Officer Bubbles Sues To Find Out Identity Of Anonymous YouTubers

[Joanne98]

Back at the G20 meetings in July in Toronto, there were numerous stories of police overreacting and arresting protesters with little reason whatsoever. Perhaps the most noteworthy story that got attention was the story of "Officer Bubbles," the name given to a police officer, named Adam Josephs, who threatened to arrest a woman for assault if the bubbles she was blowing landed on him. You can see the video here:

Officer Bubbles became a bit of an internet phenomenon, and others built on it, as normally happens in internet memes. Apparently, one person made cartoon versions of Officer Bubble arresting various famous people, such as President Obama and Santa Claus. Because of that, Officer Adam Josephs has now filed a $1.2 million defamation lawsuit. The press reports were a bit unclear, with some saying he was actually suing YouTube, and others saying he was just asking YouTube to hand over the names. However, Howard Knopf links to what certainly appears to be the legal filing in question, and Josephs is suing YouTube and claiming that it's responsible for publishing the videos and comments:

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101017/22431511456/officer-bubbles-sues-to-find-out-identity-of-anonymous-youtubers.shtml

Video at link

[EFerrari]

1. Officer Bubbles sounds like a grouch. n/t

[pinboy3niner]

6. 'Officer Bubbles' sounds like somebody delivering a stripper-gram

Oops! Now I'M keeping an eye out for process servers. :hide:

[WillyT]

7. Damn... You Beat Me Too It !!!

:evilgrin:

:hi:

[pinboy3niner]

8. LOL!

Gotta be quick on the draw! :)

:hi:

[SpiralHawk]

2. Right wing fascist types have thin skin, fer sure

Stop whining and get a life, right-wing Dude.

[tularetom]

3. Of course there is a lawyer ready to take Officer Bubble's money

I'd bet anything this is not a contingency case. Even the sleaziest attorney wouldn't think this thing ever had a chance of succeeding.

Of course I'm sure they hope YouTube will settle to avoid the pain in the ass of litigation.

[Gold Metal Flake]

10. News of the Future: Officer Bubbles sues own attorney.

Cuz you know it's gonna happen.

[Bozita]

4. Officer Bubbles: posterboy for anger management

Aggressive sonofabitch, isn't he?

[gratuitous]

5. As a matter of procedure

Officer Bubbles would have to sue anonymous John Does, and get an order of the court commanding You Tube to hand over the names of the folks who posted the videos, because You Tube, Google or any of the other folks like that don't give up the names of people who post on their sites without a court order (unless you're a nosy government agency looking to harrass a peace group or something, then it's full disclosure on request). There might be a separate action against You Tube for its part in hosting the videos, but that probably won't go anywhere.

[Canuckistanian]

9. And once he finds out those names, then what?

We have Fair Use statutes in Canada, too. And satire of public servants is a grand old Canadian tradition.

And any Canadian judge is going to take a dim view of any intimidation lawsuit.

Besides, Officer Bubbles' bosses must not be too happy with the timing of this action. The Toronto Police are under intense scrutiny now for their treatment of arrested protesters at the G20/G8 meeting this summer.

[Maat]

11. Thanks for expressing things so well.

Officer Bubbles will regret this decision.