[SLP123]

Hi there,

I'm wondering if anyone out there can help?

I'm a volunteer for a small charity. Our founder was subject to some online defamation (wholly unfounded) and now these sites come up prominently when anyone searches the charity or our founder.

The option to try to get the authors to take down their content involves hefty legal fees with no guarantee of success.

A quicker option seems to be to try to hide or remove the search results from google. 'Online Reputation Management' companies charge a fortune for this service. I am hoping that some kind soul might be willing to do it for cheaper??

I came across one company 'Webcide' that purported to use some sort of software that visits a site so many times a minute that it becomes 'a dead link' and is de-indexed by Google. They seem wholly undependable however. The morals of such an option are arguably borderline but seeing as the sites in question are offensive, and the authors have been asked nicely to take them down, I personally don't have a problem with it.

Anyway, if anyone reading this has any ideas on ways to help I would be very grateful.

We have an animal sanctuary, we feed the homeless, we teach meditation and yoga - it is a good charity doing good things with a good intention and we'd b very grateful for help.

Sincerely,

Spencer

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 Hi Spencer and welcome to our forums

 

Defamation is a nasty thing and as you know is actionable in law, and substantial damages may be awarded (together with costs) but the outcomes and costs involved can as you say be "heavy"

 

In the UK, legal aid is rarely ( if ever) now granted for defamation cases, so careful thought is needed together with professional advice before any course of action is decided upon.

 

Here's an article from "The Telegraph" that provides a brief overview of the European Courts of Justice view on search engines in these circumstances:

http://www.telegraph...k-EU-rules.html

 

So you can see from this that there is positive action that can be taken.

 

Here is a link to the form that needs to be completed with full details, describing the issues, the reasons for it and the references in the index that you want removed.

https://www.google.c...6676&hl=en&rd=1"

 

This procedure is not a surefire guaranteed method of having material links removed, but it can help considerably and at no cost to you or the Charity concerned.

 

The outcome from this sort of action is greatly influenced by the quality, detail and evidence submitted on the form, and it would be wise to take great pains to provide full, accurate, and well documented evidence based, provable justification for the request.

 

It would be most unwise to request action on the basis that you or he had been defamed without proving it.....

 

The evidential requirements are high and it would be a fair start to collect the sort of evidence (documents) that you might need in a County Court or High Court action....

 

I hope this information is of help to you

Regards

paws

[paws]

 Hi Spencer and welcome to our forums

 

Defamation is a nasty thing and as you know is actionable in law, and substantial damages may be awarded (together with costs) but the outcomes and costs involved can as you say be "heavy"

 

In the UK, legal aid is rarely ( if ever) now granted for defamation cases, so careful thought is needed together with professional advice before any course of action is decided upon.

 

Here's an article from "The Telegraph" that provides a brief overview of the European Courts of Justice view on search engines in these circumstances:

http://www.telegraph...k-EU-rules.html

 

So you can see from this that there is positive action that can be taken.

 

Here is a link to the form that needs to be completed with full details, describing the issues, the reasons for it and the references in the index that you want removed.

https://www.google.c...6676&hl=en&rd=1"

 

This procedure is not a surefire guaranteed method of having material links removed, but it can help considerably and at no cost to you or the Charity concerned.

 

The outcome from this sort of action is greatly influenced by the quality, detail and evidence submitted on the form, and it would be wise to take great pains to provide full, accurate, and well documented evidence based, provable justification for the request.

 

It would be most unwise to request action on the basis that you or he had been defamed without proving it.....

 

The evidential requirements are high and it would be a fair start to collect the sort of evidence (documents) that you might need in a County Court or High Court action....

 

I hope this information is of help to you

Regards

paws