Re: Need help regarding a defaming spam

In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
ottokar <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
:The other day, I typed my name on google and got my business web site
:but also a link to a site, who archived the old spam with all my
:personal information.

:I got in touch with the webmaster who refused to delete the post.
:I sent a complaint to the company that is hosting the site but I
:didn't get any answer.


:Can an individual store personal
:and defaming information and propagate it all over the internet ?

To put it bluntly -- Yes, anyone can do that. If you want to do
something about it, it is up to you to start appropriate legal processes.


:I would like to know what I can do ?

Depends what country you are in, and depends on what country the
host is in, and it depends on what country the posting user is in.

If the posting user is in Europe, you can get them under one of the
EU privacy acts. Material such as you describe is 'personal information'
and a WWW site is a 'database' as far as the EU privacy laws are concerned.

If the hosting company is in the USA, then the company is immune from
"contributory libel" as long as they take the information down when you
formally notify them of its existance.

If the hosting company is in Canada, then wait a few more weeks and
an EU-style privacy act will be fully in force.

In other cases... I don't know. Defamation is not even illegal in some
places. And in some places where defamation is illegal, historical
records might be considered to be 'factual' [that is, if the record
is a literal copy of something that they received], and the poster
might be considered immune from suit as long as the context made it
clear that the contents might be accurate copies of falsehoods.
-- 
What is "The Ultimate Meme"? Would it, like Monty Python's
"The World's Funniest Joke", lead to the deaths of everyone who
encountered it? Ideas *have* lead to the destruction of entire cultures.
   -- A Child's Garden Of Memes