Businesswoman takes Google to court over YouTube 'whore' slur - Telegraph

Quote:

Carla Franklin, a former model, claims she suffered "personal humiliation and mental anguish" after seeing the comments, which included the word "whore". In a court petition, she said that the anonymous postings had damaged her job prospects. The slurs were posted beneath innocuous videos of Miss Franklin visiting Africa and talking excitedly about her plans to work in international development, filmed while she was studying at the Ivy League Columbia Business School in New York. Three user names were involved - greyspector09, JimmyJean008 and JoeBloom 08 - but one perpetrator is believed to be behind the pseudonymss, Miss Franklin's lawyer said. The same person is also suspected of posting "creepy" unauthorised clips from a low-budget independent film in which Miss Franklin appeared. Miss Franklin has filed a legal petition against Google, which owns the video sharing website, claiming that she is the victim of defamation and demanding that the company given up the user's identity. The comments "were made with the intention to harm Miss Franklin's reputation and interfere with her relationships, employment and livelihood," according to the papers filed at Manhattan's state court, which claim that she suffered damage to her career and reputation. She graduated in 1999 with degrees in biology and psychology, and spent five years working as a part-time model and actress before securing a place at Columbia. Her lawyer, David Fish, said that internet users should not be allowed to hide behind a veil of anonymity when posting abusive messages. "People feel bolder and bolder that they can say whatever they want when they post things with anonymity, but there can be consequences. If you're going to post something about somebody, you need to stand by it." Miss Franklin believes she knows who is behind the postings but wants to be certain before publicly naming names, Mr Fish said. She is now working for a consulting firm that advises non-profit organisations and "she really just wants this exposed, done, so that whoever is doing it will never do it again. She really doesn't want any of this negative stuff following her." She graduated from Columbia last year and is currently working for the non-profit division of a blue-chip consulting firm. A Google spokesman said the company does not discuss individual cases in order to protect users' privacy, but complies with "both the letter and the spirit of the law". This is not the first time that Google has been asked to reveal a user's identity. Liskula Cohen, a Vogue cover girl, successfully forced the company last year to disclose the identity of an anonymous user who referred to her as an "old hag" on a blog entitled "Skanks of NYC". The blogger was identified by court order as Rosemary Port, who argued that her privacy was violated and announced plans to sue Google for $15 million.

Wonder if she'll sue TNT if I say that she's a narcissistic, over-sensitive drama queen who's trying to ruin the internet for everyone? Hope not.

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