Cyberspace: Last Frontier For Settling Scores?
from the welcome-to-the-internet dept
The LA Times has quite the story about a guy who has decided that the internet is the perfect way for him to settle the score against anyone who he thinks has wronged him (registration required, unfortunately). The guy claims that a university where he worked was covering up a sex scandal, and for anyone who failed to agree with him – or failed to punish those who disagreed with him, he has set up websites accusing them of being involved in sex scandals or other completely made up stories. In fact, the reporter admits that when the guy found out that this article was going to focus on him, and not the alleged sex scandal, he built similar websites about the reporter and others at the LA Times. People who have been victims of such web attacks say they’ve tried to get hosting companies to pull the websites down, and have tried to sue for defamation, but they haven’t gotten very far. In the meantime, they say that these websites are costing them jobs, but there’s little they can do. Since there’s no actual “stalking” going on, cyber-stalking laws don’t seem to apply.
