The Brian Chase article probably isn't a prank, just an effort by overly eager Wikipeidans who want to document every bit of minutia about Wikipedia. Hopefully it will be deleted or merged into the Seigenthaler controversy article.
Congratulations to Daniel Brandt on his continuing efforts to prove that he is not a public figure by getting quoted by the New York Times yet again. |
All person cited by the NYT is a public person
Daniel Brandt is cited by the NYT
Daniel Brandt is a public person
i for one welcome our sophist overlord! |
Poor guy. Chase, I mean. I mean, yes, it was stupid and mean to post that on Wikipedia, but the last time i checked about 70% of the internet was made out of people posting stupid/mean things in various places. There is no way he deserves to be forced out of his job. Yes, yes, it was 'voluntary', but that is some serious public shaming, not to mention the loss of income. Well, I hope Brandt & co are happy anyway. |
Google's refusal to take decisive measures to remove libelous content from its search engine forces Domain Names Registrar dotWORLDS to serve notice of its intention to commence an action for defamation and slander.
Google's refusal to take decisive measures to remove what dotWORLDS claims is libelous content from its search engine has caused the Domain Names Registrar to serve notice of its intention to commence an action for defamation and slander.
Despite an agreement by Google to withdraw a number of allegedly defamatory postings from its worldwide search engines, dotWORLDS (www.dotworlds.net) CEO Brian Retkin claims its gestures are "simply token and a continuation of its policy of obstruction and delay."
"In contrast to what many see as a total disregard for the reputation of its users, Google vehemently protects its own privacy," said Retkin. According to a September 4, 2005 story in the Sunday Times Online by Dominic Rusche, a recent public relations fiasco occurred after Google banned its staff from talking to CNet reporters for one year. It transpired that the ban was Google's response to CNet's publication of personal information about Dr. Eric Schmidt, Google's CEO. It was then learned that not only was the information already in the public domain, but the same information about Schmidt was also available on Google's own websites.
"Google's reaction to CNet was inconsistent with its handling of a man who had been falsely accused as a pedophile by his wife during divorce hearings," said Retkin. His name and photograph were posted on a police website but were removed after the charges were dropped. However, having picked up the story, Google did not remove the pictures or postings it had published on its search engine. According to Pam Dixon, executive director of the World Privacy Forum (WPF), the page remained accessible through Google and was only removed after a long struggle.
"DotWORLDS believes Google's refusal to fully address libel on its websites is a global problem," said Retkin. "There is little to stop the popular search engine from being hijacked by unscrupulous individuals for their own purposes. Google has managed to defend its position by relying on the unique status of American law."
"The biggest obstacle that dotWORLDS will face is the court's grappling with Google's defense that it cannot judge what is defamatory and that it cannot be in the position of having to make such judgments – which in the defamation area are notoriously difficult, even for a court to make," said Retkin. "This would be coupled with the pre-eminence of the First Amendment right to freedom of speech, which is always given the benefit of the doubt in the United States and which has often proven to be a viable defense in recent Internet-related cases."
With such uncertainty, dotWORLDS may find it difficult to prevail, however it says it plans to fight its case from a new perspective in order to succeed where others have failed.
"If dotWORLDS does succeed, the ramifications for Google could be immense," said Retkin. "Up to nine billion pages could require proper scrutiny, putting Google in need of a larger staff and greater resources to ensure it remains on the right side of the law."
[a href="http://www.dotworlds.net"]dotWORLDS[/a]
[a href="http://www.media-press-release.com/release-16.htm"]http://www.media-press-release.com/release-16.htm[/a]
[a href="http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?storyid=2792&ret=news.aspx&cat=Business"]http://www.transworldnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?storyid=2792&ret=news.aspx&cat=Business[/a]
[a href="http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/12/emw323947.htm"]http://www.emediawire.com/releases/2005/12/emw323947.htm[/a] |
