Ask Slashdot: Undoing an Internet Smear Campaign?

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Ask Slashdot: Undoing an Internet Smear Campaign?

Posted by Soulskill on Wednesday January 2, 2013 @10:50AM from the time-for-the-more-speech-defense dept.

An anonymous reader writes "My fiancee is a professional writer. She has a great industry reputation and everyone that knows her loves her. But her ex-husband has maintained a number of websites in her name (literally, the URL is her name) that are filled with insane ravings and defamatory content. Have you ever had to deal with an internet smear campaign? The results float to the top of every Google or Bing search of her name. He currently lives abroad and cannot be served with legal papers. His websites are hosted overseas as well, and do not respond to conventional letters or petitions. Because of his freedom of speech rights, few U.S. courts will assert that his websites are truly libelous, either, and it's still difficult to prove any real 'damages' are done by it. Still, we'd like to see them go away. I'm turning to the best community of geeks in the world: how do I deal with this given the limited options at my disposal?"

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three letters... by jfalcon · 2013-01-02 10:51 · Score: 2, Insightful

SEO

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boom goes the dynamite....
1. Re:three letters... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-02 10:59 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  mmmm... I wouldn't bother. Seems like you'd be feeding the troll. Why spend time and effort on that?
  Honestly, the only thing I could say is just endure and tell people the truth of the situation if they ask. If this guy maintains this for any huge length of time, he just looks sad.
2. Re:three letters... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-02 11:47 · Score: 0, Insightful
  
  In addition, I would take that fact as a red flag and reconsider whether I really want to be married to this person. Maybe what he says has merit? Maybe she is a fucking sociopath? Do you know the ex-husband? Maybe spend the time learning about him and be objective.
3. Re:three letters... by Belial6 · 2013-01-02 12:14 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  And if you know that your fiancee's ex is a raving lunatic because she was perfectly nice every date you went on with her while she was still married to the guy, just accept your fate.
Fight speech with more speech? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-02 10:52 · Score: 3, Insightful

Put up your own website... fill it with good content... get links?
1. Re:Fight speech with more speech? by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-02 11:41 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Also, post links to Slashdot. What'll happen is the /. effect will take the site down.
Murder by YodasEvilTwin · 2013-01-02 10:54 · Score: 1, Insightful

Or counter-smear.
Trademark violation by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-02 10:56 · Score: 3, Insightful

... is the legal term you're looking for.
A trademark doesn't have to be registered. If she's been writing under her own name for years, then her name is a valuable piece of intellectual property and it's entitled to exactly the same protections as the name of 'Mickey Mouse'.
Of course, that means you need to act quickly before the trademark is considered to be officially diluted or worthless.
IANAL, TINLA etc.
IANAL by rueger · 2013-01-02 10:58 · Score: 5, Insightful

And obviously neither is the OP: "He currently lives abroad and cannot be served with legal papers. His websites are hosted overseas as well, and do not respond to conventional letters or petitions. Because of his freedom of speech rights, few U.S. courts will assert that his websites are truly libelous, either,

For God's sake begin by hiring someone who actually knows about this stuff instead of relying on what you learned from daytime TV.

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Three Squirrels
Don't bother? by Sheetrock · 2013-01-02 11:00 · Score: 4, Insightful

She has a great industry reputation and everyone that knows her loves her.
That's what matters. Maybe she can trademark her name and seize the domain as being confusingly similar, but it's still throwing time and attention at somebody who clearly craves it, for dubious gain.

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Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.
-- Dr. Spock, stardate 2822-3.
Re:Change your name by Hentes · 2013-01-02 11:14 · Score: 3, Insightful

Or get her to take his name when they marry.
Re:four letters... by Anonymous Coward · 2013-01-02 11:49 · Score: 5, Insightful

claim trademark to her own name
Re:WHOIS by TubeSteak · 2013-01-02 12:05 · Score: 3, Insightful

The submitter sounds like they are describing textbook cybersquatting.
So alternatively, they can try Domain Name Dispute Resolution
https://www.icann.org/en/help/dndr/udrp

Disputes alleged to arise from abusive registrations of domain names (for example, cybersquatting) may be addressed by expedited administrative proceedings that the holder of trademark rights initiates by filing a complaint with an approved dispute-resolution service provider.
You can register [person]sucks.com and shit on them all day long, but you can't expect to register [person].com and keep it.

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[Fuck Beta]
o0t!
Re:Possibility by Austerity+Empowers · 2013-01-02 12:08 · Score: 4, Insightful

I agree, this sounds like "I don't like what he's saying about me, and I can't do anything about it legally". The answer is man-up (or woman-up) and ignore it, or as others have said, or create a website to refute his claims, etc.
One step away from a personal army request...
Re:four letters... by TheDarAve · 2013-01-02 12:10 · Score: 4, Insightful

Hasn't stopped the RIAA from claiming copyright on songs they don't own or represent, to include public domain works.
Re:I'd argue he should wait by Everything+Else+Was · 2013-01-02 12:55 · Score: 5, Insightful

Your modders say "Funny". I say "Insightful".

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My other account has mod points!