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On the other hand, I sort of worry about anonymously crowd-sourcing reputation like this. Putting aside the notion of sex workers for a minute, suppose you ran

On the other hand, I sort of worry about anonymously crowd-sourcing reputation like this. Putting aside the notion of sex workers for a minute, suppose you ran a site where people could report bad drivers by their license plate numbers. (I believe such sites exist.) If someone doesn't like you, they go on and file fake reports about you, and now you can't get a delivery job (etc). There have already been issues with more public entities on sites like Yelp which have caused people to lose their entire livelihood, and now you want to bring that sort of thing to individuals?

jdc 7y ago
You don't need to look any further than ratemyprofessors.com for a thriving and, more to the point, legal example of this kind of site. So if this practice is going to be illegal, can it at least not be industry specific?
erikpukinskis 7y ago
Are you saying that should be illegal? Doesn’t that seem like a violation of freedom of speech? As it is, libel laws give you protection if you can prove the claims are false, and you can get civil damages if you show harm. What would you say should be legislated beyond that?
- Spearchucker 7y ago
  Well yes but reality might result in no cases because the victims cannot afford the legal fees, for example. It's a complex thing.
- luckylion 7y ago
  When reports are anonymous, you'll have trouble suing for libel. When the output of the site isn't a stated fact ("person x did y"), but a "calculated probability" without actually producing any of the reports ... good luck proving that the probability of you recklessly driving is below 50%. It's not an easy decision, but I lean towards "should be illegal if done anonymously and without proof".
  - erikpukinskis 7y ago
    So you’re saying if I wrote a post on NextDoor saying you were a bad driver (no proof) and putting your license plate that should be illegal? Would it be a civil thing where you could sue me for some amount, or would you make it a criminal infraction?
    - luckylion 7y ago
      It's a thin line, but mostly I'd regulate the platform to not allow anonymous slander. Between individuals, it's most likely a civil issue, I'm not a huge fan of having criminal law creep into everything. I'm pretty sure that "no anonymous slander" reduces the amount rapidly, so you end up with a bunch of legitimate accusations that people are willing to stand for because they can provide evidence. The whole "I don't like his hair, so I'm going to make up stories about him" stuff goes away.
layoutIfNeeded 7y ago
The solution is easy: each report of bad driving must have a dashcam video attached.
- gjm11 7y ago
  That might work well for a site to report bad driving (though I believe most people still don't have dashcams, so it would hurt the effectiveness of the site a bit). But, recalling what the bad-driving site was an analogy for, it doesn't seem like it would be appropriate for sex workers sharing reports of bad clients.

jdc 7y ago

You don't need to look any further than ratemyprofessors.com for a thriving and, more to the point, legal example of this kind of site. So if this practice is going to be illegal, can it at least not be industry specific?

erikpukinskis 7y ago

Are you saying that should be illegal? Doesn’t that seem like a violation of freedom of speech? As it is, libel laws give you protection if you can prove the claims are false, and you can get civil damages if you show harm. What would you say should be legislated beyond that?

Spearchucker 7y ago
Well yes but reality might result in no cases because the victims cannot afford the legal fees, for example. It's a complex thing.
luckylion 7y ago
When reports are anonymous, you'll have trouble suing for libel. When the output of the site isn't a stated fact ("person x did y"), but a "calculated probability" without actually producing any of the reports ... good luck proving that the probability of you recklessly driving is below 50%. It's not an easy decision, but I lean towards "should be illegal if done anonymously and without proof".
- erikpukinskis 7y ago
  So you’re saying if I wrote a post on NextDoor saying you were a bad driver (no proof) and putting your license plate that should be illegal? Would it be a civil thing where you could sue me for some amount, or would you make it a criminal infraction?
  - luckylion 7y ago
    It's a thin line, but mostly I'd regulate the platform to not allow anonymous slander. Between individuals, it's most likely a civil issue, I'm not a huge fan of having criminal law creep into everything. I'm pretty sure that "no anonymous slander" reduces the amount rapidly, so you end up with a bunch of legitimate accusations that people are willing to stand for because they can provide evidence. The whole "I don't like his hair, so I'm going to make up stories about him" stuff goes away.

layoutIfNeeded 7y ago

The solution is easy: each report of bad driving must have a dashcam video attached.

gjm11 7y ago
That might work well for a site to report bad driving (though I believe most people still don't have dashcams, so it would hurt the effectiveness of the site a bit). But, recalling what the bad-driving site was an analogy for, it doesn't seem like it would be appropriate for sex workers sharing reports of bad clients.