I noticed I'm not the first to post here with this topic. I believe my case is a little different.
Some moron in the other thread was aghast at the concept that someone could be wrongfully caught up in PJ's tangled web of accusation and harassment. The original poster of that thread was pretty creepy and more than a bit ignorant of a lot of things, however, I am not so.
Without going into details, there is an accusation on the site that I am a pedophile. There is no basis for this accusation, other than a somewhat warped interpretation of a few shreds of circumstantial evidence.
My page there lists emails, addresses and phone numbers, some of which are mine, many of which are not. Many of the addresses listed are not even mine and never have been. I have identified at least 9 different individuals represented by the address, emails and phone numbers in the information. There are three different people with my exact combination of first and last name that live in my city who have information is listed in the profile. There are several others with a similar name who are listed. Other addresses appear to be made up out of thin air as I cant even find a scrap of a relationship to my own life.
This is absolutely and utterly absurd.
I am not a pedophile. There is no evidence that I am a pedophile. I have never been charged with a crime even tangentially related to that claim. I have never solicited a child online, I have never solicited a child, period.
Since finding my name on their website (thanks to some not-so-friendly tipoffs), I've been doing a great deal of research on this shadowy group, who I previously knew little about other than their highly publicized and controversial stings on Dateline NBC.
Unfortunately, I find myself unable to go into ANY detail about the posting, because, having done research on the topic, the mere suggestion that PJ may have been wrong tends to trigger a violent kick back and greatly increased focus on your identity and harassing your aquaintances.
Here is a brief summary of the history and makeup of the group and their new "corporatsexoffender.com" website that I compiled for my attorney (with help from some more experienced with the organization):
CorporateSexOffenders.com is owned and operated by the same person who owns and operates perverted-justice.com, namely Phillip John Eide (A.K.A. Xavier Von Erck) of Portland, Oregon.
Perverted-justice (PJ) was created by Von Erck and a friend approx. 4 years ago. Their primary tactic involved "baiting" people on-line, then tracking down every shred of personal information about this person and posting it all on their website. From that point, thousands of PJ "followers" would then begin to engage in a vicious and terrifying harassment campaign against their target via e-mail, phone calls, phoning neighbors, colleagues, family members, etc., all with anonymous accusations of pedophilia. They often used the phrase "wannabe pedophile" because they knew that calling someone a pedophile without legal or medical justification is prima facie "defamation". However, civil courts have ruled that this, itself, is defamation in light of there being no criminal charges or convictions on record.
As of February 2006, when perverted-justice began partnering with Dateline NBC on their "To Catch A Predator" TV series, they found themselves having difficulty explaining away their vigilante practices. In addition, during 2006, several defamation lawsuits were filed against Perverted Justice, most of which have been blatantly ignored by the group and have lapsed to default judgments in favor of the plaintiff. In October 2006, Von Erck announced that they would no longer carry out their own "stings" without law enforcement involvement, and would cease posting personal contact details on their website about anyone not actually convicted of soliciting a child on-line.
Unfortunately, the ability for their many anonymous members to sate their cyber-detective thirst depended on their ability to help PJ to "track down" those they targeted. It was the primary attraction for the site. Once they ceased the "follow-up" activity on PJ proper, Internet interest and new memberships declined significantly. In order to rekindle public interest in their organization, Eide found it necessary to come up with another "draw" to attract and hold member's interest. With that, their "corporatesexoffenders.com" was born.
What started out as a website ostensibly (according to Von Erck) created to put pressure on businesses and corporations who, according to perverted-justice's self-proclaimed parameters, through direct action or inaction "supported pedophiles", to change their practices has since become just an extension of what perverted-justice itself was - A website displaying all manner of personal information and accusations gathered and
posted anonymously by their members supported only by THEIR interpretation of the information they have dug up.
To be fair, they claim two prominent arrests based on the information posted on the site. Bravo, but wouldn't it have been equally effective to simply inform the local law enforcement, rather than slapping the pseudo-detective work up on the web for the drooling masses to slobber on for awhile?
I am so confident that there is no basis to the claims on PJ's site, that I have informed my girlfriend, many of my friends and even a few of my neighbors that should EXPECT harassment because of blatantly false information posted about me claiming that I am a pedophile. I’ve shown a number of them profile on this website and pointed out where it is absurd stretch. Everyone I have spoken to agrees and is supportive and very angry at Perverted Justice for posting this information.
However, I still have trouble sleeping, when I hear noises at night, I find myself jumping out of bed. I've never even held a real firearm before, but I find myself considering purchasing one...
I spoke with an attorney and he said he believes that Perverted Justice is using a "wiki" format to hide behind Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act, which immunizes "operators of interactive computer services" from lawsuits based on information published on those services.
My attorney says that case law is very clear on this... with the extremely selective vetting process involved in gaining access to the site, PJ has shot themselves in the foot if their intention was to hide behind that laws. The process used to publish information is much more akin to a normal website, with a core of just 10 or 12 privileged posters posting information collected collaboratively elsewhere, on behalf of the organization. Similar lawsuits against privately operated and secretly run "interactive services" have succeeded in the past, specifically pointing to "badbusinessbureau.com" and a few other related cases, where the supposedly interactive service was used merely as a tool to create a website more easily, rather than a truely interactive service, where anyone can sign up and participate.
Regardless of the fact that I feel I have the law behind me, I do not have the economic means to pursue a drawn out civil litigation and I don't know where else to turn. My attorney wants $2,500 to send Xavier a threatening letter, and I could probably scrape that together, but the information I've gathered leads me to believe the group will simply ignore my letter and pass it off as "common pedophile denial" or some bull**** along those lines.
I've been doing research on the defamation case that was recently won against Perverted Justice in New Mexico court. They hammered them on a number of statutes, defamation, breach of privacy, harassment and even RICO. The description of the organizational structure used in the court case, and accepted by the judge when he ruled in favor of the plaintiff describes PJ as "merely a shield from behind which anonymous people conduct illegal harassment and other life damaging activities".
I have no problem with Perverted Justice conducting stings against creeps who troll for kids online. I have no problem with Perverted Justice working with law enforcement, provided they cooperate and work within the bounds of PROPER law enforcement guidelines. But when they cross the line and begin doing shoddy detective work using what my attorney calls a "shotgun approach", haven't they crossed the line? I'm shocked they aren't subject to criminal liability for their actions and I'm stuck here thinking of cashing out my retirement to fight with them? To be honest, that's not an option, for many reasons.
I was hoping someone here might have more suggestions?
Please, legal advice only. I don't care to hear from the PJ shills who are only interested in defending the voracity of their defamatory claims, rather than affording me advice on how best to exercise my constitutional right to protect my name.
Some moron in the other thread was aghast at the concept that someone could be wrongfully caught up in PJ's tangled web of accusation and harassment. The original poster of that thread was pretty creepy and more than a bit ignorant of a lot of things, however, I am not so.
Without going into details, there is an accusation on the site that I am a pedophile. There is no basis for this accusation, other than a somewhat warped interpretation of a few shreds of circumstantial evidence.
My page there lists emails, addresses and phone numbers, some of which are mine, many of which are not. Many of the addresses listed are not even mine and never have been. I have identified at least 9 different individuals represented by the address, emails and phone numbers in the information. There are three different people with my exact combination of first and last name that live in my city who have information is listed in the profile. There are several others with a similar name who are listed. Other addresses appear to be made up out of thin air as I cant even find a scrap of a relationship to my own life.
This is absolutely and utterly absurd.
I am not a pedophile. There is no evidence that I am a pedophile. I have never been charged with a crime even tangentially related to that claim. I have never solicited a child online, I have never solicited a child, period.
Since finding my name on their website (thanks to some not-so-friendly tipoffs), I've been doing a great deal of research on this shadowy group, who I previously knew little about other than their highly publicized and controversial stings on Dateline NBC.
Unfortunately, I find myself unable to go into ANY detail about the posting, because, having done research on the topic, the mere suggestion that PJ may have been wrong tends to trigger a violent kick back and greatly increased focus on your identity and harassing your aquaintances.
Here is a brief summary of the history and makeup of the group and their new "corporatsexoffender.com" website that I compiled for my attorney (with help from some more experienced with the organization):
CorporateSexOffenders.com is owned and operated by the same person who owns and operates perverted-justice.com, namely Phillip John Eide (A.K.A. Xavier Von Erck) of Portland, Oregon.
Perverted-justice (PJ) was created by Von Erck and a friend approx. 4 years ago. Their primary tactic involved "baiting" people on-line, then tracking down every shred of personal information about this person and posting it all on their website. From that point, thousands of PJ "followers" would then begin to engage in a vicious and terrifying harassment campaign against their target via e-mail, phone calls, phoning neighbors, colleagues, family members, etc., all with anonymous accusations of pedophilia. They often used the phrase "wannabe pedophile" because they knew that calling someone a pedophile without legal or medical justification is prima facie "defamation". However, civil courts have ruled that this, itself, is defamation in light of there being no criminal charges or convictions on record.
As of February 2006, when perverted-justice began partnering with Dateline NBC on their "To Catch A Predator" TV series, they found themselves having difficulty explaining away their vigilante practices. In addition, during 2006, several defamation lawsuits were filed against Perverted Justice, most of which have been blatantly ignored by the group and have lapsed to default judgments in favor of the plaintiff. In October 2006, Von Erck announced that they would no longer carry out their own "stings" without law enforcement involvement, and would cease posting personal contact details on their website about anyone not actually convicted of soliciting a child on-line.
Unfortunately, the ability for their many anonymous members to sate their cyber-detective thirst depended on their ability to help PJ to "track down" those they targeted. It was the primary attraction for the site. Once they ceased the "follow-up" activity on PJ proper, Internet interest and new memberships declined significantly. In order to rekindle public interest in their organization, Eide found it necessary to come up with another "draw" to attract and hold member's interest. With that, their "corporatesexoffenders.com" was born.
What started out as a website ostensibly (according to Von Erck) created to put pressure on businesses and corporations who, according to perverted-justice's self-proclaimed parameters, through direct action or inaction "supported pedophiles", to change their practices has since become just an extension of what perverted-justice itself was - A website displaying all manner of personal information and accusations gathered and
posted anonymously by their members supported only by THEIR interpretation of the information they have dug up.
To be fair, they claim two prominent arrests based on the information posted on the site. Bravo, but wouldn't it have been equally effective to simply inform the local law enforcement, rather than slapping the pseudo-detective work up on the web for the drooling masses to slobber on for awhile?
I am so confident that there is no basis to the claims on PJ's site, that I have informed my girlfriend, many of my friends and even a few of my neighbors that should EXPECT harassment because of blatantly false information posted about me claiming that I am a pedophile. I’ve shown a number of them profile on this website and pointed out where it is absurd stretch. Everyone I have spoken to agrees and is supportive and very angry at Perverted Justice for posting this information.
However, I still have trouble sleeping, when I hear noises at night, I find myself jumping out of bed. I've never even held a real firearm before, but I find myself considering purchasing one...
I spoke with an attorney and he said he believes that Perverted Justice is using a "wiki" format to hide behind Section 230 of the Communication Decency Act, which immunizes "operators of interactive computer services" from lawsuits based on information published on those services.
My attorney says that case law is very clear on this... with the extremely selective vetting process involved in gaining access to the site, PJ has shot themselves in the foot if their intention was to hide behind that laws. The process used to publish information is much more akin to a normal website, with a core of just 10 or 12 privileged posters posting information collected collaboratively elsewhere, on behalf of the organization. Similar lawsuits against privately operated and secretly run "interactive services" have succeeded in the past, specifically pointing to "badbusinessbureau.com" and a few other related cases, where the supposedly interactive service was used merely as a tool to create a website more easily, rather than a truely interactive service, where anyone can sign up and participate.
Regardless of the fact that I feel I have the law behind me, I do not have the economic means to pursue a drawn out civil litigation and I don't know where else to turn. My attorney wants $2,500 to send Xavier a threatening letter, and I could probably scrape that together, but the information I've gathered leads me to believe the group will simply ignore my letter and pass it off as "common pedophile denial" or some bull**** along those lines.
I've been doing research on the defamation case that was recently won against Perverted Justice in New Mexico court. They hammered them on a number of statutes, defamation, breach of privacy, harassment and even RICO. The description of the organizational structure used in the court case, and accepted by the judge when he ruled in favor of the plaintiff describes PJ as "merely a shield from behind which anonymous people conduct illegal harassment and other life damaging activities".
I have no problem with Perverted Justice conducting stings against creeps who troll for kids online. I have no problem with Perverted Justice working with law enforcement, provided they cooperate and work within the bounds of PROPER law enforcement guidelines. But when they cross the line and begin doing shoddy detective work using what my attorney calls a "shotgun approach", haven't they crossed the line? I'm shocked they aren't subject to criminal liability for their actions and I'm stuck here thinking of cashing out my retirement to fight with them? To be honest, that's not an option, for many reasons.
I was hoping someone here might have more suggestions?
Please, legal advice only. I don't care to hear from the PJ shills who are only interested in defending the voracity of their defamatory claims, rather than affording me advice on how best to exercise my constitutional right to protect my name.
