Off Topic legal question for attorney types

[draqon]

If any of the attorneys that frequent this board would be willing to answer a non-domain legal question pro bono, I would be very appreciative. Its an internet related question, so its not entirely out of the scope of this forum.

I recently won an auction on Ebay for a video game system and several dozen games. After the auction, the seller sent me an email that said "by the way, you know that these games are pirated, right?". I hadn't known that, and therefore I refused to pay him for the goods. So he got angry and posted some mean and untrue things about me in the 'feedback' section of the site. This feedback section is very important, as it allows future buyers to evaluate my reliability as a seller.

Under current federal law, do I have the right to demand that Ebay immediately remove the libelous comments? Or is there some obscure law that says that each writer is responsible for his own comments, and ebay must be held immune?

I will of course *ask* that ebay removes the comments, but if they refuse to, I was wondering if i could require them to.

[iBizStart]

I would just call the fbi and tell them he is selling pirated cd's. This way he gets arrested if they conduct an investigation. Also forward ebay a copy of his email and they should remove his comments.

[Steen]

Ebay generally won't remove feedback unless:

It contains "ebay is investigating"
It contains a phone number/email(s)

and a few other exceptions.

AFAIK

[namedropper]

If you have the email where the idiot admits to piracy, ebay should remove his comments (and his account as well), though they are deluged with emails so getting through to them may take a while. Your best bet in the meantime is to use the feedback system to point out that the reason he gave the crappy feedback was he was dealing illegal property. And forward the info off to the FBI, and the person's ISP, and if you had shipping address or anything, the loser's parents and local police and everyone else. Nimrods like this deserve to get their teeth kicked in, legally speaking.

[LewR]

I am no lawyer - but I would demand eBay uphold their anti-pirating rules by banning the seller - and restore your good name by removing the criminals comments.

[draqon]

thanks for the info guys.

as an update , ebay still hasn't removed the libelous comment from my feedback, BUT they did terminate the other guy's account. So I am feeling PRETTY pleased about that.