Liability question

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gethugedude

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I have an online discussion forum that is bodybuilding/steroid related.

We have sponsors that sell illegal steroids.

Although we have nothing to do with any aspect of transactions or communication between our members and these sponsors.

i would like to know my legal liability ? at this point the sponsors so not pay anything to be on my site. But after the free trial period is up i am going to charge them .

the sponsors are international and domestic (US).
 
If you assist them in selling illegal drugs you are aiding and abetting drug trafficking and will be sharing a cell with them. Selling illegal steroids is no different than selling Cocaine. Would you accept money from someone on your site who advertised Eight balls of Cocaine?
 
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What do you mean by "sponsors" exactly? What does "sell illegal steroids" mean? If there is a store that is rumored to sell illegal steroids but also sells legitimately, I don't think you have liability by the mere presence of this sponsor. If they attempt to use your forum to sell illegal items and contraband and you have notice, you then may incur liability. If you know that your forum is being used for the distribution of illegal contraband, you cannot just turn a blind eye (and certainly cannot profit.)
 
That's why I answered the way I did law. He started his post with "these people are selling ILLEGAL steroids." If you KNOW it's illegal and you help them you aren't going to get a very favorable reaction from law enforcement or a judge. :)
 
Thanks for the replies, I am in no way "helping" Them, Nor am i involved in any transactions.

They will merely pay me to have a banner on my site.
They are selling and distributing steroids.
They are not "legitimate" in any way
they operate through email, And use things like western union as forms of payment.

But like i said , My only relationship with these sponsors is having them pay me for a banner on my site.

I realize how it sounds, But wonder if there is an Actual law prohibiting this.

Thanks again for your responses.
 
Again, there is ABSOLUTELY a law against it. You are helping them by giving them advertising space. Think of it like this: Would you put an ad up for someone who was selling Cocaine, Crack, or Heroine? Of course not. You would be aiding and abetting a crime (drug trafficking). What is the difference with "illegal" steroids?
 
gethugedude said:
Thanks for the replies, I am in no way "helping" Them, Nor am i involved in any transactions.

They will merely pay me to have a banner on my site.
They are selling and distributing steroids.
They are not "legitimate" in any way
they operate through email, And use things like western union as forms of payment.

But like i said , My only relationship with these sponsors is having them pay me for a banner on my site.

I realize how it sounds, But wonder if there is an Actual law prohibiting this.

Thanks again for your responses.
Click to expand...

You need only to look at the recent heat Craigslist has been taking for its erotic services section. Craigslist argued that the 1st amendment and net neutrality laws protected the company from advertisements of illegal services that were posted on its site by third parties. It didn't fly, and you will notice that the erotic services section is no longer there.

I don't agree that that allowing these advertisements would be criminal and that you could go to jail. I do think, however, that you are opening yourself up to all kinds of civil liability. You need to ask yourself whether you want to put your business and personal assets at risk because an advertiser of illegal products pays a little more than a legitimate one.
 
I'm curious NY, why do you not think that advertising for someone to help them distribute an illegal drug would not bring criminal charges? You are profiting from a criminal enterprise. Unlike Craigslist you would be directly profiting from an illegal enterprise. The girls on craigs list at least try to pretend what they are doing is not illegal. This guy KNOWS what is going on is illegal. How can advertising it not be a crime?
 
I don't know of any laws that are specifically aimed toward those who willingly advertise for illegal enterprises. There may be something buried in the U.S.C., but I'm not aware of it. And under Nye, to aid and abet "it is necessary that a defendant 'in some sort associate himself with the venture, that he participate in it as in something that he wishes to bring about, that he seek by his action to make it succeed." (336 U.S. 613) This poster, in my opinion, is not participating in the sale of the illegal steroids that he wishes to bring about--he's just selling ad space. Yes he wants people to click the ad, but he doesn't have any stake in whether any are sold.

Now, if this poster was paid based on something of a commission system, where he got paid whenever steroids were actually sold, then he's got problems.

And besides, common knowledge tells us that this stuff happens all the time. Soldier of Fortune magazine knows damn well that the mercenaries for hire in their ad space are usually hired by drug-runners. Or what about High Times, which often shows the best ways to grow marijuana, or even gives tips on how to find a dealer?

Aiding and abetting in advertisement seems difficult to prove. I'll continue looking into this though, because it is pretty interesting.
 
NY Shark said:
You need only to look at the recent heat Craigslist has been taking for its erotic services section. Craigslist argued that the 1st amendment and net neutrality laws protected the company from advertisements of illegal services that were posted on its site by third parties. It didn't fly, and you will notice that the erotic services section is no longer there.

I don't agree that that allowing these advertisements would be criminal and that you could go to jail. I do think, however, that you are opening yourself up to all kinds of civil liability. You need to ask yourself whether you want to put your business and personal assets at risk because an advertiser of illegal products pays a little more than a legitimate one.
Click to expand...

Great posts. The Craig's List ads have created quite a ruckus. I'm not quite sure liability is warranted there but your situation goes further than CL and probably even more obvious as to the relationship.
 
I am reposting this here, because it pertains more to this topic, who is liable for the content of an internet forum:

Concerning cyberstalking and cyberbullying, which some states do have statutes against since the Missouri woman's cyberbullying contributed to the death of a high school cheerleader, let's say someone particpated in Internet forums . . . let's say this one, just so we know what we're talking about.

Let's say that person discovered that they were being cyberstalked . . . someone was following them around the Internet for no legitimate purpose . . . only to do harm to that person.

Let's say at the time the person realized he was being cyberstalked he decided to delete some posts, because he did not want them to do harm to a third person. It was too late to use the edit button and the site owner/administrator would not remove the posts, claiming the site now owned them.

Then the third person was harmed because someone saw a post and used it against the third person.

Who does the third person have a claim against?
 
Don't know. The forum may not have had liability for posts. The person making the posts might have liability. These cases are generally difficult to make and are usually dependent upon whether law enforcement is successful in making a case before the civil part arises.
 
True about the AG. I think the big challenge is whether any of these frauds or stalking cases are of the highest enough importance for them to do something about. Given the huge fraud this country has seen, they are overworked.
 
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