TORONTO – Mike Zigomanis is going on the offensive after photos – alleged to be of him – were posted on a ‘revenge’ website.
The not-safe-for-work website, isanyoneup.com, allows people to anonymously post nude or embarrassing photos of former lovers in order to get revenge on them.
Toronto Marlies coach Dallas Eakins offered his opinion on Twitter saying, “Sadly this is one of the few downfalls of being a pro athlete. False statements, pictures are common. Attempted identity thefts are picking up.”
There are several clothed photos of Zigomanis – which he admits are of him – but he denies the nude photos are of him and has hired a lawyer to get the photos taken down.
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Zigomanis though, is wading into vague legal waters by attempting to get the photos removed from the U.S. based website. According Internet law expert Gil Zvulony, there are different laws in the United States and Canada, governing websites that allow users to upload content. “You can get away with saying a lot more in the U.S. than you can in Canada,” Zvulony told Global News.
According to Zvulony, websites in Canada can be sued for defamation while in the United States “the actual website is protected from defamation lawsuits.”
Zvulony says that although most contracts do hold weight across borders, the question of what people can post online is a freedom of speech issue and the United States will not recognize the Canadian court’s jurisdiction.
The problem for Canadians is that Canada does not have clear laws governing what people can or cannot post online. According to Zvulony, “in Canada, we don’t have any clear cut legislation…so we have to look back at the old law of bricks and mortars, of what happened to bookstores when they knowingly sold defamatory books.”
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