WINNIPEG - It may last just a few seconds: you lose your temper in a store or maybe act silly while walking home after a night on the town.
Once upon a time, in the pre-digital era, a few passersby might have noticed and your behaviour would quickly be forgotten.
But now, in the age of ubiquitous camera phones and websites like YouTube, a momentary lapse can endure on the Internet, with millions of potential viewers.
And if you want to get your embarrassing moment pulled from public viewing, you may be in for an uphill battle, privacy experts warn.
"When you choose to engage in certain acts in the public sphere, they're just that -- they're public," said Brian Bowman, a Winnipeg lawyer who specializes in privacy laws.
"So there is a tremendous amount of latitude that people have to view what you are doing and also to do things like take pictures."
One of the most recent high-profile examples is that of a woman who arrived at a Hong Kong airport in February only to learn she had missed her flight. As she became hysterical, an airline employee whipped out a camera phone.
The ensuing three minutes of screaming, sobbing and collapsing to the floor has been viewed millions of times on YouTube and picked up by television news programs around the world. The airline has apologized for the employee's actions, but the video remains available for public viewing.
Even in less public locations, a person's actions might be caught on video and disseminated to the world.
Ghyslain Raza, a teenager in Trois-Rivieres, Que., recorded a video of himself acting out a Star Wars-style light-sabre battle for a high school project. Someone obtained the video and posted it on YouTube, allowing people to view and post comments on Raza's awkward re-enactment.
Raza's parents sued the parents of three classmates who, it was alleged, had uploaded the video. The case was settled out of court in 2006 and neither side disclosed the outcome. Raza's actions, however, remain up on YouTube for the world to see.
Courts have yet to fully grapple with the privacy issues of the YouTube age, according to Monique St. Germain, a privacy lawyer and sessional instructor at the University of Manitoba's law school. To make matters more complicated, privacy laws vary from province to province, and some matters fall under federal jurisdiction where another law exists.
"A lot of it depends on where you are, what jurisdiction you're in, who's involved ... and then what the circumstances are," St. Germain said.
So what can you do if your embarrassing moment is put up for all to see?
If you want it taken down, the best place to start is with the website hosting the material. YouTube, Google Video and others have complaint forms you can fill out.
YouTube warns people, however, that many videos shot in public are considered public. It also asks people with privacy complaints to first try to contact the uploader and ask them to withdraw the video. The company did not respond to an interview request.
You can also try suing the person who videotaped or uploaded the video, but the law is, at best, vague on the issue, according to St. Germain and Bowman.
In Ontario and most other provinces, there is no specific legislation governing these types of privacy cases. Plaintiffs must rely on common law -- previous court rulings that set precedents, of which there are few.
A few provinces have specific privacy laws that govern "person-to-person" cases, but the wording can be open to interpretation. Manitoba's Privacy Act, for example, says someone is guilty of a privacy violation if he or she "substantially, unreasonably and without claim of right, violates the privacy of another person." The law lists a few examples, such as eavesdropping, spying or using someone's image for commercial purposes without their consent.
There is also federal privacy legislation, but that is aimed primarily at commercial use of personal data.
St. Germain and Bowman agree that a privacy lawsuit over a video posted to the web might be successful, but without specific legal guidelines there's no guarantee a judge will consider a video of something like an airport tantrum an invasion of privacy.
And even if the lawsuit succeeds, it can take years to get a decision and the damage may have been long done.
The ball is now in the politicians' court to update privacy laws for the digital age, Bowman says.
"It's a growing issue, it's certainly something we're going to see more of, and I think there's going to be increased pressure on lawmakers," he said.
"The use of video and YouTube is prolific ... and I think our laws are not necessarily meeting the expectations that most people would have."
