Granted I am a little late to this party. I myself have been libeled on the internet. Butterdezillion can back me up on that assertion as she knows about it. I don’t care to give the person who did it any attention - so I am not saying who it it or where it is. I hope ya all respect that, at least until a time of my choosing to reveal it that is.
Suffice it to say, anyone who pops their head out of the gopher hole becomes a target for tinfoil hat wearing crazies who are perfectly capable of sucking the tinfoil out of every walmart in a 4 county radius. While the damage is negligible, the injustice is a personal invasion of privacy , particularly when the nutjob doing it deliberately hides and protects their own identity and family whilst libeling someone elses. All for their own ego. Sick Sick Sick.
With the decision about privacy invasion in the Tyler Clemente Rutgers Student Suicide - the jerk who did it was found guilty of all 15 charges, and rightly so. Invasion of privacy is a crime. Intentional infliction of emotional distress on the internet is a crime. Now there is a verdict which is legal precedent. And of course there are others.
People like me who have chosen to put their identities into the public expect to get hit, that’s natural. That is to be expected and is part of the game. Bringing someone’s family into it, is a totally different ball game, they didn’t choose it. However, those big wigs with the big news agencies have access to legal assistance etc that a blogger or freelance journalist does not. Be that as it may, running the risk of losing that protective shield the big wigs have isn’t one to be underestimated. I should know, I am a freelancer.
“While the damage is negligible” should have been “While the damage MIGHT BE negligible”. That’s the problem with the internet, and google searches, reputations, real reputations can be damages and you will never even know it. Sorry for the typo.