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Imagine this hypothetical scenario:

  1. I am a faculty at a state university.

  2. I have an entry at RateMyProfessors.com (http://www.ratemyprofessors.com/) that shows up when people search Google with my name.

  3. Unfortunately I have been cyberstalked (there is a letter written by a colleague).

  4. I have asked the university not to put my name on the university website.

  5. But my RMP entry is still on the webpage.

  6. Thus I am concerned that stalker will find me from RMP website.

  7. But RMP will not remove my entry from RMP website.

  8. There are no students posting on my entry at RMP website.

  9. How would I be able to force RMP to remove my information?

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  • Can you get into details about the cyberstalking? What if any relationship did you have with the stalker? How does RMP factor in? What stalker actions has the stalker taken? – hszmv Jun 8 '18 at 16:42
  • See also this answer: law.stackexchange.com/questions/29907/… – ohwilleke Jul 3 '18 at 6:35
4

You would need a court order to force them to take it down. There is virtually no chance a court will order them to take it down, because it would be almost impossible to do so without violating the First Amendment.

You would have to prove that forcing a publisher to stop saying that you teach at the university would advance some compelling governmental interest, and that there isn't a better way to advance that interest.

It's not clear what you mean by "cyberstalking," but if you're talking about someone sending you harassing messages, then the court would probably conclude that the better option would be to punish the harasser, rather than limit the publisher's speech.

You could try paying them off or sending a threatening legal demand, but I doubt either would go far. I suspect that the best course would be a persistent campaign to escalate up their chain of command to find a sympathetic person willing to help. Even that, though, I would expect to be tough, because I'm sure you wouldn't be the first person trying this.

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  • They say that they can look at the police report. Please advise how to get a police report. – 171124 Jun 9 '18 at 19:25
  • That's a different issue, so you'll need to set it up as a new question. Be sure to include what jurisdiction you're in. – bdb484 Jun 9 '18 at 19:26
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I don't think you will be able to force RMP to remove your name. The US has pretty strong protections on freedom of speech and the press. True statements of fact ("Professor Smith teaches at XYZ University") and opinions ("Professor Smith is an awesome/lousy teacher") are protected and RMP has the right to publish them if they wish. False statements of fact ("Professor Smith murders kittens in his spare time") could be defamation or libel, but that doesn't seem to be the case here.

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  • Then what can be done in this situation? – 171124 Jun 8 '18 at 16:28
  • 1
    I don't know. Possibly nothing. As user6726 says, to get a definitive answer you'd have to consult a lawyer. – Nate Eldredge Jun 8 '18 at 16:34

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