from www.nypost.com – Columbia Business School grad wants a judge to unmask the cowardly creep who anonymously labled her a “whore” on YouTube.

In a Manhattan Supreme Court suit, Carla Franklin says she has “suffered damages in the form of disress and mental anguish” from a mean-spirited posting in a comment attached to a video posting of her — and she wants a judge to give her a court order to force Google and YouTube to turn over the poster’s identity.

Franklin became aware that some short video snippets she had done for Columbia — including one where she advises students, “Don’t take things so seriously” — had been uploaded to YouTube, with the single-word slur posted in the comments section under the video.

Someone also set up a YouTube channel featuring video from an independent movie Franklin had acted in several years ago.

The single-word slurs “were made with the intention to harm Ms. Franklin’s reputation and interfere with her relationships, employment and livelihood,” the court filing says, and she wants to make the anonymous poster pay for her “personal humiliation, mental anguish and damage to her reputation.”

“People feel bolder and bolder that they can say whatever they want when they post things with anonymity, but there can be consequences” if you say something defamatory, Franklin’s lawyer, David Fish, told The Post. “If you’re going to post something about somebody, you need to stand by it.”

The suit notes that Franklin, a business consultant, is a highly accomplished woman. She graduated from Duke University in 1999 with degrees in biology and psychology, and after five years of work as a part-time actor and model, she attended Columbia Business School, graduating last year.

Fish said his client has a “fairly good idea who was doing this,” but “we want to make 100 percent sure before we file suit.”

Google and YouTube — which was purchased by Google in 2006 — don’t comment on specific legal cases, but typically will turn over IP addresses and other identifying information if there’s a court order.

A similar case played out last year in Manhattan Supreme Court, where model Liskula Cohen fought to uncover the anonymous blogger who had featured her on a “Skanks in NYC” blog.

The site featured numerous unflattering pictures of Cohen, and labeled her a “psychotic, lying, whoring . . . skank.” A judge ordered Google to give up the blogger’s computer info, and she was revealed to be Rosemary Port, an acquaintance of Cohen’s.

Franklin’s suit says there were three user names involved in the posting — greyspector09, Jimmy Jean008 and JoeBloom08 — and Fish said he suspects they’re all the same person.

from www.nydailynews.com – A brainy beauty wants to expose the creep who slimed her as a “whore” on YouTube.

Carla Franklin, a former model with degrees from Duke and Columbia, is going after Google in an attempt to unmask the cyberbully who talked trash about her under three aliases on the company’s wildly popular video-sharing site.

“People hide behind these shields and think they can just post anything,” said David Fish, a lawyer for Franklin. “Hopefully, we can put a stop to this.”

Franklin, a 2008 graduate of Columbia Business School who works as a consultant, was alerted to the slurs after her friends checked her out in a series of YouTube videos.

According to the suit filed in Manhattan Supreme Court, last year “JoeBloom08,” JimmyJean008″ and “greyspector09” posted “malicious and untrue” statements about Franklin on YouTube, along with unauthorized clips from a movie in which she appeared.

“This obviously was very upsetting to her,” Fish said.

Franklin, who graduated from Duke in 1999 with degrees in biology and psychology, appeared in several YouTube videos put up by Columbia Business School that show her traveling to Africa and offering advice to incoming MBA students.

“Don’t take things so seriously,” she counsels in one clip in which she’s wearing her graduation cap and gown.

Franklin is employing the same legal strategy used by model Liskula Cohen, who last year successfully got Google to unmask the rival who trashed the cover girl as a “skank” and an “old hag.”

It’s a tactic increasingly used by people offended by the Internet, including a New Jersey cop who was vilified by comments on a news site and a Louisiana official who didn’t care for being labeled a “politician thug mobster” in the comments section of a newspaper’s website.

Now Franklin has joined their ranks.

She seeks to have Google and YouTube turn over the names, addresses and phone numbers of whoever labeled her a “whore.”

“She wants to make sure this doesn’t happen to her anymore, or to anyone else,” said Fish, adding that Franklin has a “pretty good idea” about the identity of her online tormentor.

Google did not return a request for comment.