Internet Slander
Posted on : 04-06-2009 | By : Legal Information | In : Business Law, Civil Rights, Defamation & Libel, Other Legal Topics, Privacy Policy, Terms of Service
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I have been slandered by soemone on the internet that went to a site called “rip-off Report”. If you google my name, this report comes up. The acusations are false. I requested that this person’s slanderous comments be removed. They state they will not remove the comments. They also state that they will not give the information of the comment writer. They say that they are protected by law. This person posted the same slanderous lies on another site called “complaint board”. I wrote an email to the board of this site and they removed the comments and wrote an email to google to remove this from the search engine, as I had requested be done. How can I get this off of the internet and can I sue the person/persons responsible? If so, how can I find a lawyer to handle my case?
Thanks,
Phyllis
It sounds like you need to get a lawyer that specializes in internet law. You can check out this lawyer:
http://www.web20lawyer.com
Unfortunately, the law is stacked against you. Most sites that are designed to encourage venting, will not remove statements made from their sites. This is true even if the statements are proven to be false (the basis of a defamation lawsuit). This is where the real world and the online world diverge. If the New York Times allowed a defamatory statement to be published in their paper, they can be held liable. This is because they function as editors of all opinion pieces. The same is not the for many of these websites. The site are designed to encourage opinions. The site owners allow anyone to say anything. They do not edit the comments. The law recognized this with the passage of the Communication Decency Act. The act held that ISP (which after several cases these sites have been equated with) are not responsible for the materials posted as long as they don’t act as publishers/editors of the material. The protection afforded these sites, will prevent them from removing the material. When it comes to fighting these lies, your best defense is SEO (search engine optimization). Working with an expert you can have positive published material about you move to higher ranking on search engines until the rip-off page is moved to the second page and beyond. I know they may not seem like the answer a lawyer would give, but sometimes your best attach is to go head to head with the sites.
You can always sue the author of the statement for defamation. At a minimum you would have to prove that the allegations are false. Before you ever get to the lawsuit, you would need to get the authors contact information. That can be hard, but not impossible. You’ll need to go to court and prove the likelihood that you could win in a defamation case. If you prove that your case has merit, the court may issue an order compelling the site to divulge the information. Most sites will comply.
Let me know if I can be of further help.
Hello
I need to contact thjs “Complaint Board” as well…but I cannot find a email address or phone number? Does anyone have this?
Regards-
Hi there,
my patners bussiness has been fasly slandered on this site, we suspect the person who wrote it is annoyed as we took them to court over an unpaid bill. I have contected the site with little success. They tell me I can post a rebuttle or a comment which I have no interest in doing (its petty and stupid and we are adults not teenagers) The site will only take it off if we fill in a verification form and pay them, but they also say there is no 100% g that they will remove it. They will also not give us the name of the person who wrote it. We live in Aus are the laws different? what can we do?