What do you do if someone writes a terrible article about you and when your name is googled up it comes?

What I normally due in such circumstances is kill myself.

that's not helpful

Works for me sweetheart.

there is going to be a lot of untrue things on the web and most people know to take the info with a grAIN of salt .....in other words if you explain to say a new boss or whatever that a certain someone posted something that was untrue ...a normal intelligent person will deal

I haven't a clue
of what to do
Carol, sorry.........

If it's libelous then I would have someone with some legal authority write her a cease & desist letter to have it removed, if it was that big of a deal.

She needs to send a "cease and desist" letter asking the person to remove the article (especially if she is named in it). She needs to tell them if they don't have it removed within a specified number of days that she will pursue her legal avenues to have the slander removed. Also she can tell the person that if it isn't removed as requested, she will also print out a copy of the crap on her website and send it to that person's boss because most employers don't want work stuff crossing lines with personal blogs. If I owned a company and my interviewer had posted some stuff about someone we interviewed for a position, I would fire that person on the spot! It does not show good judgment on the interviewer's part so why would I want her in a decision-making role like that?

If her cease and desist letter does not work, she should contact an attorney.

I'll buy into that! Definitely pursue the boss with the information. She can also threaten to do her own write-up on the interviewer and be prepared to follow through.

If the interviewer has named her, then this is certainly cause for alarm that justifies pursuing just about any legal avenue open to her!

I think Heidi has the right idea.

That is distinct libel. L.A.W.S.U.I.T!

But don't you have to prove you were injured. It's really bad stuff. This person is just vicious. This is a young mother working from home to support her children. It's just terrible.

I dont know if they are the same but maybe a defamation of Character suit? If nothing else she could claim her name was used without permission as well as I think it is illegal to release information gained during an interview or former job with the exception of a few key points such as attendance and whether or not you would hire them again. I would tell her to look for a lawyer that offers a freee consultation.

Sound promising, Bryan.

She even used her full name and email address.

I'm pretty sure this is illegal, Carol...but then again, a lot happens in cyberspace that is downright evil...Poor woman!

Good advice everyone else gave about cease and desist letters, and contacting a lawyer. Something else I would suggest: if your friend has a blog, or is on any of the social networking sites; she could write something to refute what has been written about her- just tell your friend to keep it clean and calm- with no personal insults towards this person.

I'd usually IGNORE it, but I sort of agree with Ellen. Mostly who'd believe it, if that person does it all the time, and you were an employer someone wanted to work for, would they actually believe it?

With the writing skills of the person who wrote this terrible article, I can't imagine anyone would take it seriously.

Is there a way she could get in contact the others who have also been attacked?
I am just thinking there is strength in numbers and if they all pooled their resources, they could not only maybe get this stuff removed but also get a judge to make it so the person could not do this to others in the future.

First off, that is reprehensible behavior to post such things.

Second, there may be libel laws that the web page violates.

Third, one may take some consolation that any publicity is better than no publicity.

Fourth, I sure hope that doesn't happen to me. :-( She has my sympathy.

tyhe things others do to draw attention to them..even if it is destroying other people and their lives..what a shame..and should be illegal..remember..what goes around..will come around..her day will come hun..feels for your friend

I think she should consider contacting the state Attorney Generals Office. I can't believe people are so horrible!

I agree with some of the ideas posted here.. Cease and disist, ect.... The important thing is your friend act and do something to let this idiot know the behavior is not only illegal but ignorant.... The person's unprofessional and damaging actions need to be stopped!
If your friend should happen to find there is little legally she can do, then she can always consider giving that person a big dose of her own medicine?

This is a lawsuit I'd support! That poster must be mental. I'd definitely inform his/her boss!

I would have her contact a lawyer who will listen free of charge and if he takes this case on and only gets paid if your friend can collect money from this suit. I would say, slander, ruining her image and a lot of other things can affect what your friend is feeling and threatened too. Tell her to look up a lawyer about this. Maybe she and the others could do a class action suit together.

I'd contact the company and let them know what one of their employees are doing. It's easy enough to find out who the president of the company is. Your frined should tell the president that she will get a lawyer involved and let the press know as well. Most companies do not want any kind of bad press and would be able stop the interviewer from doing these things again.

The interviewer would probably get fired for blogging about work-related activities in a personal blog and revealing confidential information gleaned during an interview! If I were her boss or the president of the company, I would not want my company associated with anyone who can't be trusted with information like that or someone stupid enough to not know that it is AT BEST in poor taste!

One thing you can do is look at that website's keywords and use them in the counter site. Next you want your that site (the positive one) be linked in as many web sites as possible. If you have other sites, great. If not, or even if you do, ask your friends to link your sites. You can even use gather articles for that: for example "joe the plumber" + welfare search on google lands you to a Gather article as link number 5.

Short of being a plaintif for libel, the only way is to beat the site down.

This could become a defamification suit. She should try to get in
touch with the other people that this person also did that too.
Send a Letter to this person and insist they remove it or
risk of a lawsuit.
That is just horrible. how can people be so cruel?

Interesting that you posted this today. One of the Sunday morning shows had a story about employers googling potential hires on the internet. They had tips on how to move the entries so they didn't show up first on the list. I was flipping through channels so I can't remember which show it was on. I'll see if I can find it online.

If this prevents her from getting a job, a lawyer told my friend and myself that yes, its slander...and If I were her I would go after her... She has no right to do this to anyone.... She does sound as if she is a B....h...

A three hour job interview?
If her name was mentioned that would be libel.

That is what I was thinking...3 hours? My last interview with a publishing house took only 20 minutes, and ten minutes was polite conversation...and yes, I got the position.

Pfttttt

What in the world can you talk about in an interview that takes 3 hours? What a waste of time. I think with her named mentioned that it should be removed or she can be libel.

So sorry this happened to ANYbody. Contacting the big boss with the information is the best idea I've heard. This person's actions (using information gained during a confidential employment interview) are illegal. Posting the information on the web only makes them more so. Class action suits are great, but they are extremely lengthy and time-consuming, and an attorney has to have the idea that they can recover some decent money out of it. I can't see that happening here, unless the corporation itself decides to take responsibility for this person's actions and settles with the claimants. If you go into this with the idea that you are after money (or your friend is), the relationship instantly becomes antagonistic, rather than cooperative. I'd personally rather have the corporation cooperating with me to remove the present and future threat, if it were me.

It's only libel if it is false. If it is opinion there isn't much she can do about it except get her private address and email removed. There are plenty of attorneys who will take her money as will the courts but the first amendment has been abolished long ago so good luck with that. Unless one of them have the ability to generate revenues for two attorneys and court fees it will never get heard.