Widow, 65, humiliated by Bebo web page that painted her as a scarlet woman
A woman aged 65 who became the victim of an online smear campaign that she says made her “look like a sexual predator” called yesterday for stricter controls on social networking websites.
Helen Kilby, who has never used the internet and never even owned a computer, was shocked after learning from her hairdresser that there was a profile page in her name on the Bebo site claiming that she had enjoyed a string of affairs with younger men.
Mrs Kilby, who is recovering from a stroke, said: “As I walked into the hairdresser’s the wee girl that washes my hair said to me, ‘Helen, what are you doing on that Bebo?’. I had no idea what she was talking about. I said, ‘What’s Bebo?’. ”
Mrs Kilby was horrified after eventually discovering that the web page claimed that she had been having sex with customers in the snooker hall where she works and had tried to run over a teenage girl in her car.
The site included pictures of Mrs Kilby and her car and registration number, her home telephone number and a section inviting punters to guess the weight of her disabled 26-year-old daughter.
A tearful Mrs Kilby, who described the material on the site as “disgusting”, said yesterday: “I’m very distressed about this. It’s left me very weepy and the doctor has had to prescribe pills to help my nerves.”
She told the Hamilton Advertiser that the postings had shattered her life in the town of Strathaven in South Lanarkshire, where she has worked as part-time manager of the Joe McDokes snooker hall for 20 years.
Mrs Kilby said: “I feel violated and these stories make me look like a sexual predator. It is malicious gossip with the deliberate intention of ruining my reputation as a stand-up citizen in my home community. Many people have asked me why I was on the Bebo website and before I investigated it, I had never even used a computer or the internet.”
She reported the web page to police but was told that they could not intervene because it was not a criminal matter. Her local Citizens Advice Bureau contacted Bebo on her behalf and the page has since been taken down, but Mrs Kilby is now considering legal action against the individuals she believes were responsible.
The case raises fresh issues about regulation of the internet and the lack of overarching legislation to deal specifically with online defamation.
Ofcom, the communications watchdog, said that its remit did not extend to the internet. A spokeswoman for Bebo said: “Bebo has a strong, self-regulating community, supported by strict terms of service. Breaches of these terms, whether spotted by Bebo or the member community, are taken very seriously. We may remove materials that we determine fraudulent, defamatory, or that infringe or violate any party’s rights.”
The Internet Service Providers’ Association said that online defamation was a particularly tricky issue, not least because it was impossible for internet companies to monitor their sites continuously.
The association said: “The website manager has to take down the material if they have knowledge of unlawful information or defamation, but one of the big problems is that defamation is a very difficult issue and it is very hard for internet companies to play judge and jury on these things.”
Mrs Kilby, who was widowed ten years ago, said: “I’ve been to see a lawyer but I don’t know if I’m going to take legal action. I’ll wait and see but I don’t see why the people who did it should get off. There really should be some sort of control to make sure this sort of thing can’t happen.”
Strathclyde Police said: “This is not something that police would deal with. We don’t police websites and if it’s about malicious gossip being spread around then it’s not a police matter.”
No comments:
Post a Comment