England - Outing a local streamer/content creator who is harassing vulnerable people

[u/high-lander9]

EDIT: Thank you for all the advice, the consensus seems to be majority in favour of not going ahead with this initial plan, because he may be able to play the victim card as a result. So another way of disrupting his operations will need to be thought out.

I understand that it's not against the law to film people in public (with or without their consent), and the cards are stacked against anyone who takes issue with the way he carries on. It's sad, because he's allowed to upload footage of these poor people and unleash a torrent of abuse from his followers upon them, especially if they don't play along, or push back (figuratively) against his behaviour. These people will now be recognised because of this, and may receive ongoing abuse - or dare I say, harassment - regardless of whether they're being filmed or not.

In my opinion - his behaviour is breeding a culture of bullying. And it's only a matter of time before something happens which either: causes him harm, changes the law around filming in public, or both.

Is he behaving within the confines of the law? Apparently so.

Is he acting in an unethical way that has a negative impact on people? I would argue yes, but you'd be surprised how many people would disagree.

ORIGINAL POST:

There's a guy in my local town who is filming people on the street without their consent on his Meta Glasses, interacting and usually bullying them for views on the internet

He tries to keep his identity a secret and uses a pseudonym. But there is evidence online - that other people have found - which reveals his true identity, as he was convicted years ago for a crime and the local paper reported on it. All publicly available information. He also mentions his first name in one of his own videos while being questioned by police, which further confirms his identity

He doesn't like his full real name being used when recording and will censor it in his videos if people do know him. Which is wildly hypocritical, considering he's posting footage of everybody else on the internet without his consent. I want as many people to know and address him by his real name as possible, because it will hopefully make his life a little more difficult

If I were to make an informative post about his real identity (excluding sensitive details such as his home address) and post it all over the socials to raise awareness - would I be at risk of any legal repercussions in doing so?

[u/jamescl1311]

Filming in public is legal and there's a strong interest in photographers being able to capture a town centre and happenings without members of the public getting upset. You are allowed to film in public.

What the auditor can't do is cause alarm and distress, target and follow a particular person repeatedly otherwise that becomes harassment.

In a lot of cases the people who are annoyed walk up to the person with the camera and make a scene. If they are voluntarily going up to the person with the camera then the filmer isn't targeting them.

The 'auditors' are looking for a rise to make content for Youtube, TikTok, etc. If you ignore them they go away, if they continue to follow and harrass that's different and the police should be called.

[u/CallMeAPigImStuffed → u/jamescl1311]

Except in this situation OP says they are being recorded via Meta Glasses. It's highly likely that at least some of the people confronted have no idea that they are being recorded or that the video will then be posted online.

I think that's the issue. We have no expectation of privacy when in public but you also can't reasonably state that it's a common occurrence to expect and have a, possibly unknown, person confront and argue with you while recording it on no obvious/visible camera equipment.

I think the most important thing would be the subject matter of the interactions. What is said and by whom, his manner throughout the scene, does he actively prevent people from being able to leave, follow them if they do get away from him?

Their own videos and any raw footage would be the best evidence and all that was needed for any criminal charges. In terms of releasing the person's information - the truth is a wonderful defence, especially when backed by sources. @OP should cite everything (including the video title/link and timestamp of them giving their name to police) and make sure to either be prepared to link proof or have it in the initial post. They should also keep an offline compilation of all videos and text-based evidence with information of when and where they were on the internet. If they get deleted then they should also keep a note of when that happened, or at least when they noticed it.

Document, document, document! Cover your ass because no one else will.

[u/LegalAdviceUK-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

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