<div dir="ltr"><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">a familiar face emerges in the last paragraphs of <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/29/technology/mike-masnick-techdirt-internet-future.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/29/technology/mike-masnick-techdirt-internet-future.html</a></div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">  </div><div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">  <span style="font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;font-size:1.25rem">“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</span><span style="font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;font-size:1.25rem"> </span><a class="gmail-css-yywogo" href="https://www.eff.org/awards/pioneer/2017" title="" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" style="font:inherit;margin:0px;padding:0px;border:0px;vertical-align:baseline;text-decoration-style:solid">award for digital activism in 2017</a><span style="font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;font-size:1.25rem">, when fighting a defamation lawsuit almost bankrupted Techdirt.</span></div><p class="gmail-css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-variant-alternates:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;font-kerning:inherit;font-feature-settings:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">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.</p><p class="gmail-css-at9mc1 evys1bk0" style="margin:0px 0px 0.9375rem;padding:0px;border:0px;font-variant-numeric:inherit;font-variant-east-asian:inherit;font-variant-alternates:inherit;font-stretch:inherit;font-size:1.25rem;line-height:1.875rem;font-family:nyt-imperial,georgia,"times new roman",times,serif;font-kerning:inherit;font-feature-settings:inherit;vertical-align:baseline;width:600px;max-width:100%">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.</p><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Stay sane</span><span style="color:rgb(34,34,34);font-family:verdana,sans-serif">,</span><font face="verdana, sans-serif"> </font></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Jonathan</span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></span></div><div dir="ltr"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Jonathan Coopersmith</span><br></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif">Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science</span></div><div><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif"><br></span></div><div dir="ltr"><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif">Professor Emeritus</font></div><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif">Department of History</font></div><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif">Texas A&M University</font></div><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif">College Station, TX  77843-4236</font></div><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif">979.739.4708 (cell)</font></div><div><br></div><div><div><font color="#222222" face="verdana, sans-serif">"<a href="https://www.nationalacademies.org/news/2023/05/technological-obsolescence" target="_blank">Technological obsolescence,</a>" National Academy of Engineering <i>Perspectives</i> May 23, 2023</font></div><div style="font-family:arial,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:verdana,sans-serif;color:rgb(0,0,0)"><br></span></div><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><a href="https://theconversation.com/its-taking-more-time-to-cast-a-ballot-in-us-elections-and-even-longer-for-black-and-hispanic-voters-191711" target="_blank">It's taking longer to vote - especially if you are Black or Hispanic</a>, <a href="http://theconversation.com/" target="_blank">theconversation.com</a> </font></div></div><div><span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:16px"><br></span></div></div><div dir="ltr"><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif">Preserving space archives:  <a href="https://www.toboldlypreserve.space/" target="_blank">https://www.toboldlypreserve.space/</a></font></div><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><br></font></div><div><font face="verdana, sans-serif"><i>FAXED.  The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine</i> (Johns Hopkins University Press) </font><br></div><div><br><br><br><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>