Category: Censorship

The Curious Takedown Notices of ‘Tongues of Glass’ Poet Shaun Shane – TorrentFreak

Five years ago the case first made headlines when On Press Inc. started hounding people on social media because they dared to recite the single line poem, which consists of just eighteen words.At the time, Techdirt reported on the issue, which was quickly picked up by others including BoingBoing, professor Michael Geist, and lawyer Ken White at Popehat. Needless to say, the number of poem recitals only increased.On Press Inc. wasn’t happy with the coverage. Responding to the media attention, the company asked Google to remove links to the poem from its search engine.This effort backfired in an even bigger way. Not only did it lead to more articles, Google also rejected most of the requests. Even worse, the poem was also posted in full in the Lumen database, where copies of Google’s DMCA notices are published.Fast forward five years and the Tongues Made of Glass poem is back on the radar. This time it appears to be author ‘Shaun Shane’ himself who’s sending takedown notices to Google.

Source: The Curious Takedown Notices of ‘Tongues of Glass’ Poet Shaun Shane – TorrentFreak

Suburban Express Sued By Illinois Attorney General For Behaving Like Suburban Express | Techdirt

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, seeks a restraining order against the company to stop it from publishing customers’ financial information, halt harassment and prevent the company from forcing riders to accept unfair contract terms. If the company does not change its practices, Madigan said, the attorney general wants the company out of business.The company’s actions, Madigan said, constitute “flagrant and numerous violations” of Illinois’ civil rights and consumer protection laws.“My lawsuit alleges that Suburban Express has long been engaged in illegal discrimination and harassment of college students in Illinois, particularly University of Illinois students and their families,” Madigan said at a morning news conference at the Thompson Center to announce the lawsuit.

Source: Suburban Express Sued By Illinois Attorney General For Behaving Like Suburban Express | Techdirt

Goodyear Asked A Judge To Call Jalopnik And Request We Not Publish Documents On Its Dangerous RV Tire 


Last week, I asked Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. to comment on claims made in a lengthy letter that says the company knew for more than 20 years about failures on a tire linked to hundreds of crashes that have left at least 98 people either injured or killed. I obtained the letter, along with more than 200 pages of exhibits to the letter, from a court in Arizona following a judge’s earlier decision that led the court’s clerk to briefly unseal the records. Goodyear never responded to me. Instead, unbeknownst to us at Jalopnik, the company asked the Arizona judge to call me directly and intone that I should, in the words of Goodyear’s attorney, “do the right thing” and not publish those documents.

Source: Goodyear Asked A Judge To Call Jalopnik And Request We Not Publish Documents On Its Dangerous RV Tire 

Publisher Gets Carte Blanche to Seize New Sci-Hub Domains – TorrentFreak


Sci-Hub, often referred to as the “Pirate Bay of Science,” remains a thorn in the side of academic publishers. After obtaining an injunction against the site last year, the American Chemical Society went back to court for an update, which now gives it the authority to seize newly registered domain names as well. But will that end the domain whac-a-mole?

Source: Publisher Gets Carte Blanche to Seize New Sci-Hub Domains – TorrentFreak

Lawsuit Reveals How Paid Expert Helped 3M “Command the Science” on Dangerous Chemicals


While some of 3M’s history will remain secret as a result of the settlement deal, documents already made public in the Minnesota case point to one critical tool the Minnesota-based company used to defend itself — a scientist named John Giesy, who helped 3M spin the science on PFCs chemicals in the company’s favor even as he presented himself as an independent scientist.Giesy and 3M did not respond to requests for comment.Giesy has worked as a professor at the University of Saskatchewan, Michigan State, and at least 11 other universities, and received grants from 3M for “selective funding of outside research.” That funding was a key part of 3M’s strategy around PFCs, which according to one internal document was guided by the dictum “command the science.” The studies the company produced through this effort, as slides 3M prepared about its research program make clear, were intended partly as “defensive barriers to litigation.”

Source: Lawsuit Reveals How Paid Expert Helped 3M “Command the Science” on Dangerous Chemicals

Israeli Music Fans Sue Two New Zealanders For Convincing Lorde To Cancel Her Israeli Concert | Techdirt

No matter what you think of BDS/Israel it does seem clear that Lorde should have the right to decide where her concerts will be — and where they will not be. But in response to this, some of the people who had purchased tickets for the show, along with a “legal rights” group named Shurat HaDin have decided to sue. They’re not suing Lorde. They’re suing two New Zealanders who wrote an open letter to Lorde, pleading with her not to perform in Israel. And they’re suing them in Jerusalem.

Source: Israeli Music Fans Sue Two New Zealanders For Convincing Lorde To Cancel Her Israeli Concert | Techdirt

How Goodyear Hid Evidence Of ‘The Worst Tire Made In History’ Linked To At Least 9 Deaths


In October 2003, Billy Wayne Woods and his family packed into a luxury $181,000 motorhome for a fun getaway to Florida. Call it a textbook American vacation: their destination was Disney World, and with his wife, Shirley, his son and daughter-in law and two grandchildren in tow, the trip would surely be one to remember. But on the return home for the Alabama family, the vacation took an abrupt turn for disaster.

Source: How Goodyear Hid Evidence Of ‘The Worst Tire Made In History’ Linked To At Least 9 Deaths

Shipyard Brewing Sues The Brewery It Is Trademark Bullying Over The Public Backlash To Its Trademark Bullying | Techdirt

You may recall that the middle of last summer saw us reporting on a somewhat odd trademark dispute between two breweries, Shipyard Brewing Co. and Logboat Brewing Company. Chiefly at issue was the fact that both breweries used images of schooners on their respective labels, except that the images used were laughably different. Also at issue was that Logboat’s “Shiphead” beer used the word “head”, which Shipyard says it uses in a variety of other beers, such as Pumpkinhead, Melonhead and other variations. Shipyard, notably, does not have a beer called “Shiphead”, making this all the more eyebrow-raising.Well, after we and others reported on this silly lawsuit, it seems that many within the craft beer fanship and community, a passionate group to be sure, felt a desire to let Shipyard Brewing know what they thought of this behavior. This is a common result when passionate fanbases get wind of bad actions taken within an industry. Despite that, Shipyard had apparently decided that all of this backlash was the fault of Logboat Brewing, and added a defamation charge to its lawsuit.

Source: Shipyard Brewing Sues The Brewery It Is Trademark Bullying Over The Public Backlash To Its Trademark Bullying | Techdirt

Psychiatrist Sues A Bunch Of Redditors For Criticizing His Therapy Services | Techdirt


For reasons only known to the plaintiff, an American psychiatrist offering unlicensed services in Japan is suing a whole bunch of Redditors for defamation. The underlying reason for this lawsuit is obvious: searches for Dr. Douglas Berger or psychiatrists in Japan tend to return lots of links presumably owned by Dr. Berger, but more prominently, a bunch of warnings from Redditors at Japan-focused subreddits to steer clear of his psychiatric services.

Source: Psychiatrist Sues A Bunch Of Redditors For Criticizing His Therapy Services | Techdirt

EU Commission Hid Yet Another Report That Showed Its Assumptions About Copyright Were Wrong | Techdirt

We can conclude from this overview that the studies published so far contain no empirical evidence in support of the substitution hypothesis and thus no evidence that online aggregators have a negative impact on original newspaper publishers’ revenue. On the contrary, the evidence shows that aggregators may actually be complements to newspaper websites and may help consumer discover more news and boost the number of visits.

Source: EU Commission Hid Yet Another Report That Showed Its Assumptions About Copyright Were Wrong | Techdirt