Craigslist Used to Harass... Again

Strange men showed up at house wanting sex

by Mark Potter

(Florida, U.S.A.) -- A Florida woman faces charges for posting a fake ad online, allegedly to harass her husband's ex-wife.

The ex-wife is Tracy Wilder, a divorced mother of three. She says she knew something was wrong when she began getting phone calls, text messages and visits to her home from men seeking sex.

"I feel violated. I feel our safety was compromised as a family. It's been terrifying," said Wilder. She says the men were responding to an explicit ad in her name on Craigslist-- an ad she insists she never placed.


original article here

Craigslist Used to Harass... Again

Strange men showed up at house wanting sex

by Mark Potter

(Florida, U.S.A.) -- A Florida woman faces charges for posting a fake ad online, allegedly to harass her husband's ex-wife.

The ex-wife is Tracy Wilder, a divorced mother of three. She says she knew something was wrong when she began getting phone calls, text messages and visits to her home from men seeking sex.

"I feel violated. I feel our safety was compromised as a family. It's been terrifying," said Wilder. She says the men were responding to an explicit ad in her name on Craigslist-- an ad she insists she never placed.


original article here

Posting Woman’s Data on Craigslist Brings Charges

By BILL BRAKSICK

(ILLINOIS, USA) A Sycamore man has been charged with a misdemeanor offense after reportedly posting a woman’s contact information and offers for sex on an Internet website.

Alexander P. Dominguez, 25, of the 700 block of South Main Street, is accused of posting a woman’s name, phone number and workplace information, along with offers of sexual contact, on the classified website Craigslist.

According to court documents, the woman received dozens of phone messages from unknown people propositioning her for sex.

Dominguez is charged with harassment through electronic communications, a Class B misdemeanor punishable by not more than six months in jail.

He appeared for a bond hearing Wednesday at the DeKalb County Courthouse via closed-circuit television from the DeKalb County Jail.

He was released on a $1,500 recognizance bond, which allows a person to be released from jail with no money posted but a signed promise to be present at future court dates.

He is due back in court July 19.


(our exposed cyberpath Dunetz/ Yidwithlid did this to his victims on MySpace... possible pending legal action)


original article here

Posting Woman’s Data on Craigslist Brings Charges

By BILL BRAKSICK

(ILLINOIS, USA) A Sycamore man has been charged with a misdemeanor offense after reportedly posting a woman’s contact information and offers for sex on an Internet website.

Alexander P. Dominguez, 25, of the 700 block of South Main Street, is accused of posting a woman’s name, phone number and workplace information, along with offers of sexual contact, on the classified website Craigslist.

According to court documents, the woman received dozens of phone messages from unknown people propositioning her for sex.

Dominguez is charged with harassment through electronic communications, a Class B misdemeanor punishable by not more than six months in jail.

He appeared for a bond hearing Wednesday at the DeKalb County Courthouse via closed-circuit television from the DeKalb County Jail.

He was released on a $1,500 recognizance bond, which allows a person to be released from jail with no money posted but a signed promise to be present at future court dates.

He is due back in court July 19.


(our exposed cyberpath Dunetz/ Yidwithlid did this to his victims on MySpace... possible pending legal action)


original article here

Chicago Man Charged Over Online Obsession

A Chicago man has been charged with stalking a Naperville woman over the Internet and badgering her in a lurid e-mail campaign.

Daniel R. Tamburich, 32, is charged with cyberstalking, causing emotional distress and electronic communication harassment.

Detective Rich Wistocki, of the Naperville Police Department, said the woman “reported back in December she was being cyberstalked” by a man who identified himself as “James Randall.”

The man — later identified as Tamburich — “on four different occasions posted his sexual desires and sent them to her e-mail address,” Wistocki said. Tamburich also obtained pictures of the woman from her Facebook account “and then sent them to her and made them of a sexual nature,” Wistocki said.

The woman told police Tamburich was “just a random guy she went to college with,” Wistocki said.

According to the woman, the two never dated and were more acquaintances than friends, he said.

original article here

Chicago Man Charged Over Online Obsession

A Chicago man has been charged with stalking a Naperville woman over the Internet and badgering her in a lurid e-mail campaign.

Daniel R. Tamburich, 32, is charged with cyberstalking, causing emotional distress and electronic communication harassment.

Detective Rich Wistocki, of the Naperville Police Department, said the woman “reported back in December she was being cyberstalked” by a man who identified himself as “James Randall.”

The man — later identified as Tamburich — “on four different occasions posted his sexual desires and sent them to her e-mail address,” Wistocki said. Tamburich also obtained pictures of the woman from her Facebook account “and then sent them to her and made them of a sexual nature,” Wistocki said.

The woman told police Tamburich was “just a random guy she went to college with,” Wistocki said.

According to the woman, the two never dated and were more acquaintances than friends, he said.

original article here

Threats + Nude Photo on the Net = Arrest

(Texas) David Keith Clark may have said and done too much. At least, that's what an arrest warrant alleges about the San Antonio man. According to San Antonio police, he attacked a woman he used to live with, threatened her through text messages, and posted a nude photograph of her on the Internet.

The 32-year-old has been arrested on assault and telephone harassment charges. He remains in the Bexar County Detention Center trying to make bonds that total nearly $20,000.

Police said the initial physical attack happened on Nov. 13 in the 9200 block of Ridge Branch. The warrant said he strangled a woman he used to be romantically involved with until she could not breathe. The victim reportedly managed to free herself and scream for help. Investigators said Clark ran from the scene.

Another arrest warrant said the suspect started sending the victim threatening and harassing text messages following the attack. The victim claims the texts were even being posted on a computer website.

The arrest document describes the texts as derogatory and repeatedly threatening. In fact, the suspect even said he'd be waiting in bushes to jump out and slash the victim's throat police said.

Investigators said Clark went so far as to post a topless picture on the Internet of his ex. Then, police said he attached a berating phrase to the picture.

The victim filed a complaint with SAPD. Clark was arrested.

original article here

Threats + Nude Photo on the Net = Arrest

(Texas) David Keith Clark may have said and done too much. At least, that's what an arrest warrant alleges about the San Antonio man. According to San Antonio police, he attacked a woman he used to live with, threatened her through text messages, and posted a nude photograph of her on the Internet.

The 32-year-old has been arrested on assault and telephone harassment charges. He remains in the Bexar County Detention Center trying to make bonds that total nearly $20,000.

Police said the initial physical attack happened on Nov. 13 in the 9200 block of Ridge Branch. The warrant said he strangled a woman he used to be romantically involved with until she could not breathe. The victim reportedly managed to free herself and scream for help. Investigators said Clark ran from the scene.

Another arrest warrant said the suspect started sending the victim threatening and harassing text messages following the attack. The victim claims the texts were even being posted on a computer website.

The arrest document describes the texts as derogatory and repeatedly threatening. In fact, the suspect even said he'd be waiting in bushes to jump out and slash the victim's throat police said.

Investigators said Clark went so far as to post a topless picture on the Internet of his ex. Then, police said he attached a berating phrase to the picture.

The victim filed a complaint with SAPD. Clark was arrested.

original article here

Online Harassment Getting Serious Legal Attention

2 Chicago men are charged in separate cases of online harassment
by Steve Schmadekeb

A Chicago man accused of posting a fake Craigslist ad that said his sister was giving away all her possessions is facing misdemeanor charges after bargain-hunters descended on the woman's Joliet home looking to cart away her belongings.

And a married Chicago computer consultant is being accused of posting nude photos of his California ex-girlfriend having intercourse on two Web sites, as well as posting the woman's phone number and the home addresses of her and her mother.

The unrelated incidents are examples of cases that prosecutors are bringing against people who allegedly use the Internet to harass someone.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE

Online Harassment Getting Serious Legal Attention

2 Chicago men are charged in separate cases of online harassment
by Steve Schmadekeb

A Chicago man accused of posting a fake Craigslist ad that said his sister was giving away all her possessions is facing misdemeanor charges after bargain-hunters descended on the woman's Joliet home looking to cart away her belongings.

And a married Chicago computer consultant is being accused of posting nude photos of his California ex-girlfriend having intercourse on two Web sites, as well as posting the woman's phone number and the home addresses of her and her mother.

The unrelated incidents are examples of cases that prosecutors are bringing against people who allegedly use the Internet to harass someone.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE HERE

Social Networking Used to Sexually Entice Minors & Adults

Nevada — Law enforcement officials are reminding residents that while social networking sites can be fun, they also present potential dangers in the form of sexual harassment.

Washoe County Sheriffs Office deputies recently arrested Jared Smith, 25, of Sparks, after he allegedly sent messages through a Facebook.com account of a sexual nature to a 14-year-old girl, according to a press release from sheriff's spokesman Armando Avina.

According to the release, the following events transpired on the evening of June 12, 2010:

• WCSO deputies arrived and met with the victim, who showed the officers the illicit content. The adult male logged on as someone else and pretended to be a friend of the female victim. The female victim then identified the alleged suspect to officers.

• The following morning, officers made contact with the male subject accused of sending the female victim messages that were sexual in nature. During the subsequent investigation process, deputies determined the male subject did send the messages.

• Smith was booked into the Washoe County Detention Facility for using technology to lure children, violation of a protection order and stalking – use of the Internet. His bail was set at $18,000.

An underreported crime

Detective Dennis Carry of the Washoe County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force said incidents where adults use emerging social media websites to entice children are often not reported to the proper authorities.

“It's a huge problem,” Carry said. “Online enticement of children is far underreported. The reports are extremely low in comparison with how many times the crime occurs.”

Carry said open communication lines between parents and children is an important strategy to combat Internet predators.

“Families must communicate about the potential dangers,” he said. “Also, it's critically important the authorities find out when someone is victimized.”

Carry said [people] should not reveal personal information on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter or MySpace.

original article here

Social Networking Used to Sexually Entice Minors & Adults

Nevada — Law enforcement officials are reminding residents that while social networking sites can be fun, they also present potential dangers in the form of sexual harassment.

Washoe County Sheriffs Office deputies recently arrested Jared Smith, 25, of Sparks, after he allegedly sent messages through a Facebook.com account of a sexual nature to a 14-year-old girl, according to a press release from sheriff's spokesman Armando Avina.

According to the release, the following events transpired on the evening of June 12, 2010:

• WCSO deputies arrived and met with the victim, who showed the officers the illicit content. The adult male logged on as someone else and pretended to be a friend of the female victim. The female victim then identified the alleged suspect to officers.

• The following morning, officers made contact with the male subject accused of sending the female victim messages that were sexual in nature. During the subsequent investigation process, deputies determined the male subject did send the messages.

• Smith was booked into the Washoe County Detention Facility for using technology to lure children, violation of a protection order and stalking – use of the Internet. His bail was set at $18,000.

An underreported crime

Detective Dennis Carry of the Washoe County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force said incidents where adults use emerging social media websites to entice children are often not reported to the proper authorities.

“It's a huge problem,” Carry said. “Online enticement of children is far underreported. The reports are extremely low in comparison with how many times the crime occurs.”

Carry said open communication lines between parents and children is an important strategy to combat Internet predators.

“Families must communicate about the potential dangers,” he said. “Also, it's critically important the authorities find out when someone is victimized.”

Carry said [people] should not reveal personal information on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter or MySpace.

original article here

Her Ex is Getting his Revenge - Online

Woman Says Her Name, Number Posted Online Inviting Sex

(MISSOURI, USA) She wanted him out of her life, but had no idea he would drag their breakup onto the Internet.

That’s what a Raytown woman said happened after she ended a relationship a month ago.

She said her former husband sent her a text message telling her to check out Craigslist. When she did, she found her name, address and phone number on the Internet site, inviting people to drop by her home for sex. (our cyberpath YidwithLid/Dunetz did this to his Target #1)

So many people responded that she was forced to change her phone number, leave her home and now she is seeking a permanent restraining order against the 44-year-old man.

KMBC's Bev Chapman reported that people who use Craigslist know that it's a place to buy, sell, trade and meet people. For this woman, it's apparently a vehicle for revenge.

"I think it's insane," she said. "I feel like I'm losing my mind over the whole deal. I'm not safe. I'm constantly looking around."

The woman, who did not want her identity revealed, said that she just learned of the posting last weekend. Her ex-husband's post was under the Kansas City list page, in the column for personals, in the casual encounters section.

The posting was crude and explicit. It described her as fit, disease and drug-free.

"Within 45 minutes, I had 17 to 18 texts and phone calls," she said. One man even showed up at her home while a police car was parked in the driveway.

This was not the first incident with her ex-husband in the more than five years since their divorce. The couple reunited for three months last year, and ended it again a month ago.

"He goes through cycles," she said. "He loves me, he hates me."

The post was removed from Craigslist. The site's operators sent a message that said they believed the post was clearly harassment.

A spokeswoman for the Jackson County Prosecutor's office said they have seen a few cases of Internet harassment, but they can do nothing for the woman without a police report.

SOURCE

Her Ex is Getting his Revenge - Online

Woman Says Her Name, Number Posted Online Inviting Sex

(MISSOURI, USA) She wanted him out of her life, but had no idea he would drag their breakup onto the Internet.

That’s what a Raytown woman said happened after she ended a relationship a month ago.

She said her former husband sent her a text message telling her to check out Craigslist. When she did, she found her name, address and phone number on the Internet site, inviting people to drop by her home for sex. (our cyberpath YidwithLid/Dunetz did this to his Target #1)

So many people responded that she was forced to change her phone number, leave her home and now she is seeking a permanent restraining order against the 44-year-old man.

KMBC's Bev Chapman reported that people who use Craigslist know that it's a place to buy, sell, trade and meet people. For this woman, it's apparently a vehicle for revenge.

"I think it's insane," she said. "I feel like I'm losing my mind over the whole deal. I'm not safe. I'm constantly looking around."

The woman, who did not want her identity revealed, said that she just learned of the posting last weekend. Her ex-husband's post was under the Kansas City list page, in the column for personals, in the casual encounters section.

The posting was crude and explicit. It described her as fit, disease and drug-free.

"Within 45 minutes, I had 17 to 18 texts and phone calls," she said. One man even showed up at her home while a police car was parked in the driveway.

This was not the first incident with her ex-husband in the more than five years since their divorce. The couple reunited for three months last year, and ended it again a month ago.

"He goes through cycles," she said. "He loves me, he hates me."

The post was removed from Craigslist. The site's operators sent a message that said they believed the post was clearly harassment.

A spokeswoman for the Jackson County Prosecutor's office said they have seen a few cases of Internet harassment, but they can do nothing for the woman without a police report.

SOURCE

Man Who Listed Ex in Sex Ads Gets Harassment Charges

(United Kingdom) FUMING Kath Thompson was plagued by strangers wanting sex after her ex-lover advertised her on a website for hookers.

More than a hundred punters bombarded her with "particularly salacious sexual" calls and texts, a court heard.

Dumped Nigel Hadley, 55, also spread tacks on the driveway of the 51-year-old - who was forced to change her phone numbers.

The jobless salesman, of Tiverton, Devon, was nicked - and admitted harassment.

Exeter JPs adjourned sentence for reports.

original article here

Man Who Listed Ex in Sex Ads Gets Harassment Charges

(United Kingdom) FUMING Kath Thompson was plagued by strangers wanting sex after her ex-lover advertised her on a website for hookers.

More than a hundred punters bombarded her with "particularly salacious sexual" calls and texts, a court heard.

Dumped Nigel Hadley, 55, also spread tacks on the driveway of the 51-year-old - who was forced to change her phone numbers.

The jobless salesman, of Tiverton, Devon, was nicked - and admitted harassment.

Exeter JPs adjourned sentence for reports.

original article here

AFF - Online Dating Sexual Harassment Scandal

Do we NEED to give ANY MORE reasons not to use ANY (and we mean ALL OF THEM) online dating services?

Some of them are RUN BY PREDATORS.

FriendFinder's executives will learn a hard lesson: It's one thing to profit from women. It's another to take advantage of them.

A porn star draping boobs over an employee's head. Lapdances on the company dime. $50 million in back taxes. These are just some of the charges Penthouse publisher FriendFinder Networks is facing from an ex-employee.

Natalie Cedeno, the company's former HR director, says that company executives retaliated against her for pointing out violations of labor laws. She was a top executive at the Internet side of the business, deeply involved in its operations for eight years, before FriendFinder fired her without cause in January, she says. She claims the company then tried to withhold the two years of pay she was owed under her contract unless she agreed to stay silent about FriendFinder's misdeeds — a move her lawyer characterizes as "extortion." Cedeno plans to file complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing next month.

And a juicy complaint it will be. FriendFinder Networks used to be called Penthouse Media Group before it acquired Various Inc., the operator of Adult FriendFinder and other online personals sites, in 2007 for $500 million. While they're both porn companies, the office cultures of Florida-based Penthouse and Silicon Valley-based Various Inc. — where Cedeno worked before the merger — couldn't have been more different. That became obvious on May 2, 2008, when the ex-Penthouse executives, now in charge of the combined business, decided to ship in a passel of Penthouse Pets to the old Various offices.

When management announced that the venerable porn magazine's stable of nude models would be stopping by the office to serve ice cream, one female employee objected, as Cedeno tells the story. When they arrived, one of the scantily clad Pets made a beeline for the dissenter. "They came into her office and placed her breasts on her head in an attempt to humiliate her, and they had someone ready to take pictures," Cedeno says. The employee quit soon after the incident.

The evening before Cedeno was terminated last month, she says she brought up at a meeting of executives an employee who had charged thousands of dollars in lapdances to the company — an expense the company's pre-Penthouse management wouldn't have tolerated. "The president laughed and said the CEO had paid for lapdances for investment bankers with company money last weekend," Cedeno says.

But wait a second: Aren't we talking about a company whose main product is porn? What are a few workplace hijinks at a business which makes money off of naked ladies? Well, there's much more than Cedeno's pay at stake. FriendFinder filed to go public last year. It desperately needs the $460 million it hopes to raise in an IPO in order to pay down $420 million in debt. If the company has legal problems and labor issues beyond what it disclosed in its SEC filings, its executives could face heavy penalties, and the IPO would likely be scotched.

FriendFinder Networks CEO Marc Bell did not return a message left requesting comment on Cedeno's allegations. The SEC restricts what companies in registration for an IPO can say publicly about their business outside of regulatory filings, a requirement known as the "quiet period."

According to Cedeno, Various operated Adult FriendFinder and other X-rated adult sites for seven years without drawing a single sexual-harassment lawsuit from employees. The company was as buttoned-down as nearby NASA contractors. Office rules restricted employees from posting any photos on office walls, or even having naughty screensavers. Cedeno says the company's longtime postman had to ask her, after six years of delivering mail, what the company actually did. And founder Andrew Conru, who took no venture capital and therefore owned almost all of the company, is famously mild-mannered. (The raciest he gets: He once told a magazine he'd had a ménage-à-trois.)

Valleywag had previously heard rumblings of discontent at the company. Over the summer, Anthony Previte, a Penthouse executive who was COO of the company, reportedly prompted a mutiny among the Sunnyvale employees by trying (and failing) to replace most of the operations team. We also heard of a messy firing in the sales department. But that was just the tip of the iceberg, according to Cedeno.

Everything changed after Penthouse bought the company and changed its name to FriendFinder Networks, she says. Within four weeks, FriendFinder had its first labor complaint, and soon drew two more. The company's former controller plans to file an age-discrimination lawsuit, Cedeno says.

Cedeno says new management was unresponsive to her concerns. When she pointed out violations of overtime law, the company's VP of operations emailed her, "This garbage stops now." (He meant her complaints, not the violations.) She says she was then ordered to lie and blame pay discrepancies on the company's outside payroll vendor. She refused.

She also says that in January 2008, Rob Brackett, president of the company's Internet group, told her that CEO Marc Bell had complained to him in December — the first day he came to visit Penthouse's new acquisition — that the women in FriendFinder's technology department were "ugly" and that Cedeno should get rid of them and replace them with more attractive workers to keep the male employees happy. Brackett pressed Cedeno, asking her how she was going to satisfy Bell. She refused the request.

The company has admitted in its S-1 filings that it failed to collect taxes owed on Internet purchased in the European Union for years. It has already charged $64 million against the purchase price of Various. (It now reports the acquisition as costing the company $401 million, down from $500 million, thanks to this and other charges.) But it has not disclosed the full extent of its pending tax bills. Cedeno says the back taxes in Germany alone come to $40 million and the company owes $10 million in another European country.

FriendFinder seems to have made a formidable enemy. Cedeno has hired Amanda Metcalf, a former prosecutor now in private practice who's best known for her role in a lawsuit against Death Row Records. I asked Metcalf why she took on Cedeno's case. "Woman done wrong," she replied. If Cedeno proves her allegations in court, FriendFinder's executives will learn a hard lesson: It's one thing to profit from women. It's another to take advantage of them.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

AFF - Online Dating Sexual Harassment Scandal

Do we NEED to give ANY MORE reasons not to use ANY (and we mean ALL OF THEM) online dating services?

Some of them are RUN BY PREDATORS.

FriendFinder's executives will learn a hard lesson: It's one thing to profit from women. It's another to take advantage of them.

A porn star draping boobs over an employee's head. Lapdances on the company dime. $50 million in back taxes. These are just some of the charges Penthouse publisher FriendFinder Networks is facing from an ex-employee.

Natalie Cedeno, the company's former HR director, says that company executives retaliated against her for pointing out violations of labor laws. She was a top executive at the Internet side of the business, deeply involved in its operations for eight years, before FriendFinder fired her without cause in January, she says. She claims the company then tried to withhold the two years of pay she was owed under her contract unless she agreed to stay silent about FriendFinder's misdeeds — a move her lawyer characterizes as "extortion." Cedeno plans to file complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and California's Department of Fair Employment and Housing next month.

And a juicy complaint it will be. FriendFinder Networks used to be called Penthouse Media Group before it acquired Various Inc., the operator of Adult FriendFinder and other online personals sites, in 2007 for $500 million. While they're both porn companies, the office cultures of Florida-based Penthouse and Silicon Valley-based Various Inc. — where Cedeno worked before the merger — couldn't have been more different. That became obvious on May 2, 2008, when the ex-Penthouse executives, now in charge of the combined business, decided to ship in a passel of Penthouse Pets to the old Various offices.

When management announced that the venerable porn magazine's stable of nude models would be stopping by the office to serve ice cream, one female employee objected, as Cedeno tells the story. When they arrived, one of the scantily clad Pets made a beeline for the dissenter. "They came into her office and placed her breasts on her head in an attempt to humiliate her, and they had someone ready to take pictures," Cedeno says. The employee quit soon after the incident.

The evening before Cedeno was terminated last month, she says she brought up at a meeting of executives an employee who had charged thousands of dollars in lapdances to the company — an expense the company's pre-Penthouse management wouldn't have tolerated. "The president laughed and said the CEO had paid for lapdances for investment bankers with company money last weekend," Cedeno says.

But wait a second: Aren't we talking about a company whose main product is porn? What are a few workplace hijinks at a business which makes money off of naked ladies? Well, there's much more than Cedeno's pay at stake. FriendFinder filed to go public last year. It desperately needs the $460 million it hopes to raise in an IPO in order to pay down $420 million in debt. If the company has legal problems and labor issues beyond what it disclosed in its SEC filings, its executives could face heavy penalties, and the IPO would likely be scotched.

FriendFinder Networks CEO Marc Bell did not return a message left requesting comment on Cedeno's allegations. The SEC restricts what companies in registration for an IPO can say publicly about their business outside of regulatory filings, a requirement known as the "quiet period."

According to Cedeno, Various operated Adult FriendFinder and other X-rated adult sites for seven years without drawing a single sexual-harassment lawsuit from employees. The company was as buttoned-down as nearby NASA contractors. Office rules restricted employees from posting any photos on office walls, or even having naughty screensavers. Cedeno says the company's longtime postman had to ask her, after six years of delivering mail, what the company actually did. And founder Andrew Conru, who took no venture capital and therefore owned almost all of the company, is famously mild-mannered. (The raciest he gets: He once told a magazine he'd had a ménage-à-trois.)

Valleywag had previously heard rumblings of discontent at the company. Over the summer, Anthony Previte, a Penthouse executive who was COO of the company, reportedly prompted a mutiny among the Sunnyvale employees by trying (and failing) to replace most of the operations team. We also heard of a messy firing in the sales department. But that was just the tip of the iceberg, according to Cedeno.

Everything changed after Penthouse bought the company and changed its name to FriendFinder Networks, she says. Within four weeks, FriendFinder had its first labor complaint, and soon drew two more. The company's former controller plans to file an age-discrimination lawsuit, Cedeno says.

Cedeno says new management was unresponsive to her concerns. When she pointed out violations of overtime law, the company's VP of operations emailed her, "This garbage stops now." (He meant her complaints, not the violations.) She says she was then ordered to lie and blame pay discrepancies on the company's outside payroll vendor. She refused.

She also says that in January 2008, Rob Brackett, president of the company's Internet group, told her that CEO Marc Bell had complained to him in December — the first day he came to visit Penthouse's new acquisition — that the women in FriendFinder's technology department were "ugly" and that Cedeno should get rid of them and replace them with more attractive workers to keep the male employees happy. Brackett pressed Cedeno, asking her how she was going to satisfy Bell. She refused the request.

The company has admitted in its S-1 filings that it failed to collect taxes owed on Internet purchased in the European Union for years. It has already charged $64 million against the purchase price of Various. (It now reports the acquisition as costing the company $401 million, down from $500 million, thanks to this and other charges.) But it has not disclosed the full extent of its pending tax bills. Cedeno says the back taxes in Germany alone come to $40 million and the company owes $10 million in another European country.

FriendFinder seems to have made a formidable enemy. Cedeno has hired Amanda Metcalf, a former prosecutor now in private practice who's best known for her role in a lawsuit against Death Row Records. I asked Metcalf why she took on Cedeno's case. "Woman done wrong," she replied. If Cedeno proves her allegations in court, FriendFinder's executives will learn a hard lesson: It's one thing to profit from women. It's another to take advantage of them.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE

Surf Porn at Work? Get Fired.

By Howard Levitt

The Internet enables people to watch more pornography than ever before, even at work. However, despite its rising popularity, it hasn't become any more acceptable to the mainstream and is often part of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Bad taste makes the day go by faster. --Andy Warhol

When business was slow, Greg Backman, a supervisor at Maritime Paper Products, would surf sex sites on his office computer up to three hours a day. The company never complained Backman was gratifying himself instead of performing his job. Neither did any of the people he supervised. On the contrary, the company was satisfied with the job he was doing.

It kept giving him raises and excellent reviews. Backman must have truly been talented to get his work done while surfing the Web for sex for hours a day. The company, like many employers, had an "Acceptable Use Policy" for work computers. Surfing for sex sites wasn't one of them. At the same time, it was aware of Backman's habit.

Several years earlier, he was warned to stop watching pornography at work or he would be fired but no one ever followed through on the warning. His great ratings continued. The company finally pulled the plug when a woman from the company's Manager of Information Services complained. Her job was to monitor everyone's computer use which required her to look at the images on Backman's computer, most of which were explicit images of young women engaged in sex acts. She told the company she found the images highly offensive. Maritime immediately fired Backman.

The court sided with the company. Justice McLellan of the New Brunswick Queens Bench stated, by displaying sexual images on his work computer, Backman was sexually harassing the woman in Information Services. In law, Maritime had a duty to protect her. It could not permit Backman to surf pornographic sites at work if it meant female co-workers would see it and be offended. Besides, Backman was warned and knew the risk he was running.

The company did the right thing by firing Backman because he placed the company at risk to be sued by the woman in Information Services for allowing him to sexually harass her. The lessons for employers are clear:

- Pornography in the workplace is not harmless entertainment. If an employee views pornography on a work computer, the employer may have cause for termination.

- If other employees are, in the course of their job, forced to see another employee's pornography collection, it can lead to claims of sexual harassment.

- Employers should make it clear to all employees that work computers cannot be used to view pornography or any material that might offend other employees. This protects the employer from claims it permitted sexual harassment and strengthens the employer's hand in firing employees that refuse to stop.

Howard Levitt, counsel to Lang Michener LLP, is an employment lawyer who practises in eight provinces and is author of several texts, including The Law of Dismissal for Human Resources Professionals, recently released.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE POST HERE

Surf Porn at Work? Get Fired.

By Howard Levitt

The Internet enables people to watch more pornography than ever before, even at work. However, despite its rising popularity, it hasn't become any more acceptable to the mainstream and is often part of sexual harassment in the workplace.

Bad taste makes the day go by faster. --Andy Warhol

When business was slow, Greg Backman, a supervisor at Maritime Paper Products, would surf sex sites on his office computer up to three hours a day. The company never complained Backman was gratifying himself instead of performing his job. Neither did any of the people he supervised. On the contrary, the company was satisfied with the job he was doing.

It kept giving him raises and excellent reviews. Backman must have truly been talented to get his work done while surfing the Web for sex for hours a day. The company, like many employers, had an "Acceptable Use Policy" for work computers. Surfing for sex sites wasn't one of them. At the same time, it was aware of Backman's habit.

Several years earlier, he was warned to stop watching pornography at work or he would be fired but no one ever followed through on the warning. His great ratings continued. The company finally pulled the plug when a woman from the company's Manager of Information Services complained. Her job was to monitor everyone's computer use which required her to look at the images on Backman's computer, most of which were explicit images of young women engaged in sex acts. She told the company she found the images highly offensive. Maritime immediately fired Backman.

The court sided with the company. Justice McLellan of the New Brunswick Queens Bench stated, by displaying sexual images on his work computer, Backman was sexually harassing the woman in Information Services. In law, Maritime had a duty to protect her. It could not permit Backman to surf pornographic sites at work if it meant female co-workers would see it and be offended. Besides, Backman was warned and knew the risk he was running.

The company did the right thing by firing Backman because he placed the company at risk to be sued by the woman in Information Services for allowing him to sexually harass her. The lessons for employers are clear:

- Pornography in the workplace is not harmless entertainment. If an employee views pornography on a work computer, the employer may have cause for termination.

- If other employees are, in the course of their job, forced to see another employee's pornography collection, it can lead to claims of sexual harassment.

- Employers should make it clear to all employees that work computers cannot be used to view pornography or any material that might offend other employees. This protects the employer from claims it permitted sexual harassment and strengthens the employer's hand in firing employees that refuse to stop.

Howard Levitt, counsel to Lang Michener LLP, is an employment lawyer who practises in eight provinces and is author of several texts, including The Law of Dismissal for Human Resources Professionals, recently released.

ORIGINAL ARTICLE POST HERE