Libelous/defamatory website

[golgy]

What is the name of your state? Australia - Suit to be possibly filed in Utah.

Background :

A defamatory website has sprung up regarding a friend of mine, and for the most part the website owners that were hosting these websites have responded positively to polite requests for removal of the libelous/defamatory content.

This has continued on a merry-go-round with the posters hopping providers as soon as they are taken down, until now. A Utah based firm has thus far ignored any request for the material to be removed.

Whilst I realize that this problem stems from Australia, is there any action I can take in regards to the host in Utah? I'm hoping for either removal of the content or to find out more details so that a defamation suit may be raised here in Australia against the person(s) who keep doing this.

 

[The Occultist]

Your friend will have to go to Utah and sue through Utah's court system. My guess is it won't be worth it. At all.

 

[rmet4nzkx]

The first amendment protects the right of free speech. The Federal communications acts define the limits of Internet postings, these are found in Section 230 of the Federal Telecommunications Act of 1996 which protects Internet publishers from being held liable for allegedly harmful comments written by others. What happens after they refuse to remove or moderate such material is a different story which might result in lawsuits being filed in state or Federal Court. Such lawsuits can be very costly to bring and collecting if you should win is all together another story.

 

[seniorjudge]

Your friend will have to go to Utah and sue through Utah's court system. My guess is it won't be worth it. At all.

Yep, go to Utah.

Take your skis.

 

[golgy]

What happens after they refuse to remove or moderate such material is a different story which might result in lawsuits being filed in state or Federal Court. Such lawsuits can be very costly to bring and collecting if you should win is all together another story.

Well, we're only looking at getting it taken down. Ideally, we'd like to find out the identities of these people and file suit here in Australia, though I'm not familiar with any laws in the US regarding how i can request details.

 

[The Occultist]

You can't file suit in Australia for a crime occurring in the US.

You can try contacting the host of the offending website and explain things and maybe they will take it down. Maybe.

 

[Quaere]

A defamatory website has sprung up regarding a friend of mine, and for the most part the website owners that were hosting these websites have responded positively to polite requests for removal of the libelous/defamatory content.

What are you talking about here? Is the alleged defamation the subject of an entire web site or is it merely something that has been added to a web site that has other subjects?

You referred to a provider, a host, a Utah based firm, web site owners, and apparently, individuals who are going from site to site making defamatory posts.

Start with the originator of the defamatory information. Is the author affiliated with the owner of the site where the defamation is displayed?

Where does this “Utah based firm” fit in to the picture? Is it a server, provider, host, owner, or writer?

Although you didn’t ask about who has jurisdiction over any potential defendants, it could be Australia, Utah, or any one of a hundred other places.

Well, we're only looking at getting it taken down.

Try directing the web site owner to this case:
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/08/01/545/17812
I don't know the current status of that case but the plaintiff was making a pretty good case for limiting the protections offered to web site owners under Section 230.

If the owner still refuses to take the info down, your option is to sue the site owner or the originator of the info, or both.

 

[golgy]

What are you talking about here? Is the alleged defamation the subject of an entire web site or is it merely something that has been added to a web site that has other subjects?

Its the entire, and sole purpose of the website(s). These unknown parties either gain free hosting from the various free hosting websites on the internet, or pay for hosting of this defamatory website. Think geocities/yahoo/whatever - except every time I get one taken down, they find another one - either free, or pay for it.

Start with the originator of the defamatory information. Is the author affiliated with the owner of the site where the defamation is displayed?

No, the author has obtained free hosting with the Utah-based firm.

Where does this “Utah based firm” fit in to the picture? Is it a server, provider, host, owner, or writer?

The Utah-based firm is a provider/host for the content. It's very doubtful that they are in any way connected to the author - they are just being used to host the content.

Although you didn’t ask about who has jurisdiction over any potential defendants, it could be Australia, Utah, or any one of a hundred other places.

To the best of my knowledge, there have been successful prosecutions regarding internet-based libel etc in Australia. Although there is no real desire to bring a full suit, some sort of order stopping these guys from constantly doing this would be welcomed.

Seeing that we're unsure of *who* exactly it is doing this, we'd love to find out - and would love to use any US-based law to extract the information from the Utah firm. We can then use this information to begin things here in Australia.

Try directing the web site owner to this case:
http://www.talkleft.com/story/2006/08/01/545/17812
I don't know the current status of that case but the plaintiff was making a pretty good case for limiting the protections offered to web site owners under Section 230.

If the owner still refuses to take the info down, your option is to sue the site owner or the originator of the info, or both.

Cheers - interesting read. Thus far, the Utah host has not replied to my email. They have "interesting" deals in the way in which they operate their hosting business, and obfuscate information that would otherwise be easily found. I'm going to try emailing their "partners" to see if i can get an answer out of them.

 

[rmet4nzkx]

Its the entire, and sole purpose of the website(s). These unknown parties either gain free hosting from the various free hosting websites on the internet, or pay for hosting of this defamatory website. Think geocities/yahoo/whatever - except every time I get one taken down, they find another one - either free, or pay for it.



No, the author has obtained free hosting with the Utah-based firm.



The Utah-based firm is a provider/host for the content. It's very doubtful that they are in any way connected to the author - they are just being used to host the content.



To the best of my knowledge, there have been successful prosecutions regarding internet-based libel etc in Australia. Although there is no real desire to bring a full suit, some sort of order stopping these guys from constantly doing this would be welcomed.

Seeing that we're unsure of *who* exactly it is doing this, we'd love to find out - and would love to use any US-based law to extract the information from the Utah firm. We can then use this information to begin things here in Australia.



Cheers - interesting read. Thus far, the Utah host has not replied to my email. They have "interesting" deals in the way in which they operate their hosting business, and obfuscate information that would otherwise be easily found. I'm going to try emailing their "partners" to see if i can get an answer out of them.

Here are some links re first amendment resources and you can go from there with your questions,
http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org/default.aspx http://www.firstamendmentcenter.org//press/topic.aspx?topic=libel_defamation&SearchString=slapp

 

[Quaere]

Think geocities/yahoo/whatever - except every time I get one taken down, they find another one - either free, or pay for it

I'm surprised any server was responsive to your complaint.

Still, before getting further into how you can identify the site owner, why don't you just PM me with a link to the offensive site?