Clip of mother being gang-raped posted on YouTube
By staff writers
March 05, 2008 06:46am
Article from: NEWS.com.au
* Mother gang-raped in front of children
* Mobile phone footage of rape posted on YouTube
* Latest technology news and views
FOOTAGE of a mother repeatedly raped in front of her screaming children posted on YouTube has sparked calls for the video sharing website to be moderated.
The 25-year-old woman, who said her glass of champagne was spiked by three teenage boys when they visited her London home in November, said the three-minute mobile phone footage of of her horrific ordeal was watched by 600 people.
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The woman said she was unable to move, but fully aware during the hours-long attack.
"They just hurt me the whole way through. They had no respect," she told Sky News.
"Afterwards one p****** on me, like I was nothing.
"I felt dirtly, humiliated, ashamed. I did not want to tell anyone, did not want to do anything, I just wanted to forget."
Complaint
The mother decided to report the gang-rape to the police after hearing rumours of the YouTube footage, which was taken off the site after a local reporter complained about its graphic nature.
"Putting (the video) on the internet was an abomination," the mother said.
"I was raped on film and you could hear my daughter and four-year-old son crying. I cannot understand how any website could show such a thing."
A YouTube Australia spokesperson told NEWS.com.au the site's rules prohibited content such as pornography and gratuitous violence from being uploaded.
"Anyone in the world who sees content that they think is inappropriate can flag it and our staff then review it," he said. "If the content breaks our terms, then we remove it. If the police ask us for information in accordance with legal process, we will cooperate."
He said YouTube had also been used by police to solve and prevent crimes. In South Australia police use YouTube footage to identify criminals.
"YouTube is a community site used by millions of people in very positive ways. Sadly, as with any form of communication, there is a tiny minority of people who try to break the rules."
"Extremely difficult"
A technology lawyer with UK firm Pinsent Masons told The Times it was "extremely difficult" for trained staff at YouTube to control videos showing graphic images, with 10 hours of content uploaded every minute.
"In this instance - where you have a video that may depict a crime - there's no technical measure the site can apply that will prevent it being posted in the first place," Struan Robertson said.
"The only option would be for them to review every video before it is posted and that is unrealistic. What sites like YouTube need is a good reporting mechanism which enables content to be flagged to the site once it has been posted, and YouTube operates well in this sense."
Three teenagers - two aged 16 and one aged 14 - have been questioned by police over the attack.