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Cyber-stalking?/libel? Help!

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Workingmother

Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Illinois

I am the co-owner of a very popular parenting website where we run articles written by well known authors and where I write and blog. A few weeks ago, I was monitoring some questionable comments on my blog, where a group of people (most likely the same person) was questioning the actions of a mother who pressed charges against an Internet predator who molested her child. Since the subject matter was so sensitive, I engaged the hostile party and warned them of crossing the line. Finally, another poster urged everyone to drop the conversation because it was getting strange.

Then, the person in question, started posting on another blog post and then another and then another, in which their intentions became critically clear -- they were there to promote their pedophile advocacy. A quick search of their handle (they never used their real name) resulted in their being named on some pedophile "outing" blogs. I noticed he was also taking his very disturbing brand of advocacy on other sites.

I urged other people engaging him to please stop. I tried to ban his IP but he was/is using a cloaking device so I could not trace him, same with his email. His IP was so radom, I had to switch to moderation mode. I then posted that this person was a pedophile (keep in mind, they have not revealed their true identity anywhere and only identifies himself with a screen name, which includes "Pedophile" in the title.

He was so angry that I did this, that he started spamming our site continuously and threatened if I didn't take down the libelous comment, there would be consequences. Well, I took it down via password protection. I didn't want to delete it in case I needed it for evidence down the road.

He still retaliated. He created a blogger account, in which the URL is my exact name, accusing *me* of being a pedophile and accusing me of these horrific sexual desires, posting as me and referencing my website. Although the material is written in third person, he signs all the posts as me and as I stated before, the URL is my exact name. I have written blogger (which is owned by Google) several times and they have sent a form letter back (via email) that says they don't get involved in online disputes and that I should contact this person directly and ask them to take it down. They also espousing their freedom of speech, blah, blah, blah. (I wasn't aware that stealing somebody's identity for libelous reasons fell into that category.)

I cannot contact this person, I am SCARED of this person!

To insult to injury, this guy has "tagged" the blog (I don't know if anybody here knows anything about Tehnorati tags) so when you do a search for my name on Google, it comes up on the very first page! Like I said before, I own and operate a very successful online parenting site and this is not good. I really don't want to have to dole out money for a lawyer (especially because this guy is completely untraceable) but don't know what to do. I feel so helpless and victimized. I'm just sick about it. If you guys could see what he has written, under the guise of being me. It's affecting my mental health and I live in fear of my children. If he's going to go this far, it would not take much for him to find me.

Please advise...What is the name of your state?
 


yser

Junior Member
You can't fight against someone you don't know.

1. First, you need to trace his ip and ban all known ip addresses. Most likely he's using proxies or anonymous surfing.
http://www.sharebigfile.com/file/100126/bannedips-txt.html
Lawyers won't be good at this point because they don't know who's the target. Or ask google to release the ip (but they probably won't)

However, that battle is tough 'cause once you know the real ip, you have to get legal permission to get the ISP to reveal individual identity.

It's hard to admit, but if you can, next time use a pseudoname online. So that when bad things happen, you can discard the past and start anew.

Good luck.
 

Quaere

Member
Are you looking for a way to get this guy to leave you alone or are you looking for a way to hold him accountable?
 

Workingmother

Junior Member
Are you looking for a way to get this guy to leave you alone or are you looking for a way to hold him accountable?
I want the site in which he is pretending to be me (hence: stealing my very reputable online identity) and posting as me to be shut down, or at the very least, since Blogger/Google is so adamant about protecting the rights of alleged pedophiles that steal identities, I would like him to be forced to use his own screen name so people don't think it's ME writing these disturbing pieces about me and making horrendous claims about me.

I know I will not be able to hold this guy accountable, he is hiding for a reason and I don't have unlimited funds to try to find someone who is using cloaking devices and proxy servers.
 

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