thank you for your reply. I contacted the Yahoo group owner, and asked for my name and Email to be removed and they replied, that they won’t take my name and Email off from their Yahoo group. So I have no chance it getting my reputation back?
What can I do now?

I have a problem…I used the google removal tool and it worked ok and I was told that the info was removed….but still when I googled my name, the info came up again…I have to say I became a victim of a scammer and joined a yahoo group for victim support last year. I entered there my real name and e-mail without realizing, that all the discussion post’s I wrote in the group and my own post’s, were visible on google..I left the group. I found out this year when I googled my name, that the yahoo group with my real name and Email was visible. I rejoined the group 2x and deleted my post’s. But still there are post’s visible on google by entering my name. I too contacted the yahoo group owner and moderators 2 x and asked to have my details removed, but they ignored me and I received no answer. I don’t know anymore what to do. I requested via google removal tool to have these post’s removed and first they confirmed it was removed, but after seeing the post’s still on google again, I requested again via google removal tool to have them removed and was declined. What can I do here? I feel my privacy is not protected as long as those post’s can still be found and I am worried of ID Theft. Can anyone advise? I am thinking of seeking legal advise and help.
Thanks for any help.

Also, in response to Rexxfield, this author (me) is certainly NOT an attorney – however this article wasn’t published as any form of legal advice. It was published as advice for tactics that have been proven as VERY effective in removing libelous information about yourself on the web. If a reader is looking for legal advice on whether or not to sue someone, obviously they should seek the advice of an attorney. On the flip side – there are plenty of effective actions you can take without the need to get an attorney involved. (Such as those listed in this article.)

Thanks,
-Ryan

Thanks for the advice.

In the end I’ve decided to
1. Forget about it ( not bother about it)
2. Work on forgiving
3. Be wiser next time

I hope our discussion helps someone also make up their mind.

A defamation plaintiff must usually establish the following elements to recover damages for libwl:

Identification: The plaintiff must show that the publication was “of and concerning” himself or herself.

Publication: The plaintiff must show that the defamatory statements were disseminated to a third party.

Defamatory meaning: The plaintiff must establish that the statements in question were defamatory. For example, the language must do more than simply annoy a person or hurt a person’s feelings.

Falsity: The statements must be false; truth is a defense to a defamation claim. Generally, the plaintiff bears the burden of proof of establishing falsity.

Statements of fact: The statements in question must be objectively verifiable as false statements of fact. In other words, the statements must be provable as false. (Caveat: Expressions of opinion can imply an assertion of objective facts. See Milkovich v. Lorain Journal.)

Damages: The false and defamatory statements must cause actual injury or special damages.

Also, if it is in India you may find that you could file criminal charges with the police. They may or may now charge them, and they may or may not want a bribe which was our experience there. If the later you would report both crime (outsource and police). For $3K you may want to just forget about it. By posting your story you will either (a) Recover funds if they have decent brand equity (b) Start a fire with which they respond in kind (flame you online) (c) be ignored.

No reader should act or refrain from acting on the basis of any content in this posting except in reliance upon the advice of a qualified attorney licensed to practice in the reader’s or other applicable jurisdiction. The author is not an attorney or a firm of attorneys and is not licensed to practice law in any jurisdiction.

An outsourcer in south east asia robbed me of $3000 and never did my work. Is it safe to tell the world on my blog and twitter ?

Here are our seven sins of online reputation management:

(1) Don’t wait until it happens to you (build strong web presence now)
(2) Don’t threaten to sue bloggers, beg them first.
(3) Don’t responding or rebut claims under the negative postings (it incites them)
(4) Don’t click offending pages from search results as it raises rankings (particularly in your data center region)
(5) Don’t be too defensive in your statements; people are fickle. Bystanders also respect people who aren’t too proud to apologize or admit poor life choices (if you are somewhat at fault)
(6) Don’t demand that re-publishers of libel to delete it or threaten law suits (They are legally immune in the USA), ask nicely.
(7) Don’t ask for trouble (attacking others online), you will regret it later.

BUT DO NOT SPAM FOR OTHER COMPANIES.

affiliates suck. its because of lazy people like you that the economy is crap.

As Mark said, if what you’ve written is backed up with good, solid evidence – you’ve nothing to worry about. Your site may go down for a day or two, but once you talk to your host about it, they’ll put it back online. Secondly, a very big piece of it is intent and awareness. As far as you are aware, what you are writing is true and your evidence supports it. More importantly, it should be clear in your article that your intent wasn’t to smear the person but simply to write about the truth in a factual way, cited by the evidence.

If you’ve done that – then don’t ever let anyone threaten you with libel. Journalists receive such threats all the time. If you’ve researched your work well – you’ve got nothing to worry about.

Don’t create accounts on websites on the internet that use anything to do with your real name. I found a lot of awesome information in this book that it’s just amazing how some simple changes can make your life a lot less easier.

A lot of it just boils down to: stop giving out personal information when you don’t need to.

First, you say you believe it to be factual. Does this mean you don’t have hard evidence? If you don’t have hard evidence that will stand up in a court of law and that article libels someone, then yes, you’d better remove that post immediately. If the person decides to take you to court and you have nothing to back up what you said, then you are seriously up the creek without the proverbial paddle.

Yes you have the right to free speech but you don’t have the right to slander and libel someone. If you are going to say things about someone, you need to have the proof to back it up.

The only exception is satire. Courts have held that you are allowed to satirize other people (the most famous case is when Jerry Falwell sued Hustler magazine and lost) but obviously there are limits to how far you can go.

Since I don’t know the particular details of your post, I can’t advise you in particular. But I would say in general that you need hard proof to accuse someone of anything. Otherwise, you’ll end up in trouble.