[SIGCIS-Members] email inventor lawsuit consequences

[Jonathan Coopersmith]

a familiar face emerges in the last paragraphs of
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/29/technology/mike-masnick-techdirt-internet-future.html

  “He understands the internet in a deep way that I don’t think is common,”
said Corynne McSherry, legal director at the Electronic Frontier
Foundation. The digital liberties organization gave Mr. Masnick an award
for digital activism in 2017 <https://www.eff.org/awards/pioneer/2017>,
when fighting a defamation lawsuit almost bankrupted Techdirt.

A man who claimed to have “invented email” had sued Techdirt for $15
million over its blog posts questioning those claims. The suit garnered
significant media attention; it’s not among the examples in the Wikipedia
article on the Streisand effect, but it really should be.

Mr. Masnick knew the lawsuit was ridiculous and unlikely to succeed, but
the legal bills were a hardship. Techdirt turned to the internet and asked
for donations. It got the support it needed, and the suit was eventually
settled with no money changing hands.
Stay sane,

Jonathan

Jonathan Coopersmith
Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science

Professor Emeritus
Department of History
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX  77843-4236
979.739.4708 (cell)

"Technological obsolescence,
<https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2023/05/technological-obsolescence>"
National Academy of Engineering *Perspectives* May 23, 2023

It's taking longer to vote - especially if you are Black or Hispanic
<https://theconversation.com/its-taking-more-time-to-cast-a-ballot-in-us-elections-and-even-longer-for-black-and-hispanic-voters-191711>
, theconversation.com

Preserving space archives:  https://www.toboldlypreserve.space/

*FAXED.  The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine* (Johns Hopkins University
Press)
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