Teacher pounded by Internet hoaxers

School teacher Charlene Modeste appeared on a morning television programme last week complaining about “Internet harassment.” Modeste is a teacher at Trinity College, a tour-guide operator, and the mother of two daughters, and she is calling on Government and all relevant authorities, to do everything in their power to introduce laws which would stop Internet harassment. Her plea comes in the wake of an experience in which other people have seriously defamed her character through the Internet, she alleges. As a result, she felt that there are new challenges for Government to now put legislation in place to deal with the abuse of technology. Modeste lamented that if someone in TT has defamed one’s character through the Internet and the person wants to pursue legal action, there was almost no way of verification. She pointed out that because the majority of Websites on the Internet originate in the US and are subject to those laws, one would have to seek a US lawyer and a forum which can trace Internet chat rooms to find the perpetrator/s, and this can be rather expensive.

Modeste’s story started years ago. She was living in a house with her infant daughters and was subject to victimisation from neighbours, she claims. At the time, she could not take part in the ‘wild’ parties they threw, because she said she was not that type of person. However, the neighbours felt offended and she was subsequently victimised, she told Sunday Newsday. They did horrible things to her — poisoned the dogs and even sharpened cutlasses in front of her threatening her life. She called the police, but she could not follow through with it because when questioned, they denied all allegations. Now years later, she still endures defamation of character, because it is suspected that these same people used her name falsely over the Internet, misrepresenting her as morally promiscuous. She told Sunday Newsday that a photograph of herself was copied from her e-mail site and used in false correspondence by the perpetrators. Modeste does not know whether or not this was done by the same people but suspects the same individuals are involved. She has scince stopped using Internet services. “Up until this day, people have been calling my telephone number, but they call me by other names,” she said.

She explained that over the years, other people would ask her strange things and said they found out about her from Internet sources, wanting to know if they were true. Modeste is upset and angry that people would take the time to do such negative things that are so false and “out of character.” “I have heard that some people, when driving in front my house, mistakingly think that immoral activities happen there,” she quipped. The hard-working woman, who is very much an active Roman Catholic is really dismayed  at such insinuations since she is so far-removed from that sort of life. “What time do I have left outside of school hours, with all of this on my plate, including taking care of two daughters, to lead such a licentious life?” she asked. “I firmly believe in marriage, in sexual relations within marriage and do not support casual intimacy at all.” Modeste lamented that people in TT’s society could take pettiness so far, even to an international level, to defame someone’s character in such a manner. TT’s legal structure should now include tangible ways of dealing with Internet misappropriation, she said.