Internet Libel

[rondafm]

Hi, I'm a resident of Mississippi

I recently discovered an internet site that highly offended me. While it is supposed to be a parody of the battering of women, it instead seems to encourage the violence against women. The message boards are filled with messages of hate, threat and violence. They even sell tshirts advocating the abuse.

I have created a petition against this website that will be sent to the domain host. In this petition, I only state what was found on the website and give the address so other people may see for themselves. If you would like the view the petition it can be found here: http://www.petitiononline.com/bw2001/petition.html

I do not mention any names, only the website address, and nothing in the petition is false. However, I am being harrassed by threats of a lawsuit for libel. This site even went so far as to put my whole name and homepage address on their front page (it has since been removed, as has the opening message as was listed in my petition).

Should I be worried? Do they have a case? I thought I was doing something good for not just women, but for all people in abusive situations, and I am becoming afraid I may be punished for it.

 

[ALawyer]

Just as the site operator has a First Amendment right to say what offends you, you have rights.

A lawyer would have to carefully review the material to see if any of you crossed the line, BUT that could not prevent from someone from suing, regardless of merit, and requiring the other to defend.