Threats of being sued over internet criticism.. help!

[Shyviolet101]

Edit: I forgot to add my state. This first occurred while I was in California, but now I'm in Texas. The individuals involved are all in different states. The situations described happened entirely online.

Here's the situation in a nutshell.

There is a C-list actor (whom I will not name) that my friend once worked for as a moderator on his fan forum. My friend was given access to his e-mail account to help edit the "questions and answers" portion of his site. She realized, through reading the e-mails in the account, that he was pretending to be other people in order to abuse the fans he did not care for.. or anyone who criticized him. She immediately quit. This actor, embarrassed that he was caught, got extremely upset and made claims that my friend hacked into his account and that she was fired.

Anyway, so on a public forum, I noticed that there was an individual who was using obscene, vulgar methods to bash someone who mentioned that the actor seemed shorter than he claimed to be. The bashing poster called the fan who criticized his height by the full name of one of the former moderators, named her children, and threatened to harm them all. The post was quickly deleted by admins, of course.. but I felt compelled to enter and tell the actor (whom I assumed was the abusive poster) to chill out. The poster freaked and began threats of legal action, as well as repeated abuse against me in the form of vulgarity and name-calling.

The poster, who may or may not have been the actor, admitted that they were using federal "friends" to "track" me, and even uncovered my name and posted it publicly. They claim that they know my phone number and address, and are in the process of legal action against me for "claims" I've made (such as calling the poster by the actor's name and saying that I do not believe he has done things he claims he has which seem unlikely).

The posts I made that could have any semblance of accusation have long been deleted for the past year, but this individual routinely sends me posts and private messages that are filled with abuse and obscenity. They especially love to mention sexual acts they would like to perform on me (despite their claim of being a girl, when I'm a girl myself), orifices, and "destroying" of lives.

I suspect that the abusive poster is somehow in cahoots with a current moderator of the actor's website, who works for a Sheriff's Department and has been known in the past for getting in trouble for using her resources to trace people she doesn't like. That would explain how they found my information, if they truly do have it.

I would be lying if I said I wasn't worried about the legal ramifications of what I've said about the actor on the public forum, though I've ALWAYS made it clear that it was simply a matter of opinion and not fully proven facts. It seems odd that this individual who is threatening with legal action is the same one who has posted death threats to various individuals!

Does anyone think that this is something to worry about? I no longer participate in the forum, and yet I still receive threats of legal action on a daily basis. They've been threatening this for a year, and it's only recently that they have claimed to have my information.

Please help!

 

[quincy]

If you named an actor online and libeled this actor online, and this actor was not the one who posted the vulgar and obscene messages you mentioned, then, yes, you could potentially have a defamation action filed against you by this actor.

Public figures, however, who claim they have been injured by defamatory comments made about them, must prove that the comments made were made knowing they were false, or were made with a "reckless disregard for the truth". This standard of proof, called "actual malice", is higher than it would be for a private person (one not in the public eye), who only needs to prove the defamation was negligently published.

As for the threatening emails, these should be turned over to the police. They should be able to trace the origins. A judge can issue a subpoena to have the identity of this emailer revealed.

It would be wise to sit down with an attorney and review everything you have, to see what actions, if any, he/she thinks you should pursue, and what risk he/she thinks you might face with a defamation suit. If what you posted was truly pure opinion, an action brought against you would not be successful. I would worry more about the threats.

 

[Shyviolet101]

=)

Thanks for the advice, quincy! It is as I expected. I will consult a lawyer and explain the situation.

I think you are right that since everyone I posted was always explained as pure opinion and not fact, they wouldn't have a real case against me. I am indeed worried about the threatening posts that were made against myself and my friends, particularly where they named my friends (full names) and their locations in public postings, as well as threatening to harm them and destroy their lives. There are also threatening, abusive voice mail messages made that need to be handed over to authorities.

Thanks for your comments!

 

[quincy]

You're welcome! Good luck.

 

[mike_lee]

One thing I see right off the bat was the information you are releasing was obtained illegally, which makes you legally liable no matter if the information is true or not. Clearly the person originally given permission to access the account was snooping and violated this persons trust There are some things you just don't do, put spy cams in bathrooms, read someone diary and you don't snoop through their mail.

At the moment she realized the email was personal and private she was required by law to stop reading. Private email is protected just like postal mail and in computer forensics a separate search warrant is needed to gather and read email we can search for images and attachments but we cannot read the email. And April it was childs play to find your name and address, kinda creepy aint it?

 

[quincy]

mike_lee -

I agree with some of what you said about the legality of reading private emails, however the former moderator did not read "personal and private email" - she read the emails that she was hired to read and edit. She was not reading anything but the questions and answers submitted to the fan site. Some of the answers submitted, she discovered, turned out to be initiated by the actor himself - and the answers were vulgar and abusive toward the fans. Therefore, she quit.

The former moderator did nothing illegal - she only performed her job and quit when it became uncomfortable for her to continue.

The actor was purposely "publishing" these emails himself by sending them to the fan site via the moderator. He created these emails for publication. Your privacy is not invaded if you are the one doing the invading or if you give your consent.

The real invasion of privacy was done by the actor. He (or someone that could have been him) published the name of the former moderator on this fan forum, and he threatened her and her children (by name), after someone (possibly the former moderator) posted an opinion about his height. Opinion is perfectly legal comment.

Defamation only comes into play with Shyviolet's post, pointing to the actor as the one who was posting the abusive and vulgar posts. She also suspects it is he that is sending her threatening emails. If the abusive poster is the actor, there is no defamation because it is true, and truth is a defense to defamation. If the abusive poster isn't the actor, THEN the actor could potentially bring a defamation action against Shyviolet for connecting him to the vulgar and abusive posts. But he would have to show she posted with "actual malice".

No information, however, was obtained illegally. The actor made the information available to his fan forum via the question and answer emails edited by his hired moderator.

 

[mike_lee]

I see, I bow to your obvious intellect. (though while researching the posters identity I read more about this issue then is posted here.) But she seems like perfectly honest and fine young person,

 

[quincy]

Ahhh. Well then, Mike, you obviously have information that I was not privy to. Are you a fan of this C-list actor, by any chance, and a regular to his fan forum? (please say no )

At any rate, I based my response strictly on what was posted here. And yes, Shyviolet does seem like a perfectly honest and fine young person. . . . . but I bow to your great research skills.