A website that allows users to air dirty laundry about enemies and ex-girlfriends is being targeted by a North Vancouver lawyer whose daughter was subjected to online abuse.

Ari Golden, promoter of TheDirty.com, says the site is the largest "reality blog" in the world.

"It's a platform that allows individuals to post funny, interesting, controversial information about other people," he said.

Most of the posts on the site feature photographs of real people used without their consent, next to scathing, often vulgar diatribes against them.

One post, titled "Family of Hookers," features a photo of four girls posing together. The accompanying caption reads, "They actually go out as a family and spread their legs all over Vancity so unless you want all the STDs combined, stay far, far away!"

When North Vancouver resident Kristina Jensen found the site, she was appalled.

"It's horrible. It promotes harassment, racism, womanizing. It's terrible," she said.

Jensen slammed the site online and threatened to have it shut down, only to find herself the target of anonymous posters' wrath. Her Facebook profile was then uploaded to the website, including some of her contact information.

"I was harassed by people from all over the world," she said.

Her father Peter Jensen is now filing a formal complaint with the privacy commissioner, and plans to launch legal action against the website's operators in the B.C. Supreme Court. But he could have an uphill battle ahead of him thanks to looser American libel laws.

In Canada, much of what's written on the site would be considered libelous, but U.S. law permits website operators the freedom to allow third parties to post comments and material without fear of liability.

"In my country that was some of the things that hundreds of thousands of my ancestors died to protect," Golden said.

But the free speech defense doesn't cut it for Jensen. He argues the site should be subject to Canadian laws because it specifically targets Canadian cities -- including Vancouver, which is frequently referred to as "Vandirty."

"To me, it looks like they're attacking young girls," Jensen said. "It's really child abuse, and it's the worst kind of internet bullying."

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Mike Killeen