Internet Trolls May Be Coming to an End

[Motown Marvel]

if this is a legit case of slander, then this dude has every right to press charges. the perpetrators should then be open to prosecution, which requires their names to be made known. a crime shouldnt go unpunished just because it was done anonymously. i dont see a problem with what this man is doing.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

"His vacuum service sucks"

Here's the paradox.

It's not slander if it's true.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

if this is a legit case of slander, then this dude has every right to press charges. the perpetrators should then be open to prosecution, which requires their names to be made known. a crime shouldnt go unpunished just because it was done anonymously. i dont see a problem with what this man is doing.

I don't like the precedent.

Anytime someone leaves a negative review of a product or service they have worry about being investigated and sued.

Sure, people shouldn't lie in their reviews but we shouldn't discourage people from leaving bad reviews that could be true out of fear for reprisal.

 

[Feenix]

Slander is really hard to prove in court. It puts the onus on the complainant to prove that what the other person is saying isn't true.

And a lot of that is purely subjective.

 

[Hal_Jordan]

Slander is really hard to prove in court. It puts the onus on the complainant to prove that what the other person is saying isn't true.

And a lot of that is purely subjective.

But if he can prove they weren't ever customers of his, anything they said about his service/business would be untrue.

 

[MessiahDecoy123]

Does anyone know how this business owner could tell these reviews were from people not included in his records?

 

[BestGirl]

When people threaten feminist bloggers with violent rape over Twitter, no one gives a damn. But when someone's business is vaguely at risk, that's when they law gets involved. That's the American way!

The law has gotten involved because the head of the carpet cleaning service took his case to court, not because actual law enforcement gives a **** whether fake reviews appear on Yelp.

How do you know that no one gives a damn about about feminists being threatened with rape? Have any reported these threats to the police? Have any feminists gone to court over this?

 

[charl_huntress]

This is kind of interesting for a couple of different reasons. For one...is it slander or libel? I would say it's slander, but it was "published" by a third party so it could be libel. I'm betting the owner is going to go for libel since if he wins Yelp will also be liable, which opens them up to being sued next. Second, what does this mean for other sites like RT and Amazon reviews?

Any internet lawyers out there who want to step in and add some clarification?

 

[Warhammer]

This is kind of interesting for a couple of different reasons. For one...is it slander or libel? I would say it's slander, but it was "published" by a third party so it could be libel. I'm betting the owner is going to go for libel since if he wins Yelp will also be liable, which opens them up to being sued next. Second, what does this mean for other sites like RT and Amazon reviews?

Any internet lawyers out there who want to step in and add some clarification?

That's a whole can of worms right there and it's for the worst.

 

[warhorse78]

Obama and I lost our birth certificates in Hawaii together.

Well, when I went to go get my passport, they would not accept my birth certificate, they consider it invalid because the hospital issued it, not the state, so I had to contact some company called vital stats to go fishing for my valid birth certificate. I just found the whole ordeal funny.

 

[warhorse78]

Does anyone know how this business owner could tell these reviews were from people not included in his records?

More than likely, it's because all of his customers are repeat customers, so seeing the negative reviews in itself is probably a red herring.

 

[Hal_Jordan]

More than likely, it's because all of his customers are repeat customers, so seeing the negative reviews in itself is probably a red herring.

That, and some people use their first name and last initial as their Yelp handle.

He may not have any customers named "Steve B.", or whatever.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Does anyone know how this business owner could tell these reviews were from people not included in his records?

He said that he didn't find anyone matching what was listed in his records that's what tipped him off. But the article also stated that plenty of people have said he sucks since then so if it's true can he still sue?

 

[Xeno]

This is kind of interesting for a couple of different reasons. For one...is it slander or libel? I would say it's slander, but it was "published" by a third party so it could be libel. I'm betting the owner is going to go for libel since if he wins Yelp will also be liable, which opens them up to being sued next. Second, what does this mean for other sites like RT and Amazon reviews?

Any internet lawyers out there who want to step in and add some clarification?

IANAL but I took communications law, AKA "How Not To Get Sued 101." Any defamatory remarks that are published are considered libel. The rule is, slander is spoken, libel is published.* The act of posting defamatory comments on a website is considered publishing them. Thus, the business owner is suing for libel (as well as harm to his business).

The reason he must prove that these people were not his customers is that by so doing he can demolish the legal defense against a libel suit: that the negative comments were true. If they never used his carpet cleaning service they were lying and thus are open to being found at fault for defaming and libeling him. However, if these are actual dissatisfied customers they have a ready-made defense. They might have to provide proof in court that the service was deficient, however.



*The Catch-22 to the rule is that the courts have ruled that spoken defamation can be published simply by being repeated to others in some cases. For example, there have been cases in which people have said defamatory things about others in public, in front of witnesses, and that spoken defamation was found to be libelous because it was aired to an audience. Libel is more serious than mere slander, legally speaking. However, neither libel nor slander are considered crimes in the US, as someone upthread claimed. They are civil wrongs.

 

[BestGirl]

A question occurs to me: who would go to the trouble of libeling a small business whose customer they'd never been? What a random thing to do.

 

[Xeno]

A question occurs to me: who would go to the trouble of libeling a small business whose customer they'd never been? What a random thing to do.

You're kidding, right? Trolls troll to be trolling. It's a sickness. There are people who will troll any damn site, just so long as they feel they're hurting or angering someone else. They troll for any reason and no reason at all. Trolls have targeted everything from crafts forums to funeral home condolence pages where they can hurt grieving families by insulting the dead. There are even trolls who attack the survivors of accident victims by posting and emailing gruesome accident scene photos. It seems random and insane to normal people but for someone psychologically driven to bully it makes perfect sense.

 

[BestGirl]

^I guess you're right. A carpet cleaning service just makes for such an unlikely victim, though.

 

[charl_huntress]

Umm...I had a class a while ago where a professor explained the strict interpretation for libel. It's not just that it's written. There are criteria that have to be met, but for the life of me I can't recall them now. Probably has to do with this glass of wine in my hand...

 

[Motown Marvel]

I don't like the precedent.

Anytime someone leaves a negative review of a product or service they have worry about being investigated and sued.

Sure, people shouldn't lie in their reviews but we shouldn't discourage people from leaving bad reviews that could be true out of fear for reprisal.

As long as yer not blatantly lying resulting in the financial expense of the business owner, you have nothing to be afraid of. Essentially, don't be a dick. People abuse the anonymity afforded by the internet to be *****...now they can be held accountable? Awesome!

 

[KevanG]

The big issue is the fact that once it starts how can someone say they had a fair opinion if they left a negative review? What would constitute what could be actionable in court? If you give a one star rating to a nearby restaurant because they took an hour to make the food, it was cold and it tasted horrible, how could you prove it was true if they decided that they felt it wasn't true and tried to take you to court?

There really isn't much you can do about proving it once this starts because the burden of proof lies upon whoever is getting sued to prove they had solid reasoning to leave this remark and if it's just something that can't be repeated consistently then what evidence would you have to the contrary?

 

[Slushy]

This guy just opened Pandora's Box.

 

[SuperFerret]

That, and some people use their first name and last initial as their Yelp handle.

He may not have any customers named "Steve B.", or whatever.

Whoa whoa whoa, let's not drag me into this now.