[Cedwards38]

Originally Posted by rubicon

Libel or slander its a bet that if someone posted it on TOTV they also repeated it to friends and neighbors so I suspect both forms of defamation have been exercised. The defense to defamation is truth

In my view the bigger issue is the affect credit card fraud/hacking is having on us all. We simply do not trust our credit cards safety any longer.

Many people are refusing to use their credit cards for smaller purchases.

The President & CEO of Visa is pushing for removal of magnetic strip credit cards, etc.

I agree. The issue here is not with Evergreen Buffet. Whether they did or did not get credit cards compromised is only a small part of the much larger problem. If they did, that could happen anywhere. Evergreen is not the issue, but American credit card policy is the issue. To spread this email with a finger pointed at Evergreen Buffet is wrong.

A potential solution that is widely used in Europe is the embedded chip. Please read the description below and encourage your credit card company to adopt this policy too:

"Smart Chip is a credit card technology where cards are embedded with chips and a cardholder must put in their pin or sign for each transaction to be approved. With “chip & pin” especially, this is an ultra-secure method that makes it much harder for credit card hackers and fraudsters to steal from consumers since, rather than just stealing the information contained in a card’s magnetic strip, they’d have to know the carrier’s pin number as well. The other type of chip card, “chip & signature,” function more like US swipe cards, only they can be used with portable electronic readers that require you to insert the card rather than swipe it, and then sign for it as you would with a regular old swipe card. Although chip & pins are prevalent in Europe, the cards issued in the US with chips tend to be overwhelmingly chip & signature, so you might still have some issues using them at certain merchants, but having a chip at all can be a big help when using cards at ticket machines or other vendors that require a chip of some sort.

Most US cards are just “swipe and sign” cards with a simple magnetic strip and the verification of signature standing between you and credit card fraud. From time to time, US swipe cards also make it more difficult to charge things while abroad where many merchants use mobile credit card portals where you stick your card into a slot and enter your pin into a keyboard rather than swiping it through a reader. While many merchants, hotels and restaurants let you use your swipe cards, many, especially in Europe, do not, including some restaurants, hotels and even public transport.

Read more: US Credit Cards With Smart Chip Technology | The Points Guy
Follow us: @thepointsguy on Twitter | thepointsguy on Facebook"

[Taltarzac725]

I am sorry too about this happening to that restaurant. The restaurant owners should seek good legal representation. I do hope that they can track down whoever started this rumor as well as find out what his or her motives were.

I had a cyberstalker/smearer for about five years (2001-2005) or so and I did finally identify him as he bragged about playing me for a fool for three years or so on Findlaw's various message boards. I had been trying to help him find legal cases using my law librarianship training for his white collar crime pro bono defense. Findlaw allowed anonymous handles of all kinds and no legitimate e-mail addresses attached to it.

I complained to both the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office as well as the Chesterfield County Virginia County Sheriff's Office about this man-- who had alleged things like I was the next Unabomber, that I was a paranoid schizophrenic, that I had killed people, that I pleasured myself while using Findlaw, that I was putting my family in danger by posting on Findlaw, etc. He basically wrote anything that he thought would get an answer out of me on Findlaw. I believe he also e-mailed some of the people I mentioned on Findlaw as I received a very nasty response on Findlaw from one of my University of Minnesota Law School Class of 1989 Classmates, MJW, who basically threatened to put stalking charges on me. Have no idea what happened with MJW to get her so upset.



The Pinellas and Chesterfield County cops said that they could not do anything about this man's posts. I usually also contacted the FBI about stuff like this cybersmearer as he was going across state lines. I do not remember them doing anything either. Findlaw finally changed how people can and cannot post, so that kind of took both this man and me off that system.

I had also contacted my Palm Harbor, US Congressional Representative who sounded very empathetic about the situation. Not sure if he did anything or not.

Just wanted to share some of my own experiences on the Internet with cyberstalkers/cybersmearers.

I hope the restaurant owners recover more quickly than the years it took me to come back on the Internet after my extremely traumatic experience on Findlaw's message boards due mainly because of the trolling of a single person who pushed the 1st Amendment Free Speech right for all it was worth. And, most of what this guy posted had the maturity and intelligence of a rather backward 12 year old.

[vlm790]

I saw the post on here and also got 3 or 4 emails from various people and clubs within TV. As with any mass email or message board I read it and that was it. I would still go there. This board along with the emails are simply someone's opinion. I am free to take it or leave it. Unfortunately a lot of people read something and think it's golden. Hope their business thrives here in TV and I look forward to going there!!

[JBarracks]

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. Winston Churchill.

[BarryRX]

It looks like the moderators have taken down the original post that had the title that was damaging to the business. Good work moderators and thank you.

[jhrc4]

Well my wife and I like Chinese Food, so it's off to Evergreen tonight, try it out, I understand the Restaurant has a very good reputation. Now the question is this. How am I going to pay ? By Credit Card of course absolutely!!

Who ever posted that malicious comment, needs to be looked into.

[Bonny]

I got this e-mail from 5 different people in the last few days.
I clicked "Reply All" and told them it wasn't true and also included the link to the response from Evergreen. I also saw 2 of my friends did the same thing.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by JBarracks

A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on. Winston Churchill.

Ain't that the truth.

Originally Posted by jhrc4

Well my wife and I like Chinese Food, so it's off to Evergreen tonight, try it out, I understand the Restaurant has a very good reputation. Now the question is this. How am I going to pay ? By Credit Card of course absolutely!!

Who ever posted that posted that malicious comment, needs to be looked into.

I too will go to Evergreen Buffet restaurant the first chance I get. http://www.dailycommercial.com/news/...b7d1ecf8d.html

[justjim]

My considered opinion is that people are overreacting to credit card "compromising."

The main reason I make that statement is that most, if not all, credit card companies pay for any charges made by someone other than you. Folks, it's not a big deal and I make that statement from Experence.

Now, identity theft is something entirely different. Some obviously don't know the difference or get the two confused.

[rubicon]

Originally Posted by justjim

My considered opinion is that people are overreacting to credit card "compromising."

The main reason I make that statement is that most, if not all, credit card companies pay for any charges made by someone other than you. Folks, it's not a big deal and I make that statement from Experence.

Now, identity theft is something entirely different. Some obviously don't know the difference or get the two confused.

Justjim: It can be a big deal if it affects your credit ratings. It can be a big deal if you have to go back and re-do every ongoing credit account. it can be a bid deal if your name is drawn through the mud.

In all the years that we have kept house we have never once had a delinquent payment. Once the company handling our loan went to an automated system. In the process they failed to post our payment. It hit our credit rating. my wife was livid. she immediately addressed the issue and got it corrected. Low and behold three years later it showed up again. That loan company will probably never forget my wife because she made it clear it was their mistake one they promised to correct and never effectively did so . We take pride in our credit rating and this company's negligence cost us time and stress.

I am going to be making cash payments on many of my purchases until my credit card company sends me a chip embedded card.

[memason]

In the not too distant future, your smartphone will make your credit cards obsolete... Pretty easy technology and you'll pay at your table with your phone via barcode scanner.

If anyone is using the Starbucks app, you know what I'm talking about.

[DianeM]

What a horrible thing to do to someone starting a business. Absolutely horrific. Whoever started the rumor deserves to be prosecuted.

[Taltarzac725]

Originally Posted by DianeM

What a horrible thing to do to someone starting a business. Absolutely horrific. Whoever started the rumor deserves to be prosecuted.

Not sure about the law covering this situation as we do not know where the offending e-mails came from but my guess is that you would have a hard time proving the criminal intent for a criminal prosecution. A civil suit though-- again depending on where this libel came from -- would be another matter. And, if this restaurant's business really did fall off because of these e-mails, there could be significant damages involved. I am not a FL practicing lawyer though and its been since 1991 since I studied law while cramming for the Minnesota Bar Exam. It was not something I put my heart and soul in studying as law librarians are not allowed --usually anyway-- to make any kind of lawyer-client relationship with people who come into law libraries. It is just a bell and whistle to put on your resume that you have passed a State Bar somewhere. I missed passing the Minnesota Bar by 9 points out of a needed 260 in the Fall of 1991 and never saw much point in studying for the Bar after that. Plus, a lot of very stressful things were happening which I also wrote the Minnesota Bar about. Sorry for the aside.

I do feel for the owners of this restaurant.

[LadyDi]

Right on! The best thing we can do is support the Evergreen Restaurant as soon as possible to counter the malicious email. Don't let them go out of business. I got the nasty email quickly followed by the news article from The Villages News. How do we check out these nasty emails for ourselves? It is easy to check up on an email that blasts a politician or celebrity but hundreds (possibly thousands by now) of Villages were duped into passing along the nasty email to protect their friends credit cards.

[ajbrown]

The dark side of me thinks this may have been a brilliant marketing strategy by Evergreen. Brands are hard to create you know....

I for one never would have heard of Evergreen until the email and subsequent news article. Now I will check out their food...