The 101st Fighting Keyboard Brigade seems to be engaged in a laughable, juvenile and pitiful attempt to intimidate comment and diarist posters on Kos and other sites in the left blogosphere.
This morning I received an email from my own email address which stated in an implied threat that "Defamation of Character is NOT protected in the Constituion <sic> as FREE SPEECH", plus a link to a USA TODAY article entitled "Jury Awards $11.3M over defamatory Internet Posts". The link to the article is here. The story is about a dispute between two persons over a business issue, and does not relate to blog commentary about public figures.
More on the flip:
The note was evidently forwarded through the
USA TODAY email system so these brave foot soldiers of the right could hide behind the skirt of anonymity. I know my email address was harvested from my Kos profile, as that is the only place it is publicly posted. The time and effort involved in harvesting email addresses from blogs and then using anonymous email systems to sent specific threats is substantial. Some Rethugs must have a lot of free time on their hands.
I mentioned this email this morning while talking to a fellow political blog addict, who later alerted me to an identical situation posted in the comments section of Blogactive.com. The poster, who is an attorney, received one of these laughable threats and attacks the anonymous source with a pointed but humorous response that should allay any fears whatsoever that such threats should be taken seriously:
Wowzer!
Take a look at the email I sent myself:
"Rob,
Thought this would be of interest to you. You can be held responsible as well in a defamation lawsuit not just Mike Rogers. Defamation is NOT FREE SPEECH. Check with one of your lawyer friends.
I am assuming that you do not have a pot to pee in.
So, you may want to be proactive and set up a Legal Defense Fund for Civil litigation you may be defending. Sorry, the State will not provide a Public Defender for the Civil Lawsuits.
At the rate you are going, you will piss off the wrong guy."
(link to article is shown in this line)
Which links to an article entitled: "Jury awards $11.3M over defamatory Internet posts"
Of course, I didn't send myself this, but some BRAVE soul did. I can't reply, because the party that sent this to me did not have the courage to send it from her or his own email address, but instead typed in my own address as the "sender."
How courageous!
First, my friend BE VERY FOREWARNED by sending me an email using my own address to harass me, you have assumed my identity over the internet which is a Federal crime as well as a crime in the State of Washington. Indeed, it is a crime under the very laws that Republicans have championed to "prevent terrorism."
How do I know this? Do not bother LECTURING me about the law. I am a lawyer.
If you would like to parley, then have the courage to email me directly, and I shall reply. I make the following guarantee: I will not disclose anything you write to me up and until I warn you first that our communications are no longer private. After that, anything you write to me may be made public. Before that our communication will be sacrosanct unless I am commanded by a subpoena to give sworn testimony.
I am a trustworthy fellow, my threatening adversary. Take me up, see for yourself. My honest promises must be better than your current plight.
By the way, there are two significant problems with your legal theory of defamation liability: 1) I have not published anything that has not already been published; and 2) in order to be found civilly liable when it comes to a discussion of "public figures", one must be cavalier with the truth", and I have said NOTHING that would be outside those bounds.
So save your threats. Email me. We'll discuss this little problem. I am a trustworthy soul, an Army officer, a father, and a respected member of my little local community.
I am certain that our interchange would be edifying.
Rob
PS: Oh, the other problem with your liability theory - Your right! I don't have a pot to piss in! I am a public defender; since Ronald Reagan, we've been on the ropes!
The link to the full text is here
While most of us wouldn't take such threats seriously, there may be some Kossacks less familiar with the law who could potentially be concerned by such tactics and threats. The message here is: laugh at em and don't sweat it.
If the Fighting Keyboard Brigade has the time to engage in such a silly but labor intensive effort as this, let em have at it! I would much rather have them make fools of themselves with this type of stuff than helping Rethug GOTV efforts.