US mum sues after breastfeeding video winds up in online porn

New York -  A mother from New Jersey is suing a production company after an instructional breast-feeding video found its way into an unauthorized porn video posted on YouTube.

In January 2010, MaryAnn Sahoury participated in an instructional video called “Breastfeeding Help,” which was produced by Meredith Video Studios, a subsidiary of the media giant

Meredith Corp., which publishes Ladies’ Home Journal, among other titles. She’d been asked to appear in the video by a lactation consultant.

According to the documents filed in the court, Sahoury said she was happy to participate since she’d had such a wonderful experience breastfeeding her baby daughter.

“Breastfeeding for me was the most rewarding thing I had ever done in my life,” the New York Daily News quoted Sahoury as telling NBC New York.

“I wanted to share that with people. I wanted to really give back,” she said.

Sahoury, who did not get any payment for her participation, said the company assured her that neither her name, nor her 1-month old daughter’s name would be used.

Sahoury signed off the video release without reading it – as she assumed that there would be no surprises.

“I really had no reason to question it,” Sahoury said.

“We went through everything before so I just filled it out and I signed it,” she said.

But she was wrong.

In signing the release, she gave Meredith the authority to share the video “across all platforms.”

Months later, curious to know whether the video had aired, she typed in her name into a Google search.

According to New Jersey Law Journal, she was horrified to see that her video had been shared on YouTube and then snatched up by a third party that manipulated it by combining it with

pornographic footage.

“I was sick to my stomach,” Sahoury said.

“I didn’t know what I was going to do. I just felt so paralysed,” she said.

The worst part was that her full name and her baby’s name were featured in the hacked video.

Sahoury claims that she pleaded with the company to have YouTube remove the X-rated re-cut of her educational video, but the company delayed until late August 2010, only after it had

been viewed 15,000 times.

But within 24 hours of its removal, a new version was uploaded, drawing more than 2,500 views in the first week, according to the complaint.

This week, Sahoury was given permission by a federal judge to sue the producer of the educational video for fraud, negligent misrepresentation, negligence, breach of contract, negligent

infliction of emotional distress and equitable fraud.

The trial is expected to begin before the end of the year.

“I know that there has to be something that can become good out of this,” she added.