I’ve noticed that idiots that are clearly ignorant about the law are apparently harassing the Chatham Chatlist moderator

Date: Sat, 05 Oct 2013 08:12:26 -0400
From: Cryptik
Subject: using the information I posted about cyberstalking laws as some sort of bullying leverage

I’ve noticed that idiots are apparently harassing Gene, using the information I posted about cyberstalking laws as some sort of bullying leverage. Oh well…I should call out idiocy regardless of the “side” it chooses. Time to educate the bullies on the other side.

Gene is under no obligations to force people to abide by the terms of service on the Chatlist. There is no legal precedent that allows for Gene to be held legally liable for other people’s postings. Deciding what posts count as terms of service violations are exclusively under his discretion, and no one else’s. Don’t like it? Start your own damn mailing list and BBS.

Gene is explicitly protected under federal statutes as a service provider against being held liable for posts that other people create and publish using his service. If you sue him over posts on his forums, you will at best be able to have the posts removed after you blow the time and money on the suit and convince a judge to agree that they should be removed. If you want to pursue someone for misdemeanor cyberstalking, you have to go after the original poster, who owns and is responsible for the content you don’t like.

That entails removing the poster’s anonymity by subpoenaing Gene for the IP address of the poster, then subpoenaing the ISP responsible for that IP to get the subscriber’s name, then filing against the subscriber. You will likely face challenges to the ISP subpoena due to the massive abuse of them by copyright claimants for chasing Internet pirates with grossly insufficient evidence.

However, you can only file a civil suit for damages, and such a suit would have to be filed by the damaged party, not by an upset third party. You’ll have to turn it over to police for the misdemeanor prosecution you want, and that will only happen if the target is a minor AND the police agree that the intent of the post was to harass, threaten, or intimidate that minor.

The short version of all this: you two are clearly ignorant about the law, and I hope you enjoy playing armchair lawyers and making public fools of yourselves. I’m not a lawyer, but I have done research in the field of copyright law and followed the copyright troll lawsuit phenomenon closely, and I can’t help but laugh at those who toss about the word “lawsuit” when they have no case.

Thanks for the chuckles. I would buy you two some jester or cheese wedge hats but I doubt you have the requisite senses of humor to appreciate such things.

“Now go away or I shall taunt you for a second time!” – Monty Python