Internet bullies, pay attention. Carla Franklin, 34, a New York business consultant and Columbia Business School graduate, filed documents this past August asking Google to reveal information on the cyberbully who posted unauthorized videos of her on YouTube and made insulting remarks online.
On Tuesday, a Manhattan court ruling issued gives Google, who owns YouTube, a couple of weeks to provide Franklin with identity and contact information for the person or people who began harassing Franklin last year. The unauthorized videos were clips from a student film that Franklin had made years ago and contained personal information. A YouTube user named “greyspector09” also wrote derogatory comments next to the clips of Franklin including the word “whore.” This was all done while Franklin was interviewing for a new job and was worried that the online slurs could harm her career prospects.
Franklin did go to the police hoping to obtain a restraining order but was told there was nothing they could do. She then elected to go forward with legal action. Franklin is more interested in exposing internet bullies than money and stated: “The Internet cannot become a haven for harassers and criminals. It just can’t,” she said. “This is not about me trampling on anyone’s First Amendment rights. Speak freely — just show who you are. And if you’re going to commit a crime, and harassment and defamation are crimes, then show yourself. ”
Social media has taken over the web and I have a feeling that more individuals who feel threatened and bullied will come forward and take action to find out who the person is behind the screen name. Trolls and bullies have a solid presence on many websites and at times it can be very difficult for a blog/website owner to get a handle on it and other times it appears to just be ignored.
How do you feel about this. Have you been bullied on the net? Whose responsibility is it to gain control of this? The site owner or should the blame lie with the person who posts the bullying comments and videos?
Finally! I recently heard someone say that the internet is like a city with no sheriff- so true. The cyber bullying and harrassment has reached a ridiculous level- these people should be held accountable rather than being allowed to continue this vile behavior anonymously. Good for you Carla!
I totally agree that individuals who are harassed should be given the identities of their harassers. It is so easy to hate when you feel that you can do so anonymously. Anonymity on the Internet breaks down societal standards – people often say and do things they never would if they had to look to do it publicly.
This is fantastic, I hope she gets the information from Google. Your question about who is responsible, the bully or the site owner, is a good one. Imagine how complicated this will get legally, having to define the boundaries of what you can say or do on the internet. Imagine the increase in court cases! This case seems clear, because the victim was shown and identified, and it does seem like harrasment and defamation of character. What if the person who wrote the rude word about her put IMO after it? Would that make a difference in a legal case? What if there is harassment that causes psychological harm, but the bully never identifies the victim? That should be stopped, but how do you actually do that? I wish we all had the same standard of decency in how we treat others, but we obviously don’t. If the site owners are made responsible, being the admin of a site would be a 24/7 job, and I could see many sites disappearing or removing the ability to comment.
Some of the bullying should be classified as stalking when it comes to interfering in someone’s life. I don’t understand the legalities at all. It sounds like she’s making a civil case. It’s all so unnecessary.
MEAN PEOPLE SUCK
I read comments from both sides of this election cycle and am always surprised at the viciousness of the language coming from these people. It’s so easy to call someone names when you sign a comment “polijoe669” or whatever. It reminds me of the “am too” “am not” screams we heard as children. Let’s make opinions based on fact and leave the name calling out it. Thanks to the Judge. Wise decision.
Speaking as a person who is currently being harassed and being close to two people who are being attacked on the internet, I think it is the person’s fault foremost, the one DOING the harassing. I think if the harassment is brought to the attention of the website owner and they do nothing, then yes, they have liability. Doubly if the website owner is doing to harassing. Hiding behind screen names and fake blogs/sites are disgusting and on the level of a adolescent.
I wholly agree with Lily. It’s one thing to own a blog or site where you discuss some one you don’t like with in it, like a forum, where the people have to log in or just a personal blog. When you put your opinion viral, like on twitter, then it becomes more than your opinion.
You lose control of it. You can stir people up who don’t have the ability filter the information they are given. Do I think the people that don’t like me are telling people to try to hack my site? No. But put my information out there to the crazies and there is no telling what they will do.
I am so glad that there are judgments out there like these. I have a feeling I might need it soon.
Great questions, MaryNGG. I wonder, too, how far someone needs to go before the court will order the host site to reveal the harrasser? I can promise you someone is furiously working on a way to digitally confuse and confound google and facebook so they will not be able to say who is harrassing another. Anonymity gives some people a false sense of power.
In this case the victim seems right- she was being defamed. Near our own little corner of the Internet, we saw something similar happen when one blogger’s child’s picture and school info were revealed along with outrageous accusation of illegal activity. It was shocking anyone would try to harm a young person that way. I have a child close in age and I would have been furious at the accusation and how callously the false accusation was posted. I would have worried about how that accusation might harm my child in the future, seeking employment or placement in an educational position. I might have pursued legal action like this young woman did. I am glad the court decided this way.
I am shocked to read,CraftyMom, that you are having trouble at your blog! What is going on? I knew you had been spammed, did you discover who did it?
I forgot to add that I have followed a cyber harrassment case for years now- and yet it continues. The guilty party keeps violating her probation yet she is never locked up. Wait- let me check to see if she will serve jail time- there was a sentencing on another probation violation this week. Anyway, I think it started in 2006, and 4 years later, she continues to harrass her victim and his family.
Well, well, the Internet bully I have been following got 90 days in jail, mandatory mental health evaluation and treatment, 5 years probation with NO INTERNET access, probation officer can search the home or any home she visits without a warrant if s/he suspects the bully has been using the Internet. I am amazed. For years this woman got away with the most outrageous bullying. Now that the probation officer will have access to all of her passwords, maybe her harrassing blogs will be closed.
yeah Ann. I have had 4 hack attempts just today. Apparently they have something against crafts! LOL
Yes, you have such controversial crafts, CMo3, lol!
I think blogs like the ones who have such hate for Kate should be called out. Opinions are one thing, but some of these people have become down right scary. I really fear for Kate and her children. People do things for attention, not caring who they hurt. When someone has to post it all over the net that they are traveling many miles to sit at a hearing in PA, saying she is a child advocate and then posts some of the most vile things on the net about the G’s kids is so over the edge. This whole situation had nothing personal to do with her life.
It is kind of amazing she would leave her family to travel so far for the PA legislative meeting, snickers. I think she really thinks she is doing something wonderful by “showing up” and affecting real and important change in PA. Of course, her presence means NOTHING to the legislation…and we’ll end up with the better (Democrat) version anyway. The laws need updating…as laws sometimes do.
Meanwhile, back in her home state, schools are STILL rated #50 (out of 50, for those of you employed as “television consumers,”) and I don’t feel the least bit inclined to make a trip there to advocate for her poor school children. That’s a job for their mother to do, IMO.
People need to understand that freedom of speech does not mean freedom from consequences. You can’t harrass or defame someone anonymously – that’s not a right a person has. I hope this woman wins her case.
CMo3, I hope things get better in your situation – how stressful.
Good heavens they are throwing around child abuse accusations again at the BKIA’s site. Crazy talk.
What father who loves his children as much as Jon does signs a contract for child abuse for his kids just so he can avoid a monetary fine for breaking his entertainment contract? The TLC lawsuit was civil, not criminal. TLC can’t throw him in jail. Hailey lent him the money to avoid contempt of court reagarding the divorce settlement. And Jon signed another contract. Does Jon think his kids are AB– — USED???? THINK, haters, THINK!
These child abuse accusations- sanctioned by a practicing attorney in family law in CA? I think they cross a cyber-bully line, IMO.
Child abuse accusations are also discussed and encouraged by a so-called therapist also. There is also a blogger on her site who diagnoses Kate in great lengths as a narcicisst. I read at the BKIA that at one point TLC did send her a cease and desist order but she said she was within her rights to keep her blog. It does seem like something could be done about the outright lies and slander that are posted at these sites.
Ann, ntm the lack of facts. It’s all supposition. They have no idea how these children think and feel. They have no idea where they go, what activities they are involved in and who their friends are. It’s creepy. I read that WG wanted to go and observe the children being filmed at a cornmaze this weekend. Good grief, she’s a stalker. She takes pics of the house, reports on their going-ons and wants to follow them while they are filmed. All so she can go and write a hateful insider scoop about their mother. She is a stalker. Her imagined motive of child advocate (emphasis on “imagined”) does not justify her actions.
WG is a stalker, plain and simple. I wish Kate would get a restraining order against her that she cannot come within 500 feet of her or the kids. Then she would really have something to complain about.
TLC needs to have their lawyers get up to date on the changing laws of bullying. I think Paul Peterson should take this issue on, instead of doing promo spots in the courts for his own personal agenda. PA should take this on and be a leader for all other states to follow. I would love to see some people’s blogs hit the front page of every newspaper across the country. IMO.
Yes, their lack of boundaries are astounding. Just because someone is on tv does not give them the right to invade their lives.
Again, I’m so glad Kate had the trees put in to thwart some of this.
Lily that is one of my biggest issues in that some of these people think just because someone is on TV they lose all right to privacy. How would they feel if every time they stepped out of their homes there were neighbors spying and paps following? I suspect they would be the first to scream and holler. The trees were a great idea and thankfully they’ve seemed to help too. To follow a family specifically to spy on them and not only that to report it ahead of time shows a very sick minded person. She should have been embarassed to admit to Steve she was there alone. Steve I’m sure knew who she was and because of that intrusion I’m betting the trip to the maze was cut short because a stalker can never be trusted. That woman should be ashamed of herself for spoiling what could have been a longer time to enjoy themselves. She doesn’t consider herself a stalker because she actually planned this and to top it off she takes off at the same time and follows the pap’s car who is following the Gosselin’s? And they call themselves child advocates? They aren’t in my book. They abuse the children by their stalking.
Joy, I’m thinking Steve knew exactly who she was too.
I’ve been reading comments in defense of her presence at the corn-maze. The problem is, it’s not an isolated incident. This is just another part of what she’s already done. She’s a neighbor w/an unhealthy fixation on a celebrity family that happens to live near her. It’s a matter of convenience that she’s so involved. She’s used this to her advantage in gaining notoriety. She’s been invasive as she could be for quite awhile. Ntm, trying to use them for monetary gain in writing a section of and promoting Al’s book. It’s twisted that they think they’re helping those children. Why they think it’s A-okay that she hung out at the fence and took pics of the house to post online, is beyond me.
Lily that is one of my biggest issues in that some of these people think just because someone is on TV they lose all right to privacy.
This bugs me as well. I hear this a lot about celebrities and I can’t agree. The fact that someone chooses to be in the public eye doesn’t mean that anything goes and other people’s responsibilities to act like decent human beings goes out the window.
Your post #9 is very interesting, Ann. It’s too bad her victim had to deal with the torment for 4 years, but that sentence is pretty amazing. No internet access for 5 years could be the best thing that ever happened to that harasser, giving her mind the opportunity to “breathe” again, or it could drive her competely over the brink. I hope she not only gets a mental health evaluation, but assistance in finding long-term mental health support. I imagine the victims of such harassment never truly relax, even when they have a victory in the court.
test
CMo3 – unbelievable. I’m sorry you have to put up with this harrassment. You don’t deserve it and the perpetrators are sad, sick individuals.
Yes, WG/The Nosy Neighbor is a stalker and I am beginning to think not very mentally healthy.
Bravo, Carla Franklin. You have done a very brave and important thing.
CraftyMom, I hope they have laid off trying to hack your account. Unbelievable.
When WG poted the pics of the kids, she captioned them putting negative words in their mouth. I think that’s just freaky. She thinks she knows what the G children think and feel. I hope she gets hit w/a realization that she needs to back off these children.