I post on a public forum that is very big and requires registration and is closely moderated and patrolled. Someone create a spin-off forum that enables people who participate in the big forum to go and post up what they hate about people (as the original forum is strict about this type of posting).
On this board, people tend to demonstrate somewhat crazy behavior, including talking about how they use tactics to obtain personal addresses and post them up, how they save people's photos, and then steadily post up hateful and sometimes relatively scary things about those who are the objects of their hatred. The site states it is protected by the First Amendement. Is this accurate?
The reason I am asking is that there are a group of women - adults, which is scary, that are convinced that I have played a role in some of the "bashes" of one of their friends. I have not. As a result, they post up pages and pages and pages about me, sometimes for hours on end. Recently, one became convinced that I played a role in sharing somebody's personal information. In retaliation, they have posted up an actual address, and telephone number close to me. I am not sure how it was obtained, but I believe it may have come from somebody sending me something (I would never share my actual address with somebody I don't know).
The result is in theory someone from that board - or from anywhere on the Web, could locate me. I no longer post on any forums, but wonder - are hate sites like this actually protected under the first amendment, and can I take action against this site or its posters? Because I am relatively certain how the information was located and by who, do I have any grounds for legal action?
On this board, people tend to demonstrate somewhat crazy behavior, including talking about how they use tactics to obtain personal addresses and post them up, how they save people's photos, and then steadily post up hateful and sometimes relatively scary things about those who are the objects of their hatred. The site states it is protected by the First Amendement. Is this accurate?
The reason I am asking is that there are a group of women - adults, which is scary, that are convinced that I have played a role in some of the "bashes" of one of their friends. I have not. As a result, they post up pages and pages and pages about me, sometimes for hours on end. Recently, one became convinced that I played a role in sharing somebody's personal information. In retaliation, they have posted up an actual address, and telephone number close to me. I am not sure how it was obtained, but I believe it may have come from somebody sending me something (I would never share my actual address with somebody I don't know).
The result is in theory someone from that board - or from anywhere on the Web, could locate me. I no longer post on any forums, but wonder - are hate sites like this actually protected under the first amendment, and can I take action against this site or its posters? Because I am relatively certain how the information was located and by who, do I have any grounds for legal action?