Techdirt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life / Ayyadurai again

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Bob Frankston" <Bob19-0501 () bobf frankston com>
> Date: January 12, 2017 at 9:06:41 AM EST
> To: "'David Farber'" <farber () gmail com>
> Subject: Techdirt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life / Ayyadurai again
>
> https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20170111/11440836465/techdirts-first-amendment-fight-life.shtml
>  
>  
> Bob Frankston
> http://Frankston.com
> @BobFrankston

>  
rt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life
from the the-first-amendment-has-to-mean-somethingdept
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 claims and 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.
I am beyond thankful to the many of you who have reached out and offered to help in all sorts of ways. It is heartening 
to know so many people care about Techdirt. At some point soon, we may set up a dedicated legal defense fund. But, in 
the meantime, any support you can provide us will help — whether it's just alerting people to this situation and the 
danger of trying to stifle a free press through meritless lawsuits, or it's supporting Techdirt directly (or, if you 
have a company, advertising with us). As always, you can support us directly as a Friend of Techdirt, or check out some 
of the other perks you can get in our Insider program. You can also support us via Patreon.
If freedom of expression and the press is to actually mean something, it needs to be protected, not stomped on with 
baseless lawsuits that silence independent voices and opinions.


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