There is a man, I will call him John Smith, operating a sham business in my
industry.  He is a cheat and most people who find him via Google end
up wishing they they had not.    He ships bunk product to customers
and does not pay for the surplus
product he dupes vendors into sending him with "on approval" payment
terms.  This gives him quite a pricing advantage, but of course, no
repeat business.  Unfortunately, there are plenty of trusting souls in
the industry who can easily be burned once.  He cheats only businesses
(not
consumers), many from other countries, and generally for too little
money to warrant hiring a lawyer and suing him or to press
charges.  But I estimate he makes a very large amount of money in
the process.

Several years ago, when he was my customer, he cheated me out of some product,
by not paying for it.  Not really a crime per se, though we had to
write off the bad debt expense.  I have long since written it off
personally as well, and this is not the reason I want him stopped.

I am in rather a niche industry, and have had at least half a dozen
customers find my company after having been cheated by this man.  It
makes it difficult to get a new customer to trust me enough to pay me
in advance (usually required for first-time customers to our company).
 I also frequently find that I am bidding against his artificially low
prices to customers (he has no cost of goods sold and in any event is
shipping bunk or damaged product.  Conversely, I cannot compete
against his artificially high bids to sellers of surplus material (he
either does not pay or advises that the product shipped was not as
represented and offers a fraction to the now helpless seller whose
property he is holding.

 He is engaging in fraud, to be sure, but technically not theft or
larceny, since people are voluntarily sending him money or product on
his promise to pay or deliver.  His pattern of acts might constitute
RICO, but since he seems to be acting alone, there is no RICO
conspiracy.

He is a bad man, possibly a touch insane.  Unfortunately, he has a
very good web presence and can be found just as easily as my company
on Google.

I would like to put a stop to him, or at least be able to warn
potential victims who are vigilant enough to at least google him.
Since all of his victims find him via Google (or
other search engine) I would like to create some sort of web site to
warn people, but without exposing myself to a libel suit.  (I know the truth
is an absolute defense, but I would prefer to avoid spending the time
and money proving it).

One thought I had was to create a bulletin board where victims
can post their stories about him, and make the web page findable to
anyone who googles the terms that would lead them to his page.

My question is two parts:

First, is there a way that I can create such a page anonymously (for
example, using some sort of public or quasi-public server such as a
university), and thereby avoid a law suit.  Even though he could get
the web site taken down, once it is in Google's "Cached" pages, is it
not forever findable?

Second, is there a way to set up the website so that even if it comes
around to me, there is no libel cause of action that could survive a
motion to dismiss?  For example, the bulletin board posting with no
editing on my part (other than the identity of the poster -- I don't
want to give up my customers).  Or, a web site called
"HaveYouBeenCheatedByJohnSmith.com" that simply lists the man and his
company, email, and url, and poses the question "Have you been burned
by John Smith?  If so you may wish to report it to the Bush County
Better Business Bureau at (555) 555-5555."  I could also post a scan of
an article from his local paper describing his recent arrest for theft
of trade secrets from his former employer (he allegedly stole the
company's stock and customer list).  Unfortunately, he is still doing
business and I do not know if the charge will stick, sure though I may
be of his guilt.

Let's get creative, folks!

Dear Raterpillar, 

Your question has two levels. One is the technical level : is it
possible to establish an Internet site or a bulletin board
anonymously. The secodn level would be whether this is legal.

Let's start with the first level. You can establish a website, a
bulletin board or a discussion group anonymously.

You can establish anonymous domains by using a proxy server (that
hides your real IP address and details). For example:

AnonDom
<http://www.anondom.com/> 

Costenet
<http://www.cotse.net/servicedetails.html> 

Domains by Proxy
<http://domainsbyproxy.com/> 

KatzGlobal
<http://www.katzglobal.com/hosting/hosting.html> 

This is not a 100% protection. If you check out these sites'
terms-of-service, you'll find out that a court might force them to
reveal your identity. Some claims have been made against
Domain-by-Proxy that they would do it even without a court order, due
to a letter from a lawyer (See: "Blogging unanonymously", Metafilter
<http://www.metafilter.com/mefi/43557>).

Blog is a very good solution. People can post their comments to blogs,
and there are ways to blog anonymously. The article, "How to Blog
Safely", recommends several measures:
- Using a site like Invisiblog to write your blog on: 
Invisblog
<http://www.invisiblog.com/> 
- Using anonymizer when you surf
<http://www.anonymizer.com/> 
- Using their "Tor" system to hide your computer and its location
<http://tor.eff.org/> 

EFF, "How to Blog Safely (About Work or Anything Else)" 
<http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Anonymity/blog-anonymously.php> 

See also TorPark
<http://digg.com/security/TorPark:_Anonymous_browsing_on_a_USB_drive> 

The site suggested in the comment seems to do just that: 
http://anoniblog.pbwiki.com/  

If you have an anonymous e-mail address and you approach the net
by-proxy, another idea might be to open a... Google Group.

Google enables you to open a discussion group with your Google ID
only. Your Google ID could be an anonymous email (from the services
mentioned before and others), and you can approach it by proxy. Voile,
an extremly simple and cheap solution:
Google Groups - Set Up a Group
<http://groups.google.com/groups/create?lnk=l&hl=en> 

As mentioned before, a second question arises regarding legal
responsibility. I want you to understand that libel is an offence.
According to your story, I understand that you don't think that claims
against John Smith would be libel (because they are true), and your
main concern is that he'll try to block you by writing a legal warning
to the hosting site, or threatening to sue.

However, the chances of having your anonymous identity unmasked in
such cases also depends on libel laws where you are. Some states have
rules regarding anonymous publishing online: some would allow
libel/defamation suits (and would force the host to unveil the
identity of the publisher or to remove the material), some would not.

For example: 

"In a Delaware case last year, the state's Supreme Court ruled that
people aggrieved by a blog had the opportunity for redress simply by
posting on the offending blog." (SOURCE: Mark Brunswick and Dane
Smith, "Facing suit, anonymous blogger lifts his mask"
<http://www.startribune.com/587/story/163827.html>). (It should be
mentioned, that Michael Brodkorb did neither use an anonymous proxy,
like I recommend you to do, nor was his blog located in a complete
anonymous site like Invisiblog).

Another important quesiton you've raised is whether you are held
responsible for posts made by others to a blog or a message board you
manage. The answer is nto always, but usually, yes:
Bloggers may be liable for blog comments 
<http://dba-oracle.com/oracle_news/2005_9_1_liable_blog_comments.htm>

Again, this stresses the importance for you to use anonymous proxies
and hostings for your blog, and perhaps also to state that each poster
is responsible for their posts. Not moderating posts might - but might
not - help:
Is it riskier to moderate blog comments?
<http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/blogspotting/archives/2005/08/is_it_riskier_t.html>

Some other cases that should be mentioned: 
"Alkateeb v. Does 1-15

An Arizona couple brought suit in federal court in New York against
numerous anonymous persons who posted negative comments about them on
a bulletin board established by a wedding shopping company, and
subpoenaed their identities.  Several Does filed a motion to quash the
subpoena, and Public Citizen filed an amicus brief supporting this
motion and urging that none of the other Does be identified until
plaintiffs made a stronger showing to support their right to bring
this case.  Public Citizen argued that, although many of the posts
were mean, they were not defamatory, and there was no evidence of
falsity.  Moreover, there was no showing that the case was properly
filed either in federal court or in New York."
(SOURCE: Public Citizen,
<http://www.citizen.org/litigation/briefs/IntFreeSpch/articles.cfm?ID=5801>).

"Dendrite International v. Does 1 through 14

Company providing and servicing software for the pharmaceutical
industry sued four anonymous posters, two of them current or former
employees, alleging defamation, disclosure of trade secrets, and
breach of employment contract. Public Citizen filed an amicus brief in
support of opposition by two posters to subpoena to Yahoo! After Court
entered order protecting these two posters, the company appealed
denial of subpoena regarding one of the posters." (SOURCE: ibid).

This is another example of a suit, because the person did not use anonyous proxy: 

Collins Stewart hunts down internet libeller 
<http://technology.guardian.co.uk/online/news/0,12597,1444515,00.html> 

(See also: 
MadSci: "RE: Is it possible for the ISPs or the server to trace some one out?"
<http://www.madsci.org/posts/archives/oct2000/970439390.Cs.r.html> )

It should be mentioned, that libel victims complain that Blogger *does
not* respond to their complaints regarding melicious blogs:
Defamation and Libel
<http://defamationandlibel.blogspot.com/> 

Further Resources
=================

Chilling Effects Clearinghouse - John Doe Anonymity
<http://www.chillingeffects.org/johndoe/> 

Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic - Online Anonymity FAQ
<http://www.cippic.ca/en/faqs-resources/online-anonymity/> 

EFF - Anonymity 
<http://www.eff.org/Privacy/Anonymity/> 

Time to get tough: Managing anonymous reader comments
<http://www.ojr.org/ojr/stories/060126crosbie/> 

Mauritius
<http://www.elandnews.com/mauritius/uap.html> 

Do-it-yourself Internet anonymity
<http://www.theregister.co.uk/2001/11/14/doityourself_internet_anonymity/> 

I hope this answers your question. Please contact me if you need any
clarification on this answer before you rate it.

I would suggest you spend your time and energy developing your
business and dealing with your customers rather than trying to save
the world, or at least that part of it that would do business with one
of your competitors.  It is always better to play up your strengths
then to slam a competitor - not matter how dishonest you think they
are.

Look at http://anoniblog.pbwiki.com/.