General Legal Advice

[LK]

I know we have a few lawyers on here, and I wanted to start a thread for quick evaluations of legal matters before getting involved in something that might be timely and costly. I honestly wouldn't trust a stranger to give me legal advice, accredited lawyer or no, but I know the people on here and trust them to be helpful, so I hope that means something.

Let me start!

An image board posting copyrighted material has a method by which a copyright owner can have their material put on a Do-Not-Post (DNP) list. In compliance, I provided my personal information to the administrators at this website, believing this to be necessary for a valid DMCA complaint and not having any malicious intent against the website. Later on, a third-party engaged in actions that antagonized and made the administration staff fearful of exposure of their information to the general public due to their policies. They blamed me due to a recent e-mail I had sent declaring that I found their DNP policy (don't upload, but post links) to be unacceptable and that I'd be taking appropriate action. One of their admins, a junior lawyer, I guess?, believed that "appropriate action" meant lawsuit, and informed his co-admins that this was my intent.

Upon that conclusion, they launched a smear campaign on their website against me, posting unsubstantiated claims that would hurt my business and made false statements about my character and my actions. This isn't the part I care about.

What I care about is, after a final e-mail chain where I indicated they should take down the website if they were that concerned with the consequences of running an image board devoted to piracy, and the website subsequently being taken down, my personal information that I had used for the DMCA complaint found its way onto 4Chan. The first time, there was encouragement to harass me from the posting party. The second time it was implied.

I'm doing my part to track down I.Ps, have the information removed, or otherwise minimize the damage of their actions, but I've already had some pranks acted out against me as a result of this. I don't care about the pranks since no harm was done to me other than a mild annoyance, but the leak of my personal information, collected under false pretenses, bothers me.

I've been saving conversations and taking screenshots where I'm able to keep a record of things. If I'm full of shit on something, I'd like to hear it from an expert. If things get to hot, I can also take it to PM.

[Yegolev]

This will end badly.

[NowhereMan]

I'm guessing the best advice you'll get here is if it's something worth taking seriously go to a real person lawyer rather than someone you have no officials relationship with on a message board. Legal and medical questions are generally going to result in being told to go see someone, though some of the lawyers here might be able to tell you whether there's any point in doing that.

[LK]

though some of the lawyers here might be able to tell you whether there's any point in doing that.

Sort of what I'm looking for.

[Samwise]

Buy a dog.   

[CmdrSlack]

You could hire an attorney. I can think of some generic lawsuits off the top of my head. The challenge will be finding the people in RL and asserting jurisdiction over them in any given court if you choose to sue.

This also begs the question, if you can quantify your damages (money), do these guys have any? All the judgments in the world ain't worth shit if they can't pay.

[Musashi]

Buy a dog.   

I'm pretty sure this is the correct answer.

[Furiously]

Did they accuse you of a crime? Was there malice?
 
Do you have copyrights registered with the us copyright office?

[LK]

They accused me of blackmail and harassment. Not sure what you mean by malice.

No, the works are not registered with the US Copyright Office. I know I won't enjoy the additional privileges that come with U.S. registration, but I do think I'm covered under the Berne Convention.

I'm going to look into copyright registration though.

[Sky]

Why do you hate freedom?

[slog]

I would contact Leonard J Crabs.

[Abagadro]

Completely independent of the legal merits of the case, you really need to determine your actual damages and compare that to the cost and pain in the ass of actually trying to pursue a legal remedy. If the former outweighs the latter then it's time to talk to an attorney.

[Samwise]

Completely independent of the legal merits of the case, you really need to determine your actual damages and compare that to the cost and pain in the ass of actually trying to pursue a legal remedy.

This is what my mother, who is a lawyer, told me when I was considering going after the people who screwed up and tried to take possession of our house in a foreclosure action right after we had bought it (basically costing us a few thousand dollars worth of inconvenience in having to repair the damage they did and delay our move in).  It wasn't worth it in my case, and I'm guessing it's even less worth it in yours.

Add to this that in your case you're facing a bit of harassment that will only escalate if you start dragging lawyers into it, but will probably go away on its own relatively quickly if you ignore the whole thing.

[Furiously]

There's always small claims court!

[Sky]

I can't believe you guys are siding with the fat cat DMCA fascist. We should really distribute his IP for everyone freely. It probably sucks and you wouldn't pay for it anyway.

[Yegolev]

[Samwise]

It probably sucks and you wouldn't pay for it anyway.

We're trying to be polite here.   

[LK]

It's alright. That seems to be the general opinion of pirates and their excuse for taking it for free.

[Oban]

Can you provide any links to the images?

Edit: Or perhaps a torrent?

[LK]

I got a written confession to misusing my personal information from the offending party. That was enough for me; I'm not going to pursue this further. If it becomes a problem in the future, I have everything I need.

Edit: Something I need to ask. If a written confession has elements of it proven to be false due to physical evidence, does that invalidate the entire confession?

[Goreschach]

'Shopz r srs biznis.

[NowhereMan]

I'm pretty sure that recent photshop vid in the useless videos thread invalidates all physical evidence eveywhere.

[rattran]

Go See a Lawyer, You Fucking Tool.

Seriously, asking for free legal advice online is insane. If it's not worth the initial consulting fee for you, it's not worth anything.

[Abagadro]

I got a written confession to misusing my personal information from the offending party. That was enough for me; I'm not going to pursue this further. If it becomes a problem in the future, I have everything I need.

Edit: Something I need to ask. If a written confession has elements of it proven to be false due to physical evidence, does that invalidate the entire confession?

"Confession" is a criminal law term but you are using it in a civil law context so there really is no way to answer that question very well.

[Hoax]

Are you seriously not going to tell us what the pranks were?  What the fuck.

[LK]

Go See a Lawyer, You Fucking Tool.

Seriously, asking for free legal advice online is insane. If it's not worth the initial consulting fee for you, it's not worth anything.

You, sir, are unreasonable!

[NowhereMan]

I'm with Hoax. Did they ask you if your fridge was running or Twitter bomb you with Goatse?

[LK]

Sorry to bring this back up, but, eh!

Another party is claiming that they are taking me to Small Claims Court. I have no experience with how it is handled and could use some advice on what to expect.

The individual merits of my case, I will leave out. I'm fairly confident about what I can prove, but you know, until the legal decision is made, anything could happen. I'm more interested in if I need to get a lawyer, what it could cost me, etc.

(Reading all the previous stuff I said with regards to my previous legal matter feels laughable now. I'm sorry I wasted your guy's time with that. >_< )

[Lantyssa]

Yes, get a lawyer unless you're willing to eat whatever compensation the person is asking for.

[LK]

It's minor enough I just might. Lawyers can get expensive.

[Abagadro]

Small claims court doesn't really require a lawyer in my experience. I used to sit as a small claims court judge on occasion and lawyers mostly just muck it up. At least around here you just "proffer" evidence which means you just stand up and tell your side of things. The rules of evidence and whatnot are not used so knowing all the intricacies isn't important. Small claims is a glorified mediation for the most part.  BIG CAVEAT: this is how it works around here, your mileage may vary, consult your own attorney for actual legal advise, if you experience an erection that lasts more than four hours consult a doctor.

[CmdrSlack]

Small claims in IL is pretty much the same as what Ab is saying. I have to periodically appear in small claims because some creditors will file credit card suits in small claims. The lawyers tend to dick it up pretty nicely. It is probably the only place where I see pro se litigants doing a better job than the lawyers.

[bhodi]

With the lawyer situation these days, i would think there are a lot of out of work or desperate lawyers you could bend over a bit and agree to represent or at least advise you on stuff for very cheap.

At least in theory. I don't know if prices have dropped due to the glut, I do know things are grim for some friens of mine.

[Yegolev]

Again?

[NowhereMan]

if you experience an erection that lasts more than four hours consult a doctor.

Thank God I read this thread. Time to seek professional help!