Comments on: Website copies articles documenting scandal of disgraced cancer researcher, then uses DMCA to get the originals censored

By: slabman

slabman — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 21:03:00 +0000

Wait for the sequel – it’s due in 2002

By: Gilbert Wham

Gilbert Wham — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 12:03:00 +0000

Wear heavy boots?

By: Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 01:17:00 +0000

That was such a strange story and yet so topical. You know, even Jules Verne and HG Wells didn’t try to predict the impact of technology on average people, so I guess i would not be fair to mock RW Chambers for imagining a futuristic 1920 without autos or airplanes.

By: Preston Sturges

Preston Sturges — Thu, 07 Feb 2013 00:27:00 +0000

isn’t Potti back in India???

By: angusm

angusm — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:55:00 +0000

I wonder if “Online Reputation Manager” are among the ‘reputation management’ companies that spam me periodically?

I usually repay the favor by writing up an entry for them at selected web-of-trust-type sites. It’s surprising, actually, how many of these self-styled ‘reputation management’ companies have really terrible reputations at such sites, or have a lengthy Googleable history of malfeasance. Physician, heal thyself.

By: OriGuy

OriGuy — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:50:00 +0000

That’s because the DCMA claim came from “newsbulet.in” (one L), which has since shut down; the URL now redirects to “newsbullet.in”.

By: Antinous / Moderator

Antinous / Moderator — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:50:00 +0000

I’ve always assumed that “reputation management” firms were crooks and enablers of crooks.

They’re also pro astroturfers.

By: smut clyde

smut clyde — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 23:45:00 +0000

he hired a reputation management company

A Repairer of Reputations, you say? History shows that their plans to restore the Imperial Dynasty of America are always thwarted when they are killed by their own cats.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Repairer_of_Reputations

By: toobigtofail

toobigtofail — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 22:52:00 +0000

There appears (surprise) to be no “Narendra Chatwal” associated with NewsBullet.in. Nor is there a “Medical Reviews” section of the site.

By: TooGoodToCheck

TooGoodToCheck — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:57:00 +0000

Hmm. . . good point. It’s not a precisely symmetric situation, in that the first response to allegations of copyright infringement is the takedown, and the Bad Guys in this case don’t really care if their content gets taken down from NewsBulet.In. As long as they have taken down retraction watch, they have achieved their goals.

By: bobby

bobby — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:52:00 +0000

You should be able to sue the person that hired them under the presumption that they knew or should have known the tactics that would be used

By: hardwarejunkie9

hardwarejunkie9 — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:19:00 +0000

I use NearlyFreeSpeech.net for my WordPress.org blog (www.eccentriccog.net). They’re pretty aggressive on protecting their customers and their rates are rather astoundingly low. YMMV, but I’m paying ~$12/year (most of that in the domain name registration).

Also, no aggressive up-selling or marketing games. They really just let their service record and happy customers sell it.
While I doubt that it will happen, I’m looking forward to being able to thumb my nose at any faux-copyright disputes that might try to silence me :-D. (Having your own domain is nice.)

By: Saltine

Saltine — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:07:00 +0000

Do you mean a “clear implication”?

Grammatik macht frei!

By: jgs

jgs — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 21:04:00 +0000

I’ve always assumed that “reputation management” firms were crooks and enablers of crooks. If some of them are actually legit, it would seem like a good idea for them to form an industry association to self-police, before it’s too late. If it’s not too late already that is.

By: BillStewart2012

BillStewart2012 — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:53:00 +0000

In this case, the Bad Guys not only made apparently false copyright claims, but appear to have committed copyright infringement as well. The question is whether it’s possible to sue them for it in the US or not (and whether it’s possible to collect enough to make it worthwhile.)

By: Michael Smith

Michael Smith — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:36:00 +0000

This is why Looper so disappointed me. So missed possible time travel plots…

By: TooGoodToCheck

TooGoodToCheck — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:26:00 +0000

Part of the answer is that you need a fairly badass web host.

As a legal remedy, maybe if the penalty for false copyright claims were on a par with the penalties for actual copyright infringement?

By: Brainspore

Brainspore — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:21:00 +0000

… its simplistic style is partly explained by the fact that its editor, having to meet a publishing deadline, copied the information off the back of a packet of breakfast cereal, hastily embroidering it with a few footnotes in order to avoid prosecution under the incomprehensibly tortuous Galactic copyright laws. It is interesting to note that a later and wilier editor sent the book backwards in time through a temporal warp, and then successfully sued the breakfast cereal company for infringement of the same laws.

—Douglas Adams, Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

By: TheMadLibrarian

TheMadLibrarian — Wed, 06 Feb 2013 20:20:00 +0000

I am starting to get very tired of people using questionable copyright/IP/prior use claims to force shutdown of legitimate use. Any good ideas about how to kick copyright trolls in the junk?