Ask HN: What are the first steps to report, take online content down and sue?

6 points by robertocr 12 years ago | 4 comments

I'm considered to be a good developer in Brazil and I'm very active in the local Startup scene. I'm now being harassed by fake facebook/google accounts trying to defame me and my girlfriend. I want to get the content down and sue for every damage he's been doing.

Long story short: This year I made an MVP for a Israeli/Brazilian guy without getting paid (plus having actually paid other developers to help me as well). Later I realized I was not the only victim (the guy is a serial con man in the startup scene, with several fake investment news all around the web), so I exposed the fraud on facebook, mentioning every person he has tricked before. From that moment on, he couldn't fool anyone anymore. He swore revenge.

Now, "Someone" has discovered my girlfriend is a former porn star and has made a video with mixed content (old porn video + pictures of us) and spread all over the startup scene (mostly facebook groups and directly to many company emails). This attack has made my life a living hell yesterday, with over 14K views and actually having me hospitalized.

I can already point he's most likely the author (as dozens of other startup scene people here in Brazil can say this as well) with many indirect proofs, I just don't have the IP proof coming from Facebook/Google. Also, he is in California now, so I don't even know if I should start looking at any USA (FBI or what?) forms.

I've asked Facebook to take down the fake profile (and lots of friends helped report too), but it's still up. Same thing with the blogspot account holding the pictures and video. The fake gmail account used to spread the video via email (and the Dropbox account used for this) is still active, too.

HN, what should I do??? Where should I start?

ps: this story is pretty real and you can check me out and contact me at roberto.cr

dirktheman 12 years ago |

First of all, this situation sucks because this person is not just defaming you, but dragging a loved one into his shitty antics. I really feel sorry for you guys! I think the best thing to do is write a short blog post explaining why someone would find shady things about you and your girlfriend. Don’t expose too many details, just a short neutral story like you’ve written here. When people ask you questions directly about your alleged pasts, refer to this blog post. For the rest of it, ignore the badmouthing. It will diminish fast enough once you don’t give this person a reason to continue.

Continue to be awesome, not only is this a much quicker way to rebuild your reputation (although I think you’re exaggerating how much people care about these kind of things), it’s also much, much more rewarding.

Remember: Karma’s a bitch. These people will get what they deserve in the end.

robertocr 12 years ago | |

Thanks for the answer. I think I might write the neutral blog post and redirect people to it instead of explaining every time, thanks for the tip. It's not me in the video, but the editing makes it look like it is. I didn't really do anything wrong... if anything, I only try to help people, even if via misunderstood ways.

My friends are all saying this is nothing (both personally and professionally), but I know people do care about this, especially older / conservative people. If people get to know me, they understand I am very good professionally and also as a person.

I'm doing my best to focus on working, as I always do.

petervandijck 12 years ago |

It's true what they say about fighting with pigs. You both get dirty but they like it.

If you know your legal boundaries well, you could expose this person further. (I notice you haven't mentioned their name etc.)

robertocr 12 years ago | |

Thanks for the answer. Your advice is wise and people have been telling me the same: not to fight any further. The problem is the fake accounts are still active, despite all reports. The attacks continue (I've just received another email).

I've exposed the person before (when I warned people about his scams) and people in the Brazilian Startup scene know about this con man, I just don't think it's legally right for me to accuse him here without formal proof (IP address from Google, Facebook, Dropbox, etc), but pretty much everyone know who he is.