Meet Liskula Cohen, the former Vogue model who is suing Google over a blog post that describes her as a ’skank’ and ‘ho’. Photos and story here.
Liskula Cohen
At the heart of the matter is a vicious blog post left anonymously on a website called ‘Skanks in NYC’ which purports to name the skankiest celebrities in the city. She was named the city’s #1 skank on the site, a report which Google dutifully includes in its search results.
To educate our readers, our faithful companion the Urban Dictionary defines ’skank’ as a “derogatory term for a (usually younger) female, implying trashiness or tackiness, lower-class status, poor hygiene, flakiness, and a scrawny, pockmarked sort of ugliness. May also imply promiscuity, but not necessarily. Can apply to any race, but most commonly used to describe white trash.”
As an aside, the website has precisely 5 posts in its history, which includes this image and these too purporting to be the model. How ‘Skanks in NYC’ got so much attention as a throwaway Blogspot blog will be the stuff of internet fable.
It is also the stuff of lawsuits. Although one is free to publish what they want on a blog, publishers also accept the consequences of their publishing decisions. My guess is the publisher of the website will be hurting soon.
Suing Google for defamation would be a different matter, however. They are merely an indexing site, like the old Readers Guide to Periodical Literature which high school students dutifully used for term papers in the days before the internet. Holding Google accountable for content would be like suing the Readers Guide for indexing articles published by others.
She says that Google is included in the lawsuit so that they will reveal the name of the website owner so she can pursue legal action against them. In this respect she may have a point because Google is the parent company behind Blogspot web hosting and is the keeper of the information. Google has many more business interests than most of us are aware. Whether or not Google will be required to reveal their customer is an interesting legal question.
Liskula Cohen is a former fashion model whose face was disfigured in 2008 by a bottle-wielding hotel doorman. This violent event has reportedly ended her modeling career, which makes the name calling on this website doubly offensive. One cannot help but be sympathetic with the model and angry at the Skanks in NYC website.
She is also gorgeous. More complimentary pics can be found here. Her modeling assets: 5′10″ tall with measurements 34-25-35, blonde hair and blue eyes.
Skanky Video
January 6th, 2009 at 11:22 am
She’s going after Google because “Skanks In NYC” likely has no money. If she wins against “Skanks” the $35 they have in the bank won’t help her much.
I think “skank” also implies a certain kind of low-class look like one sees in heavy metal and/or hip-hop videos.
She’s beautiful in a classy way-out-of-any-normal-man’s-league way. I don’t see the skankiness.
January 6th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
If Don Imus had said this on his radio show it would have been OK.
January 6th, 2009 at 3:09 pm
She should know that going after Google for this blog will only make the blog more popular.
January 6th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
She looks like she has pointed ears.
That wouldnt stop me though.
Shes gorgeous.
January 8th, 2009 at 5:46 pm
“Liskula Cohen is a former fashion model whose face was disfigured in 2008 by a bottle-wielding hotel doorman. This violent event has reportedly ended her modeling career, which makes the name calling on this website doubly offensive. One cannot help but be sympathetic with the model and angry at the Skanks in NYC website.”
Having been to the site and seen the comments she has left, one has to wonder what she did to contribute to that “violent event”. I have also been hearing that she is not precisely the most sympathetic personality and she is certainly not getting any respect from the patrons of that site.
I think people are tired of celebrities and their incessant complaining.
January 9th, 2009 at 7:25 am
She is beautiful
January 9th, 2009 at 8:56 am
I’m sorry the lady was assaulted, but frankly, the lawsuit wreaks of attorney. And, looking for a free ride. People get insulted on the internet all the time. It’s the nature of the beast. Taking it personally (especially personally enough to SUE)only displays your own immaturity and issues.
August 18th, 2009 at 9:17 pm
Having seen the pictures posted on the now defunct website, I’d have to say she didn’t exactly exhibit exemplary behavior. It’s the sort of thing drunk teenagers might think is amusing, not adults.
If she hadn’t thrown a hissy fit over this, perhaps a dozen people would know that website exists. Instead, she deliberately drew attention to it and ensured it would be viewed by more people than her latest advertisement. I guess she’s looking for the pay day.
August 19th, 2009 at 3:30 pm
[...] As we previously reported, a New York trial court in Manhattan has issued an order (linkable full text -or- PDF full text) that requires Google to turn over the identity of a blogger that called Liskula Cohen a “skank” and called that Ms. Cohen went “lying” and “whoring” around New York. Several other blogs have also carried the news about Liskula Cohen — some supportive, others less supportive, and some with mixed reactions. [...]
August 20th, 2009 at 5:04 am
[...] As we previously reported, a New York trial court in Manhattan has issued an order (linkable full text -or- PDF full text) that requires Google to turn over the identity of a blogger that called Liskula Cohen a “skank” and called that Ms. Cohen went “lying” and “whoring” around New York. Several other blogs have also carried the news about Liskula Cohen — some supportive, others less supportive, and some with mixed reactions. [...]
September 30th, 2009 at 2:22 pm
Lee Baker of Citizen Media Law Project is furious about the judge’s ruling in the Liskula Cohen case because he feels he may be the author of some of the most lascivious posts. He admits he was intoxicated at the time and wasn’t sure just who he was defaming as he routinely slanders hundreds of people across the internet. Lee Baker is a miserable little man with a self-hatred so deep he attacks others without provocation through the anonymity of the internet. He is the consumate internet predator, a cowardly monster who secretly relishes the pain he daily inflicts on the objects of his hate. Lee Baker, please go back to the slimy pit you crawled out of. You and Citizen Media Law Project are evidence of the slime the internet attracts.