| Author | Message | ||
     T9r |
No bright ideas! http://www.courttv.com/news/2006/0112/chatroom_suit_ctv.html Man sues chatroom pals: I was humiliated beyond what 'no man could endure' Mike Marlowe fully admits that he sometimes gave George Gillespie a hard time in that AOL chatroom. But never in his wildest imagination did he expect to be sued in court for what he characterized as "razzing." "We gave him crap," said Marlowe, a 33-year-old welder in Fayette, Ala. "I'm not going to deny it. I teased him and he teased me back. He gave it back better than he ever got it." A generation ago, such petty personal beefs might have been settled with fists outside the corner bar, but now it's the Internet age — and Ohio resident George Gillespie instead filed a $25,000 lawsuit against two erstwhile cyber chums he met in the sprawling 900-room, mostly anonymous society that makes up AOL's chat universe. Gillespie, 53, claims that Marlowe and Bob Charpentier, a 52-year-old Oregon resident, insulted him and harassed him in the AOL chatroom called "Romance — Older Men" to the point where it inflicted "severe emotional distress and physical injury that is of a nature no reasonable man could be expected to endure it." The complaint, expected in court on Jan. 31 for a pretrial conference, also names AOL as a defendant for allowing the alleged harassment to take place. Gillespie alleges that the duo intruded into his "private affairs." The complaint states that Marlowe actually drove from Alabama to Ohio to photograph the plaintiff's home, which he then posted on the Web. He also allegedly went to the courthouse in Medina to dig up personal dirt on Gillespie, which he then also disseminated over the Internet. The case is not simply "someone conversing in a chatroom" but also involves "harassing someone in Ohio," which gives Ohio courts jurisdiction, according to Gillespie's lawyers. "Had the defendants stayed in the chatrooms, there would be no jurisdiction here, case closed" Gillespie's attorney Theodore Lesiak stated in the complaint. "Defendant did not." But Marlowe said he works 60 hours a week at an autobody shop and laughed at the notion that he would drive from Alabama to Ohio to take pictures of Gillespie's house. "I have never been to Ohio and I have absolutely no desire to go to Ohio," Marlowe said. "There is nothing there — the Cincinnati Bengals are there, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame maybe, and that's about it." Even if Marlowe did take a trip to Ohio, posting a picture of someone's house on the Internet does not violate privacy laws, according to Chris Hoofnagle, attorney with the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "Those norms require the aggressor to engage in behavior that is highly offensive to a reasonable person," he said. "Taking a picture of somebody's house and putting it up on the Web is not that." Hoofnagle said Gillespie's emotional distress claim will also be tough to prove. "We live in a rough society, as compared to Europe, where offending someone or directly cursing or attacking their dignity can give you a cause of action," he said. Power Struggle in 'Romance — Older Men' Charpentier said he first encountered Gillespie more than five years ago and at first, the two chatters were friendly. But Charpentier says he quickly became disenchanted by what he saw as Gillespie's mean streak. Things really turned ugly four years ago when Charpentier traveled to Kentucky to meet another chatroom regular, a woman who was also a friend of Gillespie's. The blind date did not go particularly well, and when Charpentier returned to he discovered that Gillespie had gone on the attack. "He just came in slamming on me, saying all kinds of derogatory crap: that I was a fat, bald, broke old man who sits around in a rusted wheelchair," said Charpentier, who has a chronic back injury. "I don't even own a wheelchair." Charpentier, who has filed a response seeking to reserve the right to file a $125,000 countersuit against Gillespie, said Gillespie threatened to kill him and "made sick and disgusting remarks about the passing of my grandmother." "He is an AOL computer thug, that is all he is," Charpentier said. Marlowe characterized the dispute as a petty power struggle. He said Gillespie was the de facto leader of the "Romance — Older Men" chatroom, and didn't like it when he and Charpentier challenged his authority. But Marlowe said he never took the chatroom antics personally — until he was served with a lawsuit. "I don't know how four years of bantering back and forth led to this insane nonsense," he said. "It's just the Internet, for God's sake. It's nothing important." Michael Gordon, an attorney for AOL, declined to comment, saying, "This is just the beginning stages of this thing." Megan Gray, a Washington D.C.-based intellectual property attorney who specializes in cyber issues, called it "a loser of a case." She said the Communications Decency Act gives AOL immunity from chatroom misconduct. "AOL cannot be held liable for the actions of people on the site," she said. She also suggested the case against Marlowe and Charpentier was doomed. "The Internet is such a vibrant, young medium, these types of cases are not taken seriously," she said. | ||
| Scooterroid |
A definite sign of the times. I like to think of internet chatrooms and forums as the modern equivalent of CB radios during '70s. For those of you who weren't there, folks would go on air with their CB radios and just agitate and annoy other folks just for the hell of it, sometimes resulting in actual physical confrontations. Entertaining to be sure. The internet has a distinct advantage, though, over its predecessor, CB radios: The ability to annoy others globally. Can I get an amen. | ||
| Midknyte |
heheh yeah. in the good ol' days you could embarrass yourself for a 7 to 50 mile range. Now, the whole world is your "playground". | ||
| Blake |
Yes. In addition to reaching an extremely limited audience, chatting on a CB radio leaves no permanent record. No so the internet. If participating on an internet forum becomes more aggravation than enjoyment, the simple solution is to leave that forum. I tell that to folks here who don't like the policies or management of BadWeB. Of course, one of our policies is that we don't allow personal derision.  | ||
| Tramp |
...things like: " pompous, know-it-all, loud mouth you really are. .... quit being a jackass." ....Qualify, I'm sure, as derision. | ||
| Tramp |
things like: "I, Hatchet Jack, being of sound mind and broke legs, do leaveth my rifle to the next thing who finds it, Lord hope he be a white man. It is a good rifle, and killeth the bear that killeth me. Anyway, I am dead. Sincerley, Hatchet Jack" I consider not to be derision.... | ||
| Oldog |
some one looking for a buck.. | ||
| Rex |
Hey Tramp, good movie! You're the pilgram I have been hearing and smelling over the last couple of weeks too. ahahhahah. I hunt Grizz! ahahahahahaha. The mountain men is a good movie too. As many beavers as stars in the sky! saying take me, take me! ahahaha Good movies | ||
| Tramp |
i love that scene when he shortcuts through the injun interment area, with all the spooky sounds and all. also, they had a bit of wapiti bugling in that movie. It really made an impression on me from the first time i ever saw it. | ||
| Lpowel02 |
hey, that's not a bad idea...next time one of you hostiles derides my chosen exhaust, claiming your alternative is better... ...I'm gonna sue yo' ass for the cost of a Ti Force!! cha-ching!!  that's a joke...not a great one, but a joke nonetheless | ||
| Captainkirk |
Always wondered how he managed to sit down and write all that with "broke legs"...did he ask a passing raccoon for a pen? Honestly, tho my favorite flick of all time! | ||
| Blake |
Don't be associating my favorite movie with this thread!  You jackass.  | ||
| Bcordb3 |
What movie was that? | ||
| Ryker77 |
--- not on this site. But a car chat board. I'll just a fake name for the him "dick" . dick sold performance car pars. Cheap ones. Dick would also create fake user accounts to pimp out his products. All of the veteran members knew who this guy was and what he was up to. So he was outed every time. Dick would call people work place and tellthem that "joe" was using work time to chat on abc.com web site. Dick would also call and track down peoples family members and threaten law suits. its a crazy world. Some people just need a good ole fashion ass whippen. Law suits are for sissies and lawyers to get rich. | ||
| Natexlh1000 |
That sounds like the devil-penis guy from Australia. That guy was a complete tool. | ||
| Ryker77 |
which is why I try and give out as little personall information as possible. Use different user names for different chat boards. For some chat boards that might be borderline illegal or I change user names every 6-9months. I also use different email accounts for different chat boards. for example you never know that "bob" who you argued with about the "war" might rat you out to the EPA for not having a cat on your car. Also don't use my personal web page for web picture hosting. That's what allowed one perp to track down my last name and call my parents. Almost bought a plane ticket to kick the sh1t out of that jerk. I guess it was a good thing he didn't live within driving distance | ||
| Kdan |
You probably don't even own a Buell, do you Ryker? If that's even your real name... | ||
| Blake |
"you never know that "bob" who you argued with about the "war" might rat you out to the EPA for not having a cat on your car." My neighbor's cat used to get on our car until our little Aussie shepard taught it some manners. (Message edited by blake on January 14, 2006) | ||
| Mr_grumpy |
My neighbours cat used to climb on my tractor unit, one day it walked black lithium grease from the 5th wheel coupling all through their nice new beige deep pile carpet, they threatened to sue me for the replacement plus the cat had to have all it's fur clipped, I laughed for weeks every time I saw it. They never sued. Legal Disclaimer, The above post does not relate to any person living or dead. Furthermore to any person who may take legal action as a result of this post I will not hesitate to apologize. | ||
| Cityxslicker |
"Get a hobby, get a life, go buy a bike and ride, quit whining about your delicate sensibilities being offended on AOL, get out of my court before I slap you with contempt." Why I will never be a judge  |
