How to Identify Malicious Commenters on 'PINK Channel

Are you familiar with a bulletin board called PINK Channel? It is an anonymous bulletin board that mainly deals with adult-oriented themes such as adult videos, adult sites, and adult entertainment businesses, and is not available to those under 18 years old.

On PINK Channel, the anonymity can sometimes lead to malicious comments that cause reputational damage to individuals or businesses.

In this article, we will explain how to identify the authors of malicious comments posted on PINK Channel.

About PINK Channel

PINK Channel is an anonymous bulletin board for adults. This bulletin board, also known as “Pink Board” or “BBSPINK”, allows users to create threads and post responses. According to the “How to Use & Precautions (Tentative)” page, PINK Channel is operated by an American named “JIM” (details undisclosed).

Examples of Malicious Posts

What kind of malicious posts can be found on the PINK Channel?

• I got a sexually transmitted disease from A, who works at the ○○ store.
• The real name of B from the △△ store is “C”. He works at the □□ Corporation during the day.

If such posts are made, there is a possibility that they will be deleted in accordance with the PINK Channel’s deletion guidelines if a deletion request is made.

However, since deletion requests are made on the bulletin board, making the request public may increase the risk of more malicious posts.

Also, even if a post is subject to deletion under the deletion guidelines, it may not be immediately deleted. To prevent the spread of damage caused by posts, consider identifying the poster.

What is the Process of Identifying a Poster?

The process of identifying a poster on PINK Channel proceeds in the following steps:

1. Request for IP address disclosure
2. Prohibition of log deletion
3. Request for disclosure of name and address
4. Claim for damages

We will explain each procedure in detail.

Request for IP Address Disclosure

In the process of identifying a poster, the first step is to request the disclosure of their IP address.

What is an IP Address?

An IP address is a number assigned to a device (such as a PC or smartphone) connected to the Internet. PINK Channel is an anonymous bulletin board, and there is no need for user registration when using it. Therefore, the operators of PINK Channel do not know the personal information of the users. In order to obtain the personal information of malicious posters, it is necessary to first disclose their IP address.

Provisional Disposition Procedure

We will request the site operator to disclose the IP address. This procedure is carried out based on a civil preservation law procedure called provisional disposition. Provisional disposition is a procedure that can achieve similar effects without waiting for a judgment by a formal trial. Trials take time to reach a verdict, but in the case of provisional disposition, a decision can be made in about 1 to 2 months, making it suitable for procedures that require a sense of speed.

The average cost of requesting a lawyer to delete a post and disclose an IP address, according to information on the Internet, is

about 300,000 yen for the initial fee, and about 300,000 yen for the success fee

https://monolith.law/reputation/reputation-lawyers-fee[ja]

It is said. In this procedure, it is possible to request both the disclosure and deletion of the IP address at the same time. The above is the cost of performing both. Naturally, the cost will vary depending on the content and volume of the posts in question.

In the case of an anonymous bulletin board like PINK Channel, there may be many cases where a large number of defamatory posts about shops or individuals are posted, which may increase the cost.

Furthermore, since the operator of PINK Channel is an American, additional expenses may be incurred for necessary translations of documents into English.

Proof of Illegality

According to the deletion guidelines of PINK Channel, the legality of a post is not questioned when it is deleted. According to the deletion guidelines, private life information is subject to deletion as follows, but not all such posts necessarily have illegality.

Private Life Information
Information with no informational value and only personal information that cannot be verified by a third party will be uniformly deleted if there is a possibility of causing disadvantage to the subject, even if the individual is not fully identified.

PINK Channel Deletion Guidelines

On the other hand, the court will only issue an order to disclose the IP address if it recognizes the illegality. Therefore, when requesting the disclosure of an IP address, it is necessary to legally argue the illegality of the post and collect and submit evidence to support that argument.

Prohibition of Log Deletion

If an IP address is disclosed, it is possible to identify the poster’s provider from the IP address.

Providers keep records (logs) of IP address users for a certain period of time, but these are eventually deleted. Once the logs are deleted, it becomes impossible to verify the details of the poster. Therefore, you must go through a separate legal procedure to obtain a court order prohibiting the deletion of logs.

However, there are many cases where logs can be preserved by issuing a notice stating, “We are about to proceed with a procedure to disclose the poster’s name and address, so please keep the logs.” It is advisable to consider issuing such a notice first.

When issuing this notice, it is necessary to assert the illegality of the post and provide evidence. The creation of such documents can be difficult without specialized knowledge, so it is advisable to consult with a lawyer who is familiar with online defamation. The average cost of having a lawyer create a notice is estimated to be around 100,000 yen.

Request for Disclosure of Name and Address

Next, we will proceed with the process of requesting the disclosure of the poster’s name and address. This request for disclosure of name and address is not a provisional disposition, but needs to be carried out through formal legal proceedings.

Even if there are posts on PINK Channel that could damage the reputation of a store or individual, if it is considered that disclosing this fact is in the public interest, the rights of the poster should be protected, and it may not be appropriate to disclose their name and address. The court will carefully deliberate and will only issue an order to disclose the name and address if it determines that the post is illegal.

The average cost of entrusting this procedure to a lawyer is,

An initial fee of around 300,000 yen, and a success fee of around 200,000 yen

https://monolith.law/reputation/reputation-lawyers-fee[ja]

However, this can vary depending on the volume of posts and the content of the posts.

Damage Compensation Claim

If a court recognizes the illegality of a post and issues an order to disclose the name and address, the name and address of the subscriber of the line used at the time of posting will be disclosed. Once the name and address are identified, it becomes possible to claim damages such as consolation money and attorney’s fees.

However, please be aware that there is a risk of failing to identify the poster, and even if the poster can be identified, the attorney’s fees required for the series of procedures are not cheap, so there is a risk that the victim will still incur financial burdens that cannot be covered by the compensation money. We explain this point in detail in the article below.

https://monolith.law/reputation/disclosure-of-ipaddress[ja]

It is often thought that many posts on bulletin boards like PINK Channel are made from personal PCs or smartphones, as many companies block access from their PCs. Therefore, it might be easier to identify individuals compared to other sites.

Summary

If you are experiencing malicious posts on PINK Channel and the operator refuses to remove the posts, consider identifying the poster through legal proceedings.

Even though the process of identifying the poster is a simple procedure like a provisional disposition, it requires specialized knowledge about the internet and law, and tasks such as document creation can be difficult for laypeople.

If you are a victim of malicious posts on PINK Channel, promptly consult with a lawyer who has extensive experience in dealing with online reputational damage.