Shell International Ltd. is taking big efforts to remove defamatory material of the Internet which could damage its public reputation. But with the Internet is has become very easy to express your opinion about others to a worldwide audience. Not many seem to care about the truth though and express their personal opinion in an often unfounded negative way. This is where freedom of speech becomes defamation.

It has become increasingly simple to make your own website and express your negative feelings about a certain petrochemical company. With a worldwide audience, the consequences of these negative remarks can be disastrous for your companies image.

When these remarks are false and unfounded the writer or the person responsible for the website can be held liable for defamation. On the website www.nuclearcrimes.com Royal Dutch/Shell was accused of operating a a nuclear reactor in the 1960's at their Thornton research centre in the U.K. and that the demolition of this fictitious reactor represented a serious hazard to public safety. Shell International Ltd. send the service provider of the site a cease and desist letter pointing out the responsiblity for the websites provider not to cause or contribute to the publication of defamatory material by means of his service causing damage to Shell's public reputation.

In the case of Godfrey v. Demon Internet Limited it was determined that an Internet Service Provider (ISP) that is aware  of defamatory material posted on its site but chooses not to remove it can be held liable in defamation. It is now commonly accepted that an ISP can be held liable if this is the case and Shell's cease and desist letter will prove sufficient to remove the defamatory material of the Internet. Many other sites contain similar information though and it is essential for a company to keep monitoring the Internet to protect its reputation.

Pretection can screen and monitor the internet for existing and new defamatory sites, illegal use of trademarks, brand names and logos, and illegal use of domain names. Then Pretection analyses these IP-infringements and prioritises them for next (legal) steps. All collected relevant additional evidence and intelligence is saved with a digital notary tool to make them suitable for legal steps.