According to an Associated Press story, an Oregon woman is suing Yahoo! for $3 million over naked photos that her ex-boyfriend had posted and which Yahoo! failed to remove in a timely manner. Ms. Barnes, a 48-year-old woman from Multnomah County, claims her ex-boyfriend started posting “unauthorized profiles” in December that included her email address and work phone number.
According to the Associated Press, “Moreover, the former boyfriend engaged in online discussions in Yahoo chat rooms, posing as Barnes and directing men to the profiles, the suit claims. Due to these profiles and online chats, unknown men would arrive without warning at plaintiff’s work expecting to engage in sexual relations with her,” the suit says.
The AP goes on to say, “Barnes sent Yahoo a letter in January saying she did not create the profiles and wanted them removed. Additional attempts to get Yahoo to remove them in February and March failed to prompt a response, claims the suit.”
Does the search engine giant, Yahoo! actually want these kinds of legal woes? Their behavior suggests that perhaps they do. Yahoo! must know that it would be very easy for a person like Ms. Barnes to do some Internet searching for “character defamation” and happen upon a site such as Personal Injury Lawsuits to find out more about libel, slander and personal injuries that include compensation for embarrassment and other kinds of emotional pain and suffering.
And the kicker is, that she probably conducted all of her Internet legal research on Yahoo!
