Tracking sender of libel post

[dobie]

If someone establishes a unknown email add. on yahoo and then post false info on a blog site, can his email address be tracked back to the orignal server and can he he identified?

[Mardi_Gras]

Unless you are talking about potential damages - if, in fact, the post is found to be libelous in a court of law - in at least the six figure range, I would have the forum delete the post and forget about it. You are not going to accomplish what you want without court orders and very expensive legal maneuvering.

[dobie]

Mardi_Gras
thanks for you help. So,if one wanted to pursue this,he would fisrt have to hire a lawer to obtain a court order?
And, what evidence would he need in order to do so?
Also, is there no trackng software available that might help?

[Mardi_Gras]

dobie - if I understand what you want to do correctly, one of the first things you would need to do is to force Yahoo to turn over any information they have relative to the e-mail address in question. They certainly won't do that without a fight. Without their cooperation, proving anything relative to the sender will be difficult.

As you might imagine, KNOWING who sent it and PROVING who sent it are very different things. Unless there are real damages here, just move on. If it is your forum, block the user and the IP address the post came from.

There may be ways to track this person, but to do it with such proof that you will be allowed to collect damages - if in fact they can be proven in a court of law - will be time consuming, difficult, and very expensive. Unless this is just an overwhelming blow to your business or your reputation, I would just take steps to keep it from re-occuring (block the user, block the IP address, contact the IP administrator if that does not work) and move on.

Perhaps the best thing to do would be to consult with an attorney in your area who has experience in both the Internet and libel/slander issues. Then you can make an informed decision about whether or not you want to pursue this further - as opposed to one based on my advice :)

[dobie]

Mardi_Gras- Thanks, I will take your advice.