Interesting People mailing list archives
Re Techdirt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life
From: "David Farber" <farber () gmail com>
Date: Mon, 20 Feb 2017 09:32:59 -0500
Begin forwarded message: From: Paul Alan Levy <plevy () citizen org> Subject: RE: [IP] Re Techdirt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life Date: February 20, 2017 at 9:04:07 AM EST To: "'dave () farber net'" <dave () farber net>, ip <ip () listbox com> Massachusetts has an anti-SLAPP statute, but it has a particularly narrow scope – what steps are free speech activists in Massachusetts taking to expand its scope to cover non-commercial speech on matters of public concern? Although hope continues for a federal anti-SLAPP law, the real action for the past several years has been at the state level, with some states adopting their first anti-SLAPP laws and several states broadening the scope of theirs. There is, for example, a current effort in Virginia (I testified before a state senate committee in Richmond last month). From: Dave Farber [mailto:farber () gmail com] Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2017 2:20 PM To: ip Subject: [IP] Re Techdirt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life Begin forwarded message: From: Harvey Silverglate <Harvey () harveysilverglate com <mailto:Harvey () harveysilverglate com>> Date: February 19, 2017 at 2:07:44 PM EST To: "dave () farber net <mailto:dave () farber net>" <dave () farber net <mailto:dave () farber net>> Subject: RE: [IP] Techdirt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life Part of the problem in these kinds of cases is the enormous – and for the most part unnecessary – complexity, and hence expense and delays of the legal system. What we need is a statute or a doctrine that requires that in cases implicating First Amendment rights, and especially in defamation cases (which are so easily brought), there be an expedited and simplified procedure at the start to determine if the case is meritless and should be dismissed forthwith. And if the trial court judge refused to dismiss at that stage, there should be an expedited interlocutory right of appeal with a simplified appellate process. One of the problems is that the legal system is simply too complex, too time-consuming, too expensive. It is one thing for the lumbering elephant of a legal system to deal with corporate disputes over contracts or business issues, but it’s curtains in the media/defamation context. From: Dave Farber [mailto:farber () gmail com <mailto:farber () gmail com>] Sent: Sunday, February 19, 2017 11:15 AM To: ip Subject: [IP] Techdirt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life Begin forwarded message: From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com <mailto:dewayne () warpspeed com>> Date: February 19, 2017 at 9:13:06 AM EST To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com <mailto:dewayne-net () warpspeed com>> Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Techdirt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life Reply-To: dewayne-net () warpspeed com <mailto:dewayne-net () warpspeed com> [Note: This item comes from friend Bob Frankston. Bob’s comment:'I donated. Can one counter-sue for harassment on such a bogus claim?’. DLH] Techdirt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life from the the-first-amendment-has-to-mean-something dept By Mike Masnick Jan 11 2017 <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170111/11440836465/techdirts-first-amendment-fight-life.shtml <https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170111/11440836465/techdirts-first-amendment-fight-life.shtml>> As you may have heard, last week we were sued for $15 million by Shiva Ayyadurai, who claims to have invented email. We have written, at great length, about his claimsand our opinion — backed up by detailed and thorough evidence — that email existed long before Ayyadurai created any software. We believe the legal claims in the lawsuit are meritless, and we intend to fight them and to win. There is a larger point here. Defamation claims like this can force independent media companies to capitulate and shut down due to mounting legal costs. Ayyadurai's attorney, Charles Harder, has already shown that this model can lead to exactly that result. His efforts helped put a much larger and much more well-resourced company than Techdirt completely out of business. So, in our view, this is not a fight about who invented email. This is a fight about whether or not our legal system will silence independent publications for publishing opinions that public figures do not like. And here's the thing: this fight could very well be the end of Techdirt, even if we are completely on the right side of the law. Whether or not you agree with us on our opinions about various things, I hope that you can recognize the importance of what's at stake here. Our First Amendment is designed to enable a free and open press — a press that can investigate and dig, a press that can challenge and expose. And if prominent individuals can make use of a crippling legal process to silence that effort, or even to create chilling effects among others, we become a weaker nation and a weaker people because of it. We are a truly small and independent media company. We do not have many resources. We intend to fight this baseless lawsuit because of the principles at stake, but we have no illusions about the costs. It will take a toll on us, even if we win. It will be a distraction, no matter what happens. It already has been — which may well have been part of Ayyadurai's intent. [snip] Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: <http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/ <http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/>> Archives <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now> <https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/124165-7ff00c37>| Modify <https://www.listbox.com/member/?&> Your Subscription | Unsubscribe Now <https://www.listbox.com/unsubscribe/?&&post_id=20170219142012:6D54BB20-F6D8-11E6-9DD8-F5692708B7FE> ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/18849915-ae8fa580 Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=18849915&id_secret=18849915-aa268125 Unsubscribe Now: https://www.listbox.com/unsubscribe/?member_id=18849915&id_secret=18849915-32545cb4&post_id=20170220093331:8A6F9DDC-F779-11E6-BCAD-BD1A00CA8F00 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Current thread:
- Re Techdirt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life Dave Farber (Feb 19)
- Message not available
- Re Techdirt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life Dave Farber (Feb 19)
- Message not available
- <Possible follow-ups>
- Re Techdirt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life Dave Farber (Feb 19)
- Re Techdirt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life David Farber (Feb 19)
- Re Techdirt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life Dave Farber (Feb 19)
- Re Techdirt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life David Farber (Feb 20)