Actress goes after Internet trolls, court orders site to release IPs
Actress Marika Korolev found herself under attack on Perekool.ee, a portal where midwives offer advice, childbirth classes and the like. Korolev turned to the courts to have the IP addresses and identities of some of the commentators in the website's forum released, and took legal steps against them.
Korolev demanded that Perekool.ee release the IP addresses of those individuals who had posted the insults. She also demanded damages for the emotional distress the comments caused her—and won.
According to daily Eesti Päevaleht, Korolev was surprised by what she found out. Some of the worst insults had come from individuals working in positions of responsibility, some of them working for the state, and that most of the worst slanderers were well-educated.
"Some of the cruelest comments for instance came from a notary public's office, where I would say you'd expect polite, careful citizens with a strong set of moral principles," Korolev said according to the paper. "There was a lady as well who is on the payroll of the City of Tartu."
A well-known game show host was also among the people who attacked Korolev.
As a first step, Korolev tried to reach out-of-court settlements with her slanderers. Some apparently agreed to compensate her this way, others ignored her, an approach that eventually didn't get them very far, as Korolev sued and was awarded damages by the court.
One of the trolls, for instance, had to pay Korolev €3,200 in damages for emotional distress.
Korolev's lawyer, Robert Sarv, doesn't exclude the possibility that they might go after the website's operators as well.
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Editor: Dario Cavegn
