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

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

Begin forwarded message:

> From: David Golumbia <dgolumbia () gmail com>
> Date: January 12, 2017 at 9:48:07 AM EST
> To: dave () farber net
> Subject: Re: [IP] Techdirt's First Amendment Fight For Its Life / Ayyadurai again
>
> I think your readers might be interested to see Ayyadurai has now taken to appearing on far-right conspiracy theorist 
> Alex Jones's Infowars program selling all kinds of pseudoscience, bashing academic research, completely 
> mischaracterizing the Gawker judgment, & more. 
>
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g7mfjmSNnOk
>
> > On Thu, Jan 12, 2017 at 9:37 AM, Dave Farber <farber () gmail com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > 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.
> > Archives  | Modify  Your Subscription | Unsubscribe Now       
>
>
>
> -- 
> David Golumbia
> dgolumbia () gmail com



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