During World War Two, when faced with the menace of the Axis, the greatest criminal conspiracy of all time, President Franklin D. Roosevelt did not hesitate to take a hard stand. ‘We will meet force with greater force, violence with greater violence,’ he declared. This is the only kind of language some people understand–and the only kind of action they fear (or even take seriously). — J. Paul Getty
Even though Getty was discussing his son’s kidnapping in specific, and the decline of Western civilization in general, his words apply with equal force to certain individuals who use the internet as a weapon to destroy the reputations of others.
Getty has it right: some people only respond to force. It’s the only language they understand–and the only action they fear.
Yet many clients have a hard time understanding this. They assume that talking or trying to reason with the defamer will produce results. But they are wrong. The only proper response in these circumstances is to use unremitting, overwhelming force. You must use all legal and ethical means to make this kind of person stop. This means you must file a lawsuit. Then when you get a Judgment, you must enforce it. And after all this if the defamer still doesn’t get the hint: you ask the Court to put them in jail. Period.
Yes, and I agree with the force approach. after 18 months of trying to get seriously defamatory material removed from firstly Ripoff Report and then Google I filed proceedings in Australia against Google Inc and Google AU in February 2011.
we don’t have the CDA and our High court (Dow Jones v Gutnick 2002)http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/MULR/2003/21.html found that defamation occurs in the place in which it is downloaded.
Am I scared-yes. But I have tough lawyers :). I have started a blog about the issues concerning these websites, Google and my case at
drjaniceduffy.com It is not complete yet but I am getting it organised.