blog on blogger.com with me and my childs picture labeling me as a child molester

[Erica Sports]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY



i use to frequent a popular sports website...on such site dicussions can get heated. But instead of just keeping things civilized on the site u have those who chose to act childish and take things to the extreme. I dont kno how but somone from the sports website found my Myspace page took a bunch of my pics and pic of my nephew and my son and posted a blog on blogger.com with said pics implying that i am a child molester. The blog was then postd on the said sports website and used to taunt me mercilessly. Many threads on the sports website, which are still active, were made to taunt me and it got to the point i had to leave that website alone. Now if it were just me it would be all in fun...but my nephew and son are lil kids...because of this i have asked the blogger.com to take the pics down with no success.....I kind of ignored it and didnt take it serious until my son came home the other day and said that he was in his classroom with a bunch of kids messing around with computers and they saw his picture on the blogger.com along with my picture claiming i am a child molester. I was ebarrassed, enraged and felt powerless. I had to explain to my son about how there are people in the world who do these kind of things just to be mean spirited. I asked the blogger.com to take the blog down repeadidly after the incident still with no succcess. My nephews mother has also seen the blog and has indicated dissaproval as well. And all of this was done because someone disagrees with me on subjects concerning sports.the person who created the blog has numerous blogs of other members from this website and their kids making mockery of them as well. Horsing around is ok but when its something that affects a childs social setting all for the sake of being mean spirited then the line is crossed. All I want is the pictures removed but the blogger.com won't budge. Is there any legal action i can take to hold both websites responsible for the slander, defamation, pain and suffering?

 

[Mass_Shyster]

Google DMCA Take-down notice.

This will tell you the procedure to have the photographs that you own the copyright to removed from their site.

 

[Erica Sports]

Google DMCA Take-down notice.

This will tell you the procedure to have the photographs that you own the copyright to removed from their site.

do regular myspace pics fall under the copyright category?....the pics were private and not made public.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

do regular myspace pics fall under the copyright category?....the pics were private and not made public.

If you took the photos, you own the copyright, unless you assigned the copyright to someone else.

In this case, I would simply assert the copyright. If they other party wishes to dispute your copyright, they can do that, but the website will likely keep them off anyway. They don't want the liability.

 

[Erica Sports]

If you took the photos, you own the copyright, unless you assigned the copyright to someone else.

In this case, I would simply assert the copyright. If they other party wishes to dispute your copyright, they can do that, but the website will likely keep them off anyway. They don't want the liability.

thank u very much....you're help is much appreciated.

 

[FlyingRon]

Yes, just because you granted FACEBOOK the rights to use your photos by uploading there doesn't make them public domain for everybody else.

 

[quincy]

If your concern is only with the photos appearing on the site, then the DMCA take-down notice mentioned by Stevef and FlyingRon should be adequate to have all infringing photos removed.

If you are concerned about the defamatory text that accompanies the photos, any legal action you may wish to consider would be against the text-creator and not the website that hosts the content.

Many (most) websites will not remove written content without a court order to do so, and a court will not usually issue such an order until you have presented to the court a prima facie case, establishing that the content violates a law and a specific content-creator is responsible. This often requires the filing of a lawsuit first (many times against a "John Doe").

Often just the threat of a lawsuit, delivered in an attorney-drafted cease and desist letter to the creator of the defamatory content, can be enough to get the material removed and to stop the posting of any additional defamatory content.

If you don't know the real identity of the poster, then this complicates matters, however a C&D that is directed at a specific "anonymous" poster can potentially be posted on the site where the defamatory content appears, as a warning to this poster that a suit against him is being considered and his real identity can be revealed as a result.

Good luck.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

If you are concerned about the defamatory text that accompanies the photos, any legal action you may wish to consider would be against the text-creator and not the website that hosts the content.

Why would the website hosting the defamatory content be immune from liability?

 

[quincy]

Because the website did not create the defamatory content.

The Communications Decency Act §230 provides immunity from suit to webhosts under most circumstances.

If the website is shown to have helped in composing or creating the defamatory material, or encouraged its creation, then it could potentially be held liable. The immunity offered by §230 is not an absolute immunity.

And, of course, since someone can sue someone else for pretty much any reason at all, the website owner could always be named as a co-defendant in any suit.

Most courts allow for the dismissal of a suit against the webhost, however, based on the CDA's immunity provision. Other courts accept §230 as an affirmative defense only and so the website would not be excused from the action. Either way, however, the website would not, in the vast majority of cases, have any liability for what is posted on their site by others.

 

[Mass_Shyster]

The Communications Decency Act §230 provides immunity from suit to webhosts under most circumstances.

Thanks. I figured there was some reason. On its face, it doesn't seem right to provide immunity, but I suspect some more research would provide the rationale. That should give me something to do when I should be studying.

 

[quincy]

A website can be looked at sort of like a library. You would not sue the library or the librarian for having a book with defamatory content - you would sue the author who wrote the defamatory words.

 

[dlw99]

Have you checked the IP of the person who set up the blog?

You can find this on a Whois search of the domain name.

 

[quincy]

You might be able to find it through a WHOIS search. It depends on the type of registration.

 

[Erica Sports]

thank u dlw for the info on tracking IP's i'll get right on that.....

 

[JusticeHasNoClr]

My advice is to follow this template:
DMCA Notice of Copyright Infringement - Sample Template

Subject: Notice of Copyright Infringement

The copyrighted work at issue is the text that appears on:
put complete URL here with www.

The URLs where our copyrighted material is located include Myspace | Social Entertainment page URL

You can reach me at [email protected] for further information or clarification. My phone number is +1-area code+number and my mailing address is Your name or Pseudonym from the website, Street Address, City/State/Zip..

The email address of the person/persons, who has reprinted our content illegally, is Pseudonym of the person who posted the picture, website URL also

I have a good faith belief that use of the copyrighted materials described above as allegedly infringing is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law.

I swear, under penalty of perjury, that the information in the notification is accurate and that I am the copyright owner or am authorized to act on behalf of the owner of an exclusive right that is allegedly infringed.

Yourn Name
Complete date with year [Time, your time zone]

===========
A DMCA Takedown notice will get the website owner's attention.