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Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick


Filed Under:
bev stayart, beverly stayart, lawsuits, liability, searches

Companies:
yahoo



Woman Sues Yahoo Because Search On Her Name Links To Porn And Malware

from the and-now-it'll-link-to-bogus-lawsuits dept

Eric Goldman alerts us to the latest questionable lawsuit against a search engine -- this time involving a woman suing Yahoo due to her unhappiness concerning search results on her own name. You have to read Goldman's full description of the case -- I can't do it justice -- but the woman appears to claim that she's an important figure and the only one in the world with her name (Beverly Stayart or Bev Stayart), and was greatly upset to find that when she searched on her name, there were links to questionable sites -- some of which showed adult videos or had her antivirus software warn her of malicious attacks. It's unclear why the woman thinks she owns the rights to all search results on her name, but it seems quite likely that Section 230 safe harbors should protect Yahoo from any sort of liability. Of course, with articles like this one and Goldman's, it seems likely that search results will show plenty of other links now as well.

58 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

Reader Comments (rss)

(Flattened / Threaded)

  1. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 10:15am
    by Anonymous Poster

    What a friggin' idiot.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  2. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 10:18am

    i looked

    by Guy oNe

    i looked and could not find any porn...WTF! i thought i could see Beverly Stayart or Bev Stayart in some porn... okay i admit i am just trying to put Beverly Stayart's name and porn together a few times just to help her out.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  3. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 10:22am

    She's no longer employable

    Seriously, what employer would hire a person who goes around slinging silly lawsuits like this? Wouldn't they be too worried they would have to waste company resources defending some stupid case she brought against them someday?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  4. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 10:33am

    Re:

    by Anonymous Coward

    Great. Now she'll try to sue TechDirt for defamation.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  5. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 10:34am
    by lol

    aren't people just awesome!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  6. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 10:45am

    Go figure...

    by mermaldad

    She's a legal assistant and CFO of a law firm. My guess is that she's been in the legal environment long enough that the thought of suing when someone displeases you just comes naturally. Yet another example of the Streisand Effect.

    Important announcement for all people (and search engines) out there: Beverly Stayart does not want her name associated with Porn. Bev Stayart != Porn. When you think of Beverly Stayart, do not think of porn. Glad I could be of service.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  7. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 10:48am
    by Anonymous Coward

    So.. she's saying that's not her with the goat then?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  8. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 10:52am
    by Searching Newb Needs Help

    What am I doing wrong..

    Googles - "Bev Stayart"
    Googles - "Beverly Stayart"

    O wait safesearch is on.. *fixes*

    *retries*

    Damn still no porn! This things broken!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  9. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 10:57am

    Working the Streisand effect?

    I wonder if she could be trying to ensure that searches for her name end up with lawsuit info, instead of actual porn links.

    Lawsuit as SEO?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  10. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:02am

    Re:

    by Chuck Norris' Enemy (deceased)

    RTFA
    Try Yahoo! That is who she is suing. I won't try it. Not interested, really.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  11. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:03am
    by Zak

    This shouldn't be even allowed to make it to the court. I hope Yahoo sues her and her lawyers back and destroys them. Z.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  12. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:06am
    by Anonymous Coward

    Just tried "Yahoo-ing" her name. Still no rotten stuff. Apparently Yahoo has already fixed the issue, or something.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  13. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:06am
    by Rob

    That's because you need to use Yahoo ;)

    But she's still retarded.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  14. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:06am
    by Adamo

    "participates in an online discussion forum where her "scholarly" posts have generated 17,000 hits in three years"

    LOL, I wonder how many of those 17k said "you're an idiot":))

    A

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  15. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:07am

    want to annoy her more?

    by bubba

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  16. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:08am

    want to annoy her more?

    by bubba

    BeverlyStayart.com is available. oh the things one could do to drive her to litigation...

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  17. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:09am

    Nut Case

    by No Kidding

    The goat did not seem too into it.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  18. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:20am

    Really Yahoo?

    by Freedom

    Does anyone really still use Yahoo? Who knew! Now at least I know why - apparently you can find porn much easier, especially if you have a thing for woman named Beverly Stayart ;)

    Freedom

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  19. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:20am
    by Anonymous Coward

    So people still use Yahoo? Maybe the problem is that since the internet is only used to get porn and Yahoo knows it, it actually returns porn for any search. The most I could get (other than blogs on the trial) was a canadian blog where they were calling her "some nut" (does that mean she's famous?) because of her pro-animal choices.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  20. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:20am
    by Anonymous Coward

    Funny. My comment is almost identical to Freedom's, and written at the same time.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  21. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:22am

    What can you do?

    by Anonymous Coward

    I know someone named Sean Cody...look that crap up - he is pissed, but what can you do?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  22. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:25am
    by Anonymous Coward

    There's no porn from a yahoo search either. That sucks, I was hoping to see what she looked like nekkid.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  23. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:36am
    by Anonymous Coward

    I dated a Beverly Stayart while in HS, probably not the same one (I was drinking back then). We had sex, then stopped when she went into porn. Became a porn star I think. Is it porn star or pornstar?

    Anyway, Beverly Stayart - There is and always will be a hole in my body since you left. Beverly Stayart, if you ever cum back and fill the void you left, I would be forever grateful.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  24. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:36am

    Getting what she wants...

    by Maxwell Smart

    According to the goog, the only thing she's famous for these days is filing really stupid lawsuits. That should help her job prospects and social standing.

    What would be easier to explain A)that you are not affiliated with the porn that comes up when your name is queried or 2) that your not an idiot?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  25. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:37am
    by Anonymous Coward

    So this Beverly Stayart person was looking for porn and found herself? How freaky is that. I hope she's suing Beverly Stayart as well.

    Sounds like Beverly Stayart is not very competent where law is concerned. Litigation should never be filed when one is angry or Hot. Girls should be taught that when they are teenagers! Even Japanese schoolgirls know enough not to get their panties in a bunch over search results. Beverly Stayart should be taught that her case is Barely Legal. I know society has Gone Wild, but cmon Beverly Stayart!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  26. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:41am

    Puts "more" in MORON

    by Anonymous Coward

    This woman thinks that she's the only one with her name. So if someone with the same name commits a felony, can she sue that person too? After all, news outlets might put the story on air or in print. Could she sue those places for libel/slander for printing her name in conjunction with the crime?

    She needs to fill out the ID-ten-T form (aka ID10T form)

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  27. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:47am

    LIFL Hunter

    by Anonymous Coward

    It's all a misunderstanding due to a typo - she is not a MILF but a LILF (Lawyer I'd Like to Forget).

    Happens all of the time.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  28. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 11:49am
    by Anonymous Coward

    why is she searching for porn at work?!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  29. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 12:25pm

    WTF Happened to me too!

    by Jenna

    My name is Jenna Jameson and I have the exact same friggin problem. I did a search on my name and WTF I get a porn sites popping up all over the place.

    Who the hell do I have to sue to get this to stop?!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  30. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 12:32pm
    by Anonymous Coward

    people just want to get famous by filing lawsuits against famous people or companies

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  31. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 12:51pm
    by Anonymous Coward

    When will there be a fine for tards that file frivolous lawsuits and waste tax payer money while clogging up the courts? Let's start with Beverly "Sad I'm not really a Porn Star" Stayart, douche-hole of the day.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  32. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 12:55pm

    Revoke her internet license

    by Cpt Obvious

    the internet police need to revoke bev's internet surfing licensing, apparently she has forgot surfing rule 3.245 section 12 "..at any site on the web an inexperienced surfer in only six click away from porn..."

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  33. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 12:57pm

    Google?

    by Kevin

    She's not suing Google, she's suing Yahoo. Try searching for her on that search engine instead.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  34. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 1:27pm

    Searching Anything Gets You a Porn Link

    by Never Underestimate Greed and Stupidity

    She is a complete idiot and/or a greedy punk and I hope the judge makes her pay all of the court costs and all of Yahoo's expenses.

    I found the link. It's hots.stayart.ze.cx tempting you with nude pictures of beverly dangelo [sic]. Thus the link to it by searching beverly stayart.

    Why does she not sue the web site owner? Simple it's a Steve Dallas law suit - go after the party with the most money no matter how incidental the connection to the alleged offense.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  35. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 1:28pm

    Re: Google?

    by Chronno S. Trigger

    Did you? All I'm finding from her name is seal_2.jpg and seal_1.jpg. It's a little funny but that's it. The web search didn't turn up anything ether, and I looked threw several pages.

    Ether Yahoo "fixed" it or she was searching for something else. Maybe she has spyware on her PC that redirects to porn. A client of ours had that on one of their PCs. Every time you tried to go to AVG, BOOBS.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  36. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 1:37pm

    Re: want to annoy her more?

    by Yakko Warner

    Oh, so tempting.

    Of course, even registering that domain is likely a trademark violation, considering she is the only Beverly Stayart on the internet (or so she claims, ¶19).

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  37. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 1:40pm
    by Babs

    I thought it was Bev Streisand?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  38. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 3:32pm
    by Stuart

    Beverly Stayart never did porn.
    Beverly Stayart dose not do goatse either.
    Beverly Stayart never did blow job porn.
    Nor did Beverly Stayart do any hand jobs I know of.
    If Beverly Stayart ever did anal porn it would be a surprise to me.
    Anyone who quotes Beverly Stayart as saying "Porn has been very, very good to me." would be mistaken.
    Beverly Stayart is not a porn star.
    Beverly Stayart dose not have a "Bangin Ass"

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  39. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 3:33pm

    Re: Go figure...

    by Anonymous Coward

    Beverly Stayart Porn
    Bev Stayart Porn
    Osama Bin Laden Beverly Stayart
    Osama Bin Laden Beverly Stayart Porn
    Bev Stayart Osama Bin Laden Porn

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  40. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 3:34pm
    by Obvious

    This thread has so many mentions of Beverly Stayart and Porn....that this thread alone should trigger it. LOL

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  41. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 3:45pm
    by Anonymous Coward

    Bev Stayart might enjoy PORN

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  42. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 5:00pm

    Re:

    by Matt T.

    Or the slightly-less scholarly "your an idiot".

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  43. Feb 17th, 2009 @ 7:08pm

    Re:

    by Anonymous Coward

    she's suing Yahoo, not google

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  44. Feb 18th, 2009 @ 8:26am

    Re: i looked

    by Anonymous Coward

    whats this about Beverly Stayart and PORN, was she (Beverly Stayart) actually featured in the PORN? Did Beverly Stayart do standard PORN, or that crazy maxican beastiality PORN? Silly Beverly Stayart her name will FOREVER be linked to both PORN and STUPIDITY forever on the internet.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  45. Feb 18th, 2009 @ 3:54pm

    Re: awesome peeps!

    by Laurel LaFlamme

    WORD!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  46. Feb 18th, 2009 @ 7:57pm

    Yahoo and Various a/k/a Adult Friend Finder

    by Fred Otto

    Before you get too complacent, you might want to check to see that there is no other Bev Stayart in the White pages or on any of the posting regarding this Bev Stayart. So I am not so sure that Yahoo will have immunity once they were notified to quite associating her name with Cialis, Viagra and the porn.

    Also Adult Freind Finder used her name without her permission in the title tag for their page and also as a Meta Tag.

    Further, more this is a Wisconsin jury and not a California jury.

    Wait & we will see who wins this one.

    F. Otto

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  47. Feb 21st, 2009 @ 3:55pm
    by Anonymous Coward

    She sent out sexual content? So Beverly Stayart is involved in the porn business? Just curious.

    I doubt, however, that she has a shaved pussy or that there are pictures of her wide open beaver.

    How dare a search engine associate her name - Beverly Stayart - with things like that, or lesbian erotica, or child porn or anything at all of the sort.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  48. Feb 22nd, 2009 @ 9:32pm
    by Will

    The irony is that now whenever someone searches for the name Beverly Stayart the first thing they'll see is stories about this lawsuit.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  49. Mar 8th, 2009 @ 8:40am

    I have the same problem!

    by no way

    I googled (not yahoo) my name with quotes a couple of days ago. The first 3 links were valid. The other 450 are all porn sites! I'm pretty upset about it. How did they even get my name and why would they bother to do this? Most of these sites are domains that have been hijacked as well as my name. I've never had anything to do with these sites and have led a clean life.

    I've been spending hours on end trying to write to the webmaster of each of these sites and politely ask them to remove my name. It's a very frustrating and time consuming process. I've actually only been able to get 3 sites removed so far.

    I'm in college right now in the health field. My fear is that when I graduate I won't be able to find a job because I look like a porn-freak.

    This is serious and these search engines need to find a way to make it easier for us to deal with these types of issues.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  50. Mar 31st, 2009 @ 2:27pm

    Beverly Stayart v. Yahoo

    by Eric Ghoul

    If Eric Goldman had even a basic legal education, he would know that a lawyer would not be allowed to file a case in any jurisdiction unless he/she was admitted there at the time of the filing of the lawsuit. Also, had Eric Goldman checked the White Pages, he would have seen the following, "There is one unique Beverly Stayart in the United States." A map on the same page of this White Pages result shows that this Beverly Stayart resides in Wisconsin, the same state in which her lawsuit was filed. Beverly Stayart previously resided in Illinois, so any address history for Beverly Stayart showing Illinois is for the same Beverly Stayart now residing in Wisconsin. I guess the techies in California are so terrified of having their jobs shipped to China and India that they are blindly lashing out at any threat they perceive. This is undoubtedly attributable to their inferior education as "techies." Even the techies in China and India surpass the Silicon Valley techies or the California techies would not be losing their jobs to vastly superior workers in China and India. By the way, Eric, we share the same first name and last initial, so I guess we are brothers of sorts!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  51. Apr 8th, 2009 @ 8:50am

    Re: I have the same problem!

    by Carl Johnson

    You are right that the search engines need to find a way to . . . deal with these issues. As long as they feel they have no liability they will continue to post pornography under the names of innocent people. There are thousands of people who have been damaged by the reckless conduct of the search engines in this regard. The "tech" people who are so arrogant will find they no longer have jobs when the search engines begin their next round of lay-offs.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  52. Aug 12th, 2009 @ 6:55am

    @Jenna Jameson

    Jenna, dont be upset but u couldnt ever remove your name from google :( You are the most popular girl on the net, wouldnt it bother you or not :)

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  53. Sep 1st, 2009 @ 6:14pm
    by Anonymous Coward

    "Boing Boing: Beverly Stayart's Profile
    Beverly Stayart. Recent Comments. Favorite Posts. Friends. Spherical brass barometer ... The design of this spherical brass barometer is beautiful."

    What was she doing on a website called Boing Boing, writing about a spherical brass barometer? Is that a code-word for something else?

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  54. Sep 3rd, 2009 @ 9:48am
    by L. P. W.

    Is it true that if you attend Marquette or U.W. law schools you are not required to take or pass the two bar exams required in all the other states? Apparently it is. Quoting from the article "Challenge to 'diploma privilege' reinstated by U.S. Court of Appeals," the author Alex De Grand stated, "A class of recent graduates from ABA-accredited schools outside Wisconsin who seek a law license in Wisconsin argued that the privilege infringes on the Commerce Clause because only graduates of the law schools at Marquette and the University of Wisconsin benefit from it." I never thought these two schools were any good. But apparently both Eric Goldman, who has commented on this case, and the judge in the case graduated from Marquette.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  55. Sep 3rd, 2009 @ 9:57am
    by James H.

    Yahoo doesn't need anyone to file a lawsuit for them to go down the tube. They are losing market share daily and their share price continues to plummet!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  56. Nov 10th, 2009 @ 9:40am
    by Ned

    Rashid Randa is an Arab Afghan who is a close friend and associate of Osama bin Laden.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  57. Nov 13th, 2009 @ 8:26am
    by Mike Frizzi

    Wow...she thinks she is such a unique being that nobody else can use or have her name. Does she really think she has any chance of winning, or does she just want to push the sites with her name on them further down the search results by filing this frivolous suit and getting the accompanying media coverage? Still, I wonder how her name ended up turning results for malware and pornography...Maybe some starlet user her name as an alias...unreal.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  58. Jan 15th, 2010 @ 11:27am
    by friz

    Mike Frizzi,

    Did you graduate from grade school? It is incumbent upon the defense to prove there is another Beverly or Bev Stayart. If you will check all of the people search directories, you will find there is only one Beverly/Bev Stayart in the U.S.A.

    Who is named Mike Frizzi other than frustrated nobodies? What a moron you are, Frizzi! Are you a janitor at Yahoo? A job as a custodian is probably too challenging for you!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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