Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Aaron Hall: I am Aaron Hall, an attorney in Minneapolis, you can find us at MinnesotaAttorney.com.
I am sitting here with a victim of a new type of crime online. Websites like Jerk.com allow anonymous people
to post information about another. Then people can vote on whether the person is a jerk or
not. You may have heard of sites like HotOrNot.com and some of the others. Social media is entering
a new realm where now the law is having to protect people and their legal rights. When
you first heard that your name and image were posted on Jerk.com how did you feel?
Anonymous: I was horrified, I was scared, a lot of anxiety of finding out that basically
anyone anonymously can go out and write whatever they choose to about me whether they
were truth or lies. So that’s definitely something that really scared.
Aaron Hall: So from a legal perspective you have copyright infringement with your image
from Facebook being used. You have potential defamation, potentially invasion of privacy,
potentially some other torts there as well. How has this affected you in your job hunt?
Anonymous: Well, I am not sure if it has affected me but I am wondering if it has because
now a days most employers do a ton of research on their potential candidates and Googling
is one of the top things that employers go for these days, “Let’s check out what
this client or potential candidate is all about.” And they look for the bad things
on those people. So showing up at the very top of a search engine, Jerk.com, that probably
doesn’t look so great to an employer.
Aaron Hall: Employers don’t have to look very hard if they just type in your name,
your profile on Jerk.com comes up. Jerk.com says they won’t remove it, so we are sending
a Demand Letter to them the legal basis for why they must remove it. If they fail to,
then they will be liable and we can take the next step, if necessary, to bring them before
a judge and have them explain to a judge why they are breaking the law, and continuing
to publish this information. If you have been a victim of Jerk.com or some of these other
defamatory or negative sites, feel free to call our law firm or other law firms that
deal with this. You can reach us at MinnesotaAttorney.com and an attorney here at Twin Cities Law Firm
can assist you in dealing with removal of your information on the web.