Foreign Celebrity Sues Netizens Over Defamation
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Police are investigating dozens of Internet users for alleged defaming a foreign TV personality here.
The investigation came after Bianca Mobley, 19, one of the panel members of the popular local TV show, ``Beauties' Chatter Box,'' filed a complaint with the police, calling for an investigation into 26 Internet users who distributed her private photographs along with malicious comments.
In the complaint, she claimed, ``They downloaded my personal photos without my permission and spread them along with malicious messages on the Internet.''
Her private blog was hacked and two pictures on it were leaked ㅡ in one she is hugging a man.
``The investigation into nearly 20 suspicious users is underway. But it's still uncertain how many are implicated,'' a police officer said.
The American TV personality wants the users to be punished, saying they should be held accountable, the officer said.
``It is unclear whether we can punish those who spread the pictures on Internet sites. So now we are focusing on finding those who posted insulting messages,'' he said.
An Internet user who was questioned by the police told local media, ``I sincerely apologize to her. The distribution was not meant to insult her. I have seen many funny photos of the show's panels online so I thought posting the pictures would not cause any trouble.''