THOMAS MORE SOCIETY

A National Public Interest Law Firm

May 5, 2011

VIA EMAIL & FACSIMILE TO 650-253-0001

YouTube, LLC
901 Cherry Ave.
San Bruno, CA 94066

Re: YouTube Support #799949666 - “Privacy Complaint”

(Related matter at YouTube Support #760411943)

Dear YouTube:

We are attorneys for Live Action, which posts on YouTube under the user name
“LiveActionFilms”. We have received a copy of your email letter sent to our client, dated May 3, 2011,
informing it that you have received a privacy complaint from an individual regarding our client’s
content posted at URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCWf1MB92Pw (edited video) and
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hgCZrzQg6ag (unedited video). The information reported to you as
violating privacy is, according to you email letter, located at 0:38 in the edited video and 1:36 in the
unedited video. The edited video shows photos of individuals denoted “Staffer” and “Clinical
Supervisor” at 0:38, and the unedited video shows the individual denoted as “Staffer” at 1:36.

These videos are part of a series of undercover investigative videos taken at Planned Parenthood
facilities and released earlier this year. YouTube previously denied a privacy complaint against another
in this series of videos in YouTube Support #760411943. These videos have been the subject of
reporting by every major media outlet in the country, along with being featured in Congressional
hearings and hearings before state legislatures. The videos have made news and have driven the news,
even altering policy debates – including the debate that almost triggered a shut down of the United
States Government, namely whether Planned Parenthood should receive federal funding. Just as in
Support #760411943, these videos – and the series of which they are a part – are highly newsworthy.
Moreover, the YouTube community agrees with this sentiment, with the edited video complained of
here receiving 46,662 “views” as of this writing.

Your privacy guidelines acknowledge that when certain materials have newsworthy qualities,
those considerations override issues of privacy.1 That is clearly the case here. If YouTube takes the
Live Action videos off its site, it will have been wielding the censor’s scissors, silencing critics of
Planned Parenthood’s policies and practices in a partisan way, stifling legitimate debate about issues of
deep and increasingly widespread concern among the American people.

Moreover, the individuals depicted in the videos have no expectation of privacy under relevant
law – they are employees providing visible, public services on behalf of their employer, Planned

1
Your guidelines also require that the person pictured make the complaint, though it is not indicated in your correspondence
who filed the privacy complaint.

29 S. LaSalle | Suite 440 | Chicago, IL 60603 | www.thomasmoresociety.org | P: 312.782.1680 | F: 312.782.1887

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King
YouTube, LLC
May 5, 2011
Page 2

Parenthood. Planned Parenthood itself helped make this matter newsworthy, informing the national
media that it had written to the U.S. Attorney General, the FBI, and local law enforcement concerning
the investigation by Live Action and worrying that there might be someone engaged in interstate sex
trafficking of minors (see, e.g., http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/41241037/ns/us_news-
crime_and_courts/). In fact, due to public outcry and concern after the video in question was released
by LiveActionFilms on YouTube, Planned Parenthood announced it would re-train its 11,000 staff. This
video, and others like it, were widely viewed and referenced by news media. And they were referred to,
in part, as the impetus for Planned Parenthood's massive retraining decision. (see,
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/US/02/08/abortion.video.retraining/index.html). Moreover, according to the
CNN.com article, both Planned Parenthood staff members visible in the videos at issue here have
discussed these videos publicly, giving accounts of interviews they had with the FBI.

We sincerely request that you reconsider your intention to delete the Live Action video and
allow members of the American public to view the recording and draw their own conclusions.
Moreover, we request that you recognize the evident newsworthiness of these videos and cease
accepting “privacy complaints” against them, as complaints at this point are clearly not meant to protect
personal privacy interests but to harass and annoy Live Action. If you are determined to remove the
Live Action video from the YouTube site, despite the facts recited in this letter, we request that you
provide additional time for Live Action to consider what other options may be available to it.

Sincerely yours,

Thomas Brejcha
President & Chief Counsel

Peter Breen
Executive Director & Legal Counsel

29 S. LaSalle | Suite 440 | Chicago, IL 60603 | www.thomasmoresociety.org | P: 312.782.1680 | F: 312.782.1887

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” – Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King