Re Techdirt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life

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

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/>>



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