This is most depressing, akin to Trump's election. Both can be argued as cases where fake news, the power of nastiness and bluster have won the argument. I agree with Evan that the most distressing is the statement: There is no reasonable dispute that Dr. Ayyadurai is the inventor of email." I cannot believe that the adjudicators did not consider the disputes that have been in the press and in forums such as these...Gawker would have been well served to contact forums such as these, but it looks like it has been outmaneuvered by Ayyadurai's legal team! I wonder if SIGCIS members should consider filing amicus briefs in cases such as these in the future. -Ramesh --------------------------------------------------------------------- Ramesh Subramanian, Ph.D. Gabriel Ferrucci Professor of Computer Information Systems Quinnipiac University Hamden, CT 06518. Phone: 203-582-5276 Email:rameshs@quinnipiac.edu Web: http://www.quinnipiac.edu/about/directory/faculty-detail/?Dept=16&Person=23345 & Fellow, Yale Law School - Information Society Project New Haven, CT 06511 Email: ramesh.subramanian@yale.edu Web: http://www.law.yale.edu/intellectuallife/9841.htm ________________________________________ From: Members <members-bounces@lists.sigcis.org> on behalf of Evan Koblentz <evan@snarc.net> Sent: Wednesday, January 4, 2017 10:32 PM To: Sigcis Subject: Re: [SIGCIS-Members] The new thing: Ayyadurai claims to be suing Techdirt
Do facts carry no weight anymore?
The most offensive part to me is: "There is no reasonable dispute that Dr. Ayyadurai is the inventor of email." If the president-to-be can say any crazy thing and mock those who observe its falsehood, then so can lawyers. Or is history now decided by who has the nastiest lawyer? Remember, John Mauchly "did derive" ENIAC from Atanasoff's unfinished electromechanical calculator... I can understand such a decision back then, when the non-technical public knew next to nothing about computing. But in 2016? All it should have taken for Gawker to win is anyone on this list taking the stand to show a timeline of (ahem) email. The greenest small-town law school graduate could have won that case. It is baffling how Gawker lost. _______________________________________________ This email is relayed from members at sigcis.org, the email discussion list of SHOT SIGCIS. Opinions expressed here are those of the member posting and are not reviewed, edited, or endorsed by SIGCIS. The list archives are at https://websitecheck.quinnipiac.edu/canit/urlproxy.php?_q=aHR0cDovL2xpc3RzLnNpZ2Npcy5vcmcvcGlwZXJtYWlsL21lbWJlcnMtc2lnY2lzLm9yZy8%3D&_r=cXVpbm5pcGlhYy1lZHU%3D&_s=cnN1YnJhbWFuaWFu and you can change your subscription options at https://websitecheck.quinnipiac.edu/canit/urlproxy.php?_q=aHR0cDovL2xpc3RzLnNpZ2Npcy5vcmcvbGlzdGluZm8uY2dpL21lbWJlcnMtc2lnY2lzLm9yZw%3D%3D&_r=cXVpbm5pcGlhYy1lZHU%3D&_s=cnN1YnJhbWFuaWFu