Google Ordered To Name Anonymous Online Bullies

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Internet Investigator to Help Link IP, E-Mail Addresses to Individual's Name

Once she has that information, Franklin said she plans to work with an investigator to track down the person she thinks is behind the online bullying.
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"I'm so happy I'm finally going to be moving forward uncovering this person," she said in an interview with ABC News. "I feel so victorious. … It's definitely a weight lifted off of my shoulders. It's also a positive thing, in that people going through this type of defamation look at my case and they know, 'Wow, I can do this too.'"

Last year, while Franklin was interviewing for a new job, someone created a YouTube account displaying video clips of Franklin in a student production, her attorney David Fish said. Simultaneously, a YouTube user named "greyspector09" commented on a Columbia Business School YouTube ...
... video featuring Franklin and wrote defamatory comments next to clips of Franklin.

The YouTube channel and the comments have since been removed from the site, but Franklin said in her complaint to the court that the posts and comments "impute a lack of chastity," and the video damaged her business prospects and personal relationships.

"It was scary," Franklin told ABCNews.com. "I had enough and I just felt like what is next?"

She said she went to authorities, hoping to obtain a restraining order, but the police told her there was nothing they could do.

Scared for her safety and worried that the online slurs could harm her career prospects, she said she decided to take legal action.

Franklin: Internet Cannot Be Haven for Harassers

Franklin said she isn't looking for money or attention, she just wants to expose the person or persons behind her harassment and, she hopes, show other Internet bullies that there are real consequences to their virtual actions.

"The Internet cannot become a haven for harassers and criminals. It just can't," she said. "This is not about me trampling on anyone's First Amendment rights. Speak freely -- just show who you are. And if you're going to commit a crime, and harassment and defamation are crimes, then show yourself. "

Though she's open to the possibility that more than one person could be responsible for the bullying, she said that given the timing of it and other clues, she thinks it's someone she knows.

Franklin didn't elaborate on the relationship but said that her case is similar to other online harassment cases.

"Usually when someone's targeting you and you're not Beyonce or a huge celebrity, it's a jealous friend, it's an ex-husband, it's an ex-girlfriend," she said.
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