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Slander or deflamation on the internet?

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C

Cloud

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? California

Hello
I am a musician and am endorsed by a speaker manufacturing company.In 2004 they photographed me with a new,unoque instrument for an international magazine ad with a prototype instrument.
The did not copyright the photo.
Months later,my photo had been scanned and added to a site called "Douche Bag Hall of Fame" with a somewhat deroggitory comment.

I can live with this,but someone else took the photo and placed there face on my body and posted it on their website. I wrote to them asking that they remove it,as it is giving anyone who sees the photo the impression that there was another of my one of a kind instruments in existance and the music on this site did not have a recording of this new instrument. It also implies the instrument is a gag.They removed this photo.They then posted a page explaining to viewrs that I hated myself and made up some unflattering stories. I can live with this .

Now when you do a Google search for my name,they have managed to get this page in the top 4 listings. I guess they want to call attention to themselves at my expense ( am amateur bar band in New Jersey)

I appreciate the first amendment, but when potiential clients and employers do an internet search for my name,this pops up as one of the first choices. I know their intention is to do harm but at the same time draw attention to their site.
If they want to post all that on their site,let them.Let people nsearch for their site by name,and not find it because them using my name. How can I get this removed from search engines?
Thanks
 


S

seniorjudge

Senior Member
Cloud said:
What is the name of your state? California

Hello
I am a musician and am endorsed by a speaker manufacturing company.In 2004 they photographed me with a new,unoque instrument for an international magazine ad with a prototype instrument.
The did not copyright the photo.
Months later,my photo had been scanned and added to a site called "Douche Bag Hall of Fame" with a somewhat deroggitory comment.

I can live with this,but someone else took the photo and placed there face on my body and posted it on their website. I wrote to them asking that they remove it,as it is giving anyone who sees the photo the impression that there was another of my one of a kind instruments in existance and the music on this site did not have a recording of this new instrument. It also implies the instrument is a gag.They removed this photo.They then posted a page explaining to viewrs that I hated myself and made up some unflattering stories. I can live with this .

Now when you do a Google search for my name,they have managed to get this page in the top 4 listings. I guess they want to call attention to themselves at my expense ( am amateur bar band in New Jersey)

I appreciate the first amendment, but when potiential clients and employers do an internet search for my name,this pops up as one of the first choices. I know their intention is to do harm but at the same time draw attention to their site.
If they want to post all that on their site,let them.Let people nsearch for their site by name,and not find it because them using my name. How can I get this removed from search engines?
Thanks
Click to expand...

https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?p=884061#post884061


There are thousands of posts similar to yours so I have prepared a standard answer:

Get a lawyer.

Invest $20K and three years.

Sue the bad people for defamation.

If you win, expect them to keep doing it.

If you lose, expect them to keep doing it.


Stand by for other opinions.
 
C

Cloud

Junior Member
seniorjudge said:
https://forum.freeadvice.com/showthread.php?p=884061#post884061


There are thousands of posts similar to yours so I have prepared a standard answer:

Get a lawyer.

Invest $20K and three years.

Sue the bad people for defamation.

If you win, expect them to keep doing it.

If you lose, expect them to keep doing it.


Stand by for other opinions.
Click to expand...
I was more interested in what legal rights I have as far as getting, say, Google to move it down the search,place it under the bad guys name ,not mine etc. So what you are saying as citizens,we really have no protection against slander,insults etc. If the yellow pages allowed people to place slander(true or false statements etc.) ads aimed at our business right next to our business ad ,which could affect the decision of potential clents, that is perfectly fine.Trying to stop them legally is futile.
 
D

divgradcurl

Senior Member
Cloud said:
I was more interested in what legal rights I have as far as getting, say, Google to move it down the search,place it under the bad guys name ,not mine etc. So what you are saying as citizens,we really have no protection against slander,insults etc. If the yellow pages allowed people to place slander(true or false statements etc.) ads aimed at our business right next to our business ad ,which could affect the decision of potential clents, that is perfectly fine.Trying to stop them legally is futile.
Click to expand...
I know it feels like you have no recourse, but look at it from Google's perspective -- so long as they simply record, index and archive everything based on mathematical formulas, they can avoid being held liable for all sorts of things. As soon as Google starts to make decisions on how to link stuff or sort searches based on subjective criteria (as opposed to purely objective criteria), they could open themselves up to a whole host of lawsuits from people who feel they are somehow harmed by Google's decisions. So long as Google remains purely objective, they can avoid a lot of liability.

It's like eBay -- if eBay started sifting through ads using subjective criteria, they could be held liable for missing something, or removing something that shouldn't have been removed. By remaining objective, they limit their liability, and shift any liability to those placing the ads.

So, if you want to go after someone, Google is the wrong target -- you'll need to approach the offenders themselves.

And BTW, you don't need to copyright a picture -- it's automatically copyrighted. The owner of the picture could petition the ISP hosting the site to remove the picture. See 17 USC 512(c).
 
C

Cloud

Junior Member
Thanks

Thank you ,both, for taking time to respond to my post. So,in theory,I could create a web page and say anything I want about them,and use profanity,and in turn,they would have no recourse.

I deeply appreciate the info on the photo copyright.So I can contact the ISP host and request,or demand they remove the photo.
Thanks!
 
D

divgradcurl

Senior Member
Cloud said:
Thank you ,both, for taking time to respond to my post. So,in theory,I could create a web page and say anything I want about them,and use profanity,and in turn,they would have no recourse.

I deeply appreciate the info on the photo copyright.So I can contact the ISP host and request,or demand they remove the photo.
Thanks!
Click to expand...
That's not what I said -- what I said was, in such a case, they would have no recourse to get Google to stop ranking the page, or the ISP to stop hosting the page. If what was written rose to the level of libel, they could certainly sue you personally, just like you could sue them personally -- you just can't get the search engines or ISP's to help you out.
 
C

Cloud

Junior Member
divgradcurl said:
That's not what I said -- what I said was, in such a case, they would have no recourse to get Google to stop ranking the page, or the ISP to stop hosting the page. If what was written rose to the level of libel, they could certainly sue you personally, just like you could sue them personally -- you just can't get the search engines or ISP's to help you out.
Click to expand...
so why petition the isp if I have no recourse?
"BTW, you don't need to copyright a picture -- it's automatically copyrighted. The owner of the picture could petition the ISP hosting the site to remove the picture. See 17 USC 512(c)."

I cant't find 17 usc 512(c) when I search,it taked me to copyright sites,but no code descriptions.

So can a layperson petition(is this a plea?) the isp host to remove the automatically copyrighted photo and it is up to their discretion? Can I copyright my name and then use the same process?
thanks
 
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