encouraged the action or didn't try to stop the action).

I think removing the video from YouTube is wise.

 

[notmyname2]

Pleading your case to the principal may not be too stupid of an idea. If he understands you had no idea that what was being done was wrong, he may not suspend any of you. Then again, he may. It's sort of a crap shoot.

Yeah, it's like a sh*tty version of Christmas. We're gonna do this, he wants to know by today. It wouldn't be real cool of us to leave him to start suspending our friends.

You mentioned that what was videotaped was potentially dangerous, and that makes the principal's concerns legitimate ones. The school can be held liable for accidents on school property, and the lack of supervision in a school that allows for dangerous acts to occur makes the school look bad.

Mmmm. I see your point. I suppose that's what he means by 'bad reputation'.

(if they encouraged the action or didn't try to stop the action).

Stop it? I ain't gettin in the middle of a mess like that...

I think removing the video from YouTube is wise.

Yeah, we plan to take it down before going to see him so we can say it's already gone.

 

[quincy]

The fact that you plan to step forward so that your friends do not get unjustly punished shows a great deal of maturity on your part, as does removing the video from YouTube.

I hope your principal recognizes this.

Good luck.

 

[notmyname2]

Quincy, I hope you don't mind but basically we went to him and part of what we said was that we'd been thinking about it and we understood that:

The school can be held liable for accidents on school property, and the lack of supervision in a school that allows for dangerous acts to occur makes the school look bad. But the fact that a student could have been hurt is the major concern

Except for the 'lack of supervision' part, that might've annoyed him. It worked a charm, thanks for the soundbytes!

He was pretty reasonable about it, he's a good guy really. He even agreed that there were no rules or policies (yet, there will be soon...so we ruined that...) that really explained it so we didn't get suspended or even detention or anything (he said that was because he didn't have to come and find us). But if we put it back up or if we give it to friends and they put it up then there'll be serious problems (we thought that we might put it back up in a few months but...maybe not). And now he says that everyone who was involved is considered to have been dealt with, our friends won't get in any more trouble, so that's cool.

He didn't agree that we didn't identify the school. He thought thousands of people could identify the school...he pointed out a few distinctive things in the video...yeah, ok, he's right.

The fact that you plan to step forward so that your friends do not get unjustly punished shows a great deal of maturity on your part, as does removing the video from YouTube.

Thanks. He did acknowledge that.

We kind of think he pulled a fast one - he seemed to be pretty mad when he was saying he'd suspend people but when we went to see him we just sat down and talked about it. Well it worked, he got what he wanted. (played!)

Thanks for your posts Quincy. When we told one of our friends who stars in the video that we'd taken it down he said "that's ok, we'll do it again out on the street so he can't complain". So I might need you when the cops are after us.

 

[quincy]

I am glad that my words were able to be of some assistance to you in escaping suspension, notmyname, but I think just your appearance before the principal alone had much more to do with your positive outcome than the words.

By the way, I may have to take back my "maturity" comment if I find out you and your friends have videotaped any more potentially dangerous stunts. I understand dancing birds are a big draw on YouTube - perhaps you guys can try videotaping something like that.

 

[notmyname2]

but I think just your appearance before the principal alone had much more to do with your positive outcome than the words.

Yeah, it was the right thing to do. That probably is why he was so good about it. I've definitely had worse visits with him.

By the way, I may have to take back my "maturity" comment if I find out you and your friends have videotaped any more potentially dangerous stunts.

Ha ha. Hey, sometimes things have to be documented otherwise people won't believe the stories. Although now we've seen how quickly it turns into "evidence".

I'm pretty sure there won't be any more videos of potentially dangerous stunts at school anyway...I think we can manage to respect the principal's wishes after he was so reasonable...(and also because he had a look of 'I will make your life hell if you don't do as i say')

I understand dancing birds are a big draw on YouTube - perhaps you guys can try videotaping something like that.

....I don't want to know where you came across information like that. Although I am now tempted to type dancing birds into Youtube....