The rumpus over the Cutler Files reminds me that I never made a shout-out to the people who helped me when I was threatened with a legal action by a person seeking my identity. I want to do that now.
You might remember Mark Cenci, creationist geologist extraordinaire, threatening to sue me over a joke. I sure do. For those that don’t, here is an excerpt from one of Mark’s angry emails to me regarding his potential legal action:
How’s your net worth by the way? Should I order that hot tub I’ve been looking at?
I contacted several organizations seeking assistance should there be an actual court filing (not that I was convinced Mark would follow through- I had a pretty good case seeing as the whole Constitution thingy was on my side) and was quite pleased when the Electronic Frontier Foundation responded within a day. They were quick and organized. Before too long I was speaking to a lawyer and they had called my domain registry, email, and web hosting services to preemptively warn therm that a lawsuit may be filed and to not release any information. All agreed to provide notice to me so I could fight any attempt to divulge my identity.
Although I’m stubborn enough and confident enough in my legality that I was able to stand up to the bully, many people surely fold at the first mention of the word “lawsuit.” Some of those people might not give up their freedom if they knew there were organizations like Electronic Frontier Foundation willing to help bloggers.
I encourage all bloggers to click the button below to learn more about EFF and would further encourage all persons to donate to this worthy organization.
Speaking of AMG hypocrits, 7 pages of ripping on rep flaherty yet I just read in the Forecaster that Minority Leader Josh Tardy is arrested for OUI in Yarmouth a nary a mention on AMG…..
I can’t find anything about this on the Forecaster’s website.
I posted a response to Barry Goldwater but it never made it into the blog. Is this place that heavily moderated?
I have no record of that comment.
What I said was that the Tardy item was posted on AMG on the afternoon of Thursday, 10/7. http://www.asmainegoes.com/content/democrat-legislator-busted-oui?page=7#comment-546595
The title of the thread was apparently changed to reflect that the thread was then about members of both parties.
After Dan Billings posted the details of what happened with Tardy and the police[/url] and the fact that Tardy blew under the legal limit and was not arrested, the title was changed back to the partisan one. http://www.asmainegoes.com/content/democrat-legislator-busted-oui?page=7#comment-546607
I think my comment is not going through. At least I have no notification that it went. Three times now.
I have emailed the comment to you.
Edited: Joe’s comment was in the spam box, apparently because of the links. I now know I have a comment spam box. Let me know if you have any further problems.
Joe’s comment now appears above.
I believe registered users do not have to fear the spam box.