Invasion of Privacy? New Precedents Set For Online Right To Publicity

By Kathryn Carrado

Complaint boards, blog postings, community connecting sites, and individual web sites can be used to post a variety of useful information; but unfortunately they can also be abused to post false or even libelous statements about individuals and businesses.  

With search engine technology that is now state of the art at such sites as Google and Yahoo! Search, your post can be spread around the globe with a reach and frequency that can do irreparable damage.

Often, a valid complaint against a small business can be turned into a war of words and accusations which is waged online by the business owner against the disgruntled customer, in order to try and make that customer look bad.  This obvious and desperate attempt on the part of the business owner, meant to cover up the original complaint, only serves to turn a very negative light onto the business as well as the person managing it.  

If you are a business owner, it is never a good idea to use a counter-attack strategy toward an individual who has filed a complaint against you.  It makes you look bad, and worse, it makes you look guilty.

Larger Corporations can afford to utilize professional Reputation Managers who use search engine optimization techniques, press releases, and other methods to keep their clients looking favorable.  If you don’t have the luxury of being able to afford a Rep Manager, you can still gain the same results by mimicking what they do.  

It’s inevitable that something negative will be printed online about almost every company at some point in time, and the best practice is to issue a simple statement of fact from your perspective, list the ways in which you attempted to assuage the situation, and end it all with a two or three nicely-written endorsements from your other customers.

The best endorsements should contain the contact information for the customer, so that potential clients can follow up to make sure that the endorsements are real.  Don’t invent fake endorsements as this very likely will come back to bite you, and paint you in an even more unfavorable light.

In addition to your response to the complaint, it’s a good idea to create a page on your business site which focuses on the positive aspects of you personally; as well as the features, benefits, and services you provide.  One whole page or more should be devoted to customer testimonials.

You can’t have too many click-able endorsement links.  If a potential client gets tired of reading them, he or she can just stop clicking and go back to your home page; or better yet to your “contact us” page or online order form.

Posting pages of negative personal information about a customer who has complained online about your business only makes you look bad to future clients.  Not only is it a highly inappropriate response; many times it is illegal.

Victims of slander, libel, invasion of privacy, and copyright infringement are starting to fight back against business owners; and they are winning.  Just because you have a business website, it doesn’t mean that you can post whatever you want to on it.  The use of a disgruntled customer’s name and contact information without his or her permission is punishable by law; as is the use of his or her photographic likeness.

The main thing you should remember in responding to an online complaint is to keep everything positive.  Focus on your strengths and the satisfaction of your past customers.  This speaks volumes about who you are and what you do.