News & Media
Steubenville, Ohio: Gang Rape + SLAPP Suit
SLAPP suits are never pretty. This one is particularly troubling. A couple of members of the Steubenville, Ohio Big Red football team were accused of kidnapping and raping a 16 year old girl at a party. (source, source) A blogger, Alexandria Goddard, wrote about the incident. Naturally, she was outraged. She wrote another post, in which she also provided a copy of a photo, allegedly taken (or merely transmitted) by a Cody Saltsman. The photo and related tweets are available here. Tweets like “whore status” and “I have no sympathy for whores.” Saltsman has not been charged with a crime. He denies, under oath, being at the party at all. Nevetheless, the comments sections in Goddard’s blog lit up with
Press Prosecutions Relating to Occupy Movement Live On
By J. DeVoy Around this time last year, large bands of police descended upon “Occupy” encampments from coast to coast, seeking to decamp the rebelling hipsters once and for all. What you may not know, though, is that the Los Angeles Police Department radically changed their press policy immediately before its efforts to disperse the movement: only members of the “official” press pool were allowed to report on the raid. (Source) Rogue journalists, as defined by the LAPD, would be arrested on sight. Surely there was some kind of previous, quiet announcement of how to become a member of the official press pool so that bloggers, citizen journalists, and other non-traditional news sources wouldn’t (theoretically) be prejudiced, right? Apparently not:
Lawyer disbarred over falsified tax returns to get financial aid
If true, this guy is a complete piece of shit. Bruce Paul Golden, a former partner at McDermott, Will & Emery, who has been practicing law since 1969, submitted falsified tax returns to get $25,000 in financial aid to send his kid to private school. (Source). For $25K, he got disbarred.
Anonymous Comes for Hunter Moore – Moore’s Man Card Revoked
Anonymous has now targeted Hunter Moore. In a release published today, Anon writes: Greetings citizens of the world, We are Anonymous. This is a call to all Anonymous worldwide, you have a chance to make a real difference in the lives of hundreds of bullied teenagers and protect them from real harm such as rape or stalking. Hunter Moore, Founder of previous revenge pornography site http://www.isanyoneup.com is coming back stronger than ever from the shutdown of his previous website. This capitalist makes money off of the misery of others. People submit pictures of others naked to his website and he posted their social networking profiles along with the pictures. This time he is taking it a step further and plans
Randazza v. Cox Arbitration Decision
Those of you who recall this post about Crystal Cox will find the following document of interest. Randazza v. Cox – Decision D2012-1525 Naturally, I would find the opinion to be a good one, as the Panel found in my favor. However, the Panelist seems to have really gotten the whole point of Crystal Cox’s extortion scheme — something that prior panels dealing with her failed to do. See Joseph Leccese v. Crystal Cox, WIPO Case No. D2011-0679 and Allen Fagin v. Crystal Cox, WIPO Case No. D2011-0678. In those cases, either the Complainant didn’t communicate the facts adequately to the Panels, or the Panels were just lazy in their analysis. In this case, the Panelist got right to the
Sticking up for the big guy: United v. Untied.com
I got this story in my inbox — that United Airlines was trying to bully a website that is dedicated to complaining about United Airlines – Untied.com. United Continental Holdings has sued a Canadian professor who maintains the 15-year-old complaint website Untied.com, which airs complaints from disgruntled United Airlines passengers and employees. Two suits filed in Canadian courts allege the complaint site violates the airline’s copyright and trademarks. It also alleges the site violates the privacy of senior airline employees by posting contact information for those employees. Reading that, I got all ready to write a post about what assholes United and its lawyers must be. Imagine my disappointment when I didn’t really get to do that. The article continues:
Steve Swander
We lower the Satyricon’s flag to half mast today in honor of Steve Swander, the Immediate Past President of the First Amendment Lawyers’ Association. Mesothelioma took his life at 3:45 AM today. His practice was based in Fort Worth, Texas, where the local weekly described him as an expert at fighting authorities in the State of Texas over “morals laws.” (source) Swander was a much-respected soldier in the ongoing battle to preserve civil liberties and freedom of expression. (source) And, he did so in Texas – hostile territory for someone on his side of the fight. (source) The Dallas Observer wrote of him: Swander is a professorial type who speaks carefully and almost winces when he comes to the more
Moving to Nevada
Attorneys Marc J. Randazza and Ronald D. Green of the Randazza Legal Group explain why adult entertainment companies should consider moving to Nevada. They explain in the article: When considering its proximity to California and its traditionally friendly relationship with all aspects of the sex industry, incorporation in the State of Nevada holds an unparalleled allure for adult entertainment providers. Read More…
The Greatest Country in the World is….. JAPAN!
Proof: [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=x3esHzUDp8Q#!]
"Involuntary porn" site tests the boundaries of legal extortion
Ars Technica writes about the “involuntary porn” website IsAnybodyDown.com. In the article, Marc J. Randazza speaks to some of the legal issues that can arise from the site. But it’s not clear whether the content on IsAnybodyDown qualifies as user-submitted under either safe harbor. “This doesn’t go up in an automated fashion,” Randazza told us. “They have a direct influence over the content.” Read More…
It isn't Condoms that will drive the porn industry to Nevada
Measure B passed. And, by now, everyone knows that Los Angeles will now require condoms in porn production. Cue the reporters calling me incessantly asking the same question: “Will this now push the porn industry to move to Las Vegas?” Because that is everyone’s theory. The answer is “no.” No, the porn industry will not move to Las Vegas just to avoid using condoms in their productions. But, when the State of California raises income taxes by 30% retroactively, THAT makes successful business people wonder if living in LA is really worth it. I wrote an article, back in August, making the case that porn producers very well should move to Nevada. See Randazza Legal Group: The Case for Relocating
Randazza: Online Businesses Shouldn't Rely on 'Browsewraps'
Marc J. Randazza explains in an XBiz article why websites should consider reviewing their terms of service. He explains in the article: Based on the Zappos decision and the nationwide applicability of its core holdings, any online business should review their terms and conditions. In particular, relying on a mere “browsewrap” agreement – rather than a clickwrap one – is begging for a court to invalidate those terms. Read More…
Kenneth White brings a human side to the "involuntary porn" fight
Kenneth White is a certified First Amendment Bad Ass. In fact, that’s why I love being co-counsel with him. Another reason is that Ken has this streak in him that brings humility and humanity to my desire to scream murum aries attigit and run screaming at the other side, fully nude, carrying my sword like some hallucinogenic-addled gaul. Well, Ken has done it again. In this post, he calls out Chance Trahan, half of the team behind isanybodydown.com. He doesn’t call him out as a punk, but as a dad. Ken actually manages to play the “family card” without playing it the wrong way. Ken also notes that isanybodydown.com is, in fact, down. As far as I am concerned, if
A word on bellwethers
By J. DeVoy As part of its series of posts about BitTorrent litigation, Philly Law Blog recently discussed a “bellwether” trial that U.S. District Michael Baylson has set in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania for numerous cases brought by Malibu Media LLC against several John Doe defendants. In the literal sense, it is a bellwether case, and the trial – should it go forward – appears to be the first of its kind in the nation. Bellwether, though, is a word that has lost all meaning. It is thrown around casually in discussions of politics, economics, and now litigation. However, the word has a dark and foreboding origin, which my antitrust professor Peter Carstensen once explained at length. The term
Court rules "Dirtiest Hotels" list not defamatory
By Marc J. Randazza The U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Tennessee at Knoxville recently granted a motion to dismiss after it determined that a plaintiff hotel failed to successfully state a claim of defamation against defendant hotel review site TripAdvisor. In Kenneth M. Seaton, d/b/a Grand Resort Hotel and Convention Ctr. v. TripAdvisor, LLC, the Grand Resort sued after it was ranked No. 1 of 10 on TripAdvisor’s “2011 Dirtiest Hotels” list. According to the Order, one user claimed that the hotel’s bathtub had “dirt at least ½ inch thick” and was filled with dark hair. The photograph that accompanied the listing was a photograph of a ripped bedspread. The complaint levied that TripAdvisor was liable for
Illinois court rules anonymous comment allegations 'sheer speculation'
A court in the Northern District of Illinois recently concluded that accusations that an internet service provider might have falsified an account in order to leave comments anonymously cannot survive a motion to dismiss. In Hadley v. GateHouse Media Freeport Holdings, a county board member filed a complaint against the publisher of the Journal-Standard for allegedly defamatory remarks made in the comments on its website. 2012 WL 2866463 (N.D. Ill. 2012). The plaintiff stated that under an article published by the Journal-Standard, a person using the name “Fuboy” posted the comment: “Hadley is a Sandusky waiting to be exposed. Check out the view he has of Empire from his front door.” Id. The defendant cited to the Communications Decency Act,
Stronger Open Records Laws Might have Exposed Sandusky Sooner
After an investigation into the Penn State University’s handling of the Jerry Sandusky sexual molestation scandal, news organizations reported that the university had a long history of covering up for Sandusky’s actions. While university officials may have been at fault for the initial cover up, an exemption to Pennsylvania’s open records law, which protects the university from public inquiry, could have made it easier to hide information for so many years. Source. Pulitzer-prize winning journalist Sara Ganim of the Harrisburg Patriot-News told a group of journalists that the open records laws exemptions shielded Penn State from inquiry. Such documents as police records, memos, calendars, emails, and phone records are closed. Although all higher educational institutions are not excluded from the
"Police Brutality" = SPAM
While Marc dismantles “attorney David Blade III,” let’s take a moment to consider the plight of Oakland, CA Police Chief Howard Jordan. Chief Jordan’s force has apparently seen better days. A police abuse scandal led to a federal judge ordering him to reform his department and placing him under the supervision of federal court monitor Robert Warshaw. Mr. Warshaw couldn’t figure out why Chief Jordan hadn’t been replying to emails regarding Occupy Oakland and took the issue to the court. Chief Jordan told the court he’d never received the emails, pissing off the judge and revealing that the chief had set his spam filter to forward emails with various terms in them to his junk folder. The terms that Chief
Is isanybodydown.com operator Craig Brittain and David Blade one and the same?
On October 30 , my comrade from Popehat, Ken, received an e-mail from Craig Brittain with an originating IP address of 75.70.221.14. Today, I received an e-mail from “David Blade, Attorney at Law” originating from the IP address 75.70.221.14. For both e-mails, the next step in the message’s journey, Google’s mail servers, was IP address 93.114.44.79. Turning back to address 75.70.221.14: This IP address is serviced by Comcast Cable, and originates in Colorado Springs. You can check it yourself at this site. If you’re willing to take my word for it, here’s a map: I am certain this isn’t a Tor node or other proxy server. Maybe Mr. Blade Brittain is stealing some elderly neighbor’s wifi. But, in
Still more on isanybodydown.com
If your pictures are posted on isanybodydown.com, contact me. I will represent you free of charge, and I have received many offers from lawyers in other states willing to do the same. If legal action isn’t your thing, maybe a little bit of “turnabout is fair play” might be. It seems that the guy who runs the site pissed off elements of Anonymous some time back. Here is a lot of information about the owner.
