Blackmail

Ah, I didn't know that.  Here, I think the harm actually caused would affect the amount of compensation only.

Vicky

Is there a way to turn the e-mail sender in to their own ISP?  Surely this violates the Terms of Service with the ISP.  Even a Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. mailbox can be traced back to an ISP and a complaint filed.  Even something sent to abuse@name of ISP.com (or net) would be looked at.  I hope you can get these people off your back and live in peace soon.

i'd probably just write and warn them that what they are doing is illegal in order to get them to back off, then let the site expire on its own... what's to stop them from still trashing your name if you give in to them? 

I suggest that you refer them to this case...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/mar/22/news.uknews

I know Mr Smith, the man involved in the case.  I know the name of his (reasonably priced) lawyers.  I know that, as well as getting £10k off the woman in this case he also settled out of court with another party, for a figure rumoured to be about £40k.  I also know that the woman in this article is facing bankruptcy.  I suggest that you tell them all this, and see if they back off. If they have half a brain they will.

I am not sure if the police would get involved in this though.

Vicky

Wow!  That's incredible.

Does this really happen?  Would it be likely that some junk written on a LiveJournal will get linked to your actual name, enough to show up in a google search and cost you a job?

If so, then awesome, you can sue for libel and totally win.

While *A* comment showed up on LJ, I'm not talking about LJ. I'm talking about a fairly popular website that's already attached to my name by virtue of me being the admin for the past year.  A website that's the second to top entry on my CV, no less. 

That's only in the UK though, I think (not that it matters, cause UK law applies here.) In the US, I believe you need to prove actual harm.

One thing I do know is that if someone in the US starts making threats (no matter what kind) and you take it to your local police, they'll contact the police in that person's town and a squad car will be dispatched to their house to tell them they aren't to contact you or say thing s about you anymore.  (I had a bad break-up when I was 25 and the guy thretened to kill my cat!)

Is there a way to turn the e-mail sender in to their own ISP?  Surely this violates the Terms of Service with the ISP.  Even a Hotmail, Yahoo, etc. mailbox can be traced back to an ISP and a complaint filed.  Even something sent to abuse@name of ISP.com (or net) would be looked at.  I hope you can get these people off your back and live in peace soon.

I can try, but from what I understand, that doesn't really go anywhere...the abuse@hotmail account is just a bucket account AFAIK. But I can try for sure. 

i'd probably just write and warn them that what they are doing is illegal in order to get them to back off, then let the site expire on its own... what's to stop them from still trashing your name if you give in to them? 

Lily, that's pretty similar to what I decided last night.  A polite e-mail informing them what they did was blackmail (which, neither of them sees as blackmail, BTW. They just "gave me options") and it would be within my rights to report them. And to inform them if they continue and go forth with any comments, they will be contacted by my lawyer.

Of course, they'll probably assume I'm lying, which is kind of the great part, because while I haven't retained a lawyer yet, if they did go forth with comments, I would.

The first paragraph of my response:

Before I get into replying to your actual message, I want to inform you that the words you chose to use do infact signify blackmail. Asking someone to do one thing or you will do somthing harmful is blackmail, and that's exactly what your second point states.  I've had lawyers on both sides of the pond look over your email, and the consensus is that it would be well within my legal rights to pursue this as blackmail.

okay, so I haven't spoken to lawyers beyond asking a few friends who are lawyers (in the US and UK) for advice, but they don't actually need to know that. As long as it's enough to scare them into not doing anything further, right?

I've also included this:

As Tim already responded to Tami on his own livejournal entry, I was reading everything posted.  I even posted a message stating I was walking away until I was calm. Unfortunately, neither of you understood that and the personal attacks continued, which lead to my continual lack of response.  I was not going to lash out at either one of you and drop to your level, but let's be clear - you have no right to drag my relationships with others into your squabble with me. 

A big part of the conflict started when the two of them were attacking me personally and making comments to the effect of my relationship with Tim not being real, that we were playing at things, etc. etc.  At that point, I chose to post a general message to the two of them on our website informing them I would not be responding until I calmed down.  They did not understand what I was saying, and continued to make disparaging comments both on the website we run, and on their personal LJs.  The final straw though was when Tim decided to post something on his LJ to the effect of "this is what I've told *someone* to do and now this is upsetting me" without him mentioning their names or my name and the one girl chose to respond to Tim.  IMHO, they have no right to try to drag him into anything.  Besides, is it really worth it to bring in someone who automatically is going to be biased towards your opponent? 

The middle part of my message deals with the technicalities.  I never came out and agreed to either of their "choices" (yet), just informed them of Dreamhost's (my web hosting providers) policy and asked them for clarification on a point they mentioned. The initial email said they want to "buy me out". If we're talking money, I'll listen if they quote a figure for buying the domain off me!  If they're using the term to just mean "we'll take over and squash you out", then I probably won't be interested. Let's face it - permanently moving to the UK is going to cost quite a bit, and any amount I earn off of selling a website is just more money Tim and I don't have to pay out of pocket!

The middle portion:

I have spoken with Dreamhost.  Unfortunately, since the domain expires in less than five days it cannot be transferred unless I pay to renew the site for another year.  A transfer can take as long as 10 business days, and if the domain expires in the middle of the transfer, the transfer fails.  Alternatly, I can chose not to renew the domain, let it expire, and you can hope to pick it up for yourselves, but releasing a domain can take up to six weeks, and there is always the chance someone else will come along and snatch up the domain before you get a chance to.  This actually begs the question though if you already have your own domain and are putting files on it (as Tami has stated via her livejournal post), why do you even want this domain? But back to the domain expiring.  If I have to pay for another year, I'd expect to be keeping the domain for another year. Regardless of what the cost is, I'm not in the habit of throwing away money.  Of course, you also mentioned in your intial email you wanted to "buy me out".  I'm interested in what you propose.

(don't worry, grammar and spelling will be corrected....I only whipped this up in notepad a minute ago!)

I can understand how stressful this can be for you and been through something similar. I wish you luck in getting justice. But in my experience, the UK police nor ISP's are sympathetic toward any email/online coercive threats or harrassment unless real damage has been done or you have the unlimited funds to pursue a lawsuit. However, I'd recommend reporting it to their ISPs and local police now so that what's happening is on the record. Perhaps if you then tell them you've reported their threats to police they will back off. Or not. Good luck.

Thanks Leah. I don't really have the funds to go after them. I mean, I do, but that would cut into my moving funds! 

I'm considering at the least reporting the initial email to hotmail (where the email address is). Whether they do something or not, the point is it would at least be reported.  I'm pretty sure the UKC uses Orange for her internet.  So does Tim, so I probably could contact them easily.  I have the UKC's IP address (and the USCs) because I log IP addresses on the board we're all on, and for LJ comments.  (but alternately, they have mine. Well, they have Tim's and I leave on April 6)

I reported something similar to Yahoo once and they acted very swiftly.

Vicky

I reported something similar to Yahoo once and they acted very swiftly.

Vicky

did you report it to abuse@yahoo, or actually have to go to yahoo's site to report it? 

Becca, I know this whole thing is irritating and annoying to you on a personal level - however, I really think you need to leave LJ out of this, and address the Dreamhost/domain name/blackmail part of the email.  As a fannish type who's been on LJ for six years, I understand how complicated LJ/flist drama can be - however, by continuing to discuss the "he said/she said" of the flist drama, your claim of blackmail/harassment is getting lost in what is essentially BNL fandom wank. 

Don't stoop to their level.  Don't dignify their behaviour with a lengthy reply - in my experience, people like that never bother to read your carefully-crafted response, anyway.  Simply state, calmly:

1. that the threat they have made is, indeed blackmail, and that blackmail is illegal;

2. not only will you not acquiesce with their demands, if any further threats or demands are made, you will contact a lawyer;

3. and ask them to name their price for purchasing the domain from you.

Remember, just as you're keeping records and copies of what they've said, they're likely doing the same to you.  In the (admittedly very unlikely) case that this matter is turned over to law enforcement, you will have a much stronger leg to stand on if you've kept cool and haven't played their game.

In the (admittedly very unlikely) case that this matter is turned over to law enforcement, you will have a much stronger leg to stand on if you've kept cool and haven't played their game.

Well said, Meg! I absolutely agree with everything said here!

And on a personal note, I was blackmailed like this once, and I didn't acquiesce or loose my cool and nothing ever came of it. These things die out after a few days after tensions stop running as high. Good luck!

Becca, I know this whole thing is irritating and annoying to you on a personal level - however, I really think you need to leave LJ out of this, and address the Dreamhost/domain name/blackmail part of the email.  As a fannish type who's been on LJ for six years, I understand how complicated LJ/flist drama can be - however, by continuing to discuss the "he said/she said" of the flist drama, your claim of blackmail/harassment is getting lost in what is essentially BNL fandom wank. 

Don't stoop to their level.  Don't dignify their behaviour with a lengthy reply - in my experience, people like that never bother to read your carefully-crafted response, anyway.  Simply state, calmly:

1. that the threat they have made is, indeed blackmail, and that blackmail is illegal;

2. not only will you not acquiesce with their demands, if any further threats or demands are made, you will contact a lawyer;

3. and ask them to name their price for purchasing the domain from you.

Remember, just as you're keeping records and copies of what they've said, they're likely doing the same to you.  In the (admittedly very unlikely) case that this matter is turned over to law enforcement, you will have a much stronger leg to stand on if you've kept cool and haven't played their game.

Meg, just to clarify, this has nothing to do with BNL. Again, I don't want to start pointing fingers and giving names just because I don't want to stoop down to their level and if they do wind up splitting and doing their own thing or taking the site over - more power to them, you know?  Although I can probably safely say that it has to do with a well-known BBC Scifi show.

Anyway.

I personally haven't said anything on LJ about this (other than the random posting of the wiki info on blackmail).  They have, and Tim vaguely did (and I can send you a link if you want to see it - it's all public posts). but you're right, perhaps I shouldn't mention Tim's LJ, but I DO want them to know it's not acceptable to try to drag Tim into something that he isn't even a part of.  He's not even a poster on the site! 

Meg, are you suggesting I just omit the part about Tim and his LJ, and just lead in with "berore I reply..." and then go straight into the "talked to DH" part?

I also received a second email from them, telling me that if I had alternative suggestions, they'd listen to them. I *do* have two ideas for them, but I'm not sure if it's worth pursuing or getting involved with.  My first idea was for them to just split off on their own, and if anyone asks just say it was because they wanted to and NOT mention me at all (so no bad mouthing should happen) and the second was that they simply pay me to keep the site active and up and I can fade into the background as a silent management because I've taken a look at the whole transfer thing and the long and short of it is that it won't happen before the renewal and the site would be down for over a week. 

But is it worth mentioning either plan to them? probably not.

BNL fandom wank. 

 

 

Trust me, it's there.

We even have rivalries between the different fanboards.

This doesn't sound like blackmail to me, I'm afraid. Harrassment, yes. But blackmail? I don't have a legal background, but I don't think a lawyer would really want to touch it, to be honest.