Ask my flist

[tamidon]

my boss is getting trashed by someone on online sites. he was pulled down on Craigslist,but now has popped up on Martha Stewart

Is there a way to get a cease and desist letter at him,or otherwise shut him up?

Comments

[agaran.livejournal.com]

Certainly nothing sure-fire, but yeah, he should hire an attorney to send C&Ds to the offender, and perhaps also to the site(s) on which they've been posted, though the latter will certainly be less effective.

[drwex]

On the linked site I see three positive reviews, so that particular instance is gone. In general, though, no. You can't stop someone posting a bad opinion.

If someone makes a misstatement of fact, or scandalous assertion, then they can be asked to desist. However, opinion is protected. This is why Penn & Teller's show got renamed "Bullshit" when its original conception was "It's a Lie."

(From memory of a Penn talk) It's a show that reviews pop crap like reiki or reflexology or whatever. They show how people get taken in by this stuff and so on. In the original conception they were going to show people advocating these things and then stating that it was a lie, while providing evidence. The lawyers said you can't do that, because stating that something is a lie makes it a disagreement of fact, for which one can get hauled into court. On the other hand, you can show the same thing and say "In my opinion, that's bullshit" and it's untouchable free speech.

So, if this guy is saying "I think $BUSINESS sucks" then the only thing you can do is get positive testimonials to outweigh him. If he's saying "$BUSINESS is a scam or doesn't deliver on its goods" then you can prove him wrong and get him shut down.