Dealing with false and malicious online defamation

In today's day and time false and malicious defamation is a reality and a potential nightmare for both individuals and businesses alike. On a daily basis company's and individuals get defamed on various websites in the form of reviews, forum comments, and consumer watchdog sites. The defamation can be a few angry comments or full large scale made up stories involving upper management and corporate entities. One would think that anyone who posts such reviews and comments would be easy to track down yet the anonymous nature of internet technologies make it almost impossible in most cases. One bad review and/or comment from an ex employeee, a disgruntled customer,and or a potential competitor can result in a reputation management crisis.

So how does one deal with malicious online defamation designed to do damage? Should you go after the website that is showcasing the false and defamatory information? It is not easy. The law where it stands right now currently protects the 3rd party websites as they are not responsible for the content posted on them by their users. So suing the website at hand is not a viable solution as it is obvious in the case of Rip Off Report as they have been sued unsuccessfully many times. What next? Well one solution may be by subpoening the website(s) in question by using an attorney. Such an action can result you in getting the identity of the perpetuators involved. However if they are using a public wifi then you will gain nothing from the previously mentioned solution.

What if they are indeed using a public wifi and cannot be tracked down by using a subpoena? Another solution may be to hire a defamation management company to get the negative information removed from the search results and/or possibly get the perpetuators tracked down by doing so intense online invstigation. Now you may be thinking that cost may be an issue however keep one thing in mind: How much is your reputation worth to you? In today's day and time, a company or a job applicant are solely known by what their online reputation is which is not dificult to track down at all. Paying a small amount to have peace of mind in terms of:

a). identifying who is spreading lies about you

b). getting inaccurate information removed or hidden

is something to highly reconsider. Once the perpetuators are tracked down, it is only a matter of time before they can easily be prosecuted for damages in the court of law.