Is Leveraging The Streisand Effect Illegal?
from the a-new-anti-streisand-attack dept
A couple years ago, I jokingly coined the phrase "The Streisand Effect," to describe an increasingly common phenomenon. Someone would get upset about something they didn't like online and would have some lawyers send out a nasty cease-and-desist letter to get it taken offline. Such a plan would usually backfire, because getting the lawyers involved would end up drawing much more attention to whatever it was that the lawyers were trying to suppress. The name came from a story from a few years earlier, where Barbara Streisand got upset over a project that involved photos of the entire California shoreline, taken from a helicopter. Her complaint was that her seaside mansion was included among the photos. Of course, before she filed the lawsuit, almost no one knew that. Afterwards, the photo became an internet hit. Since that time, the phrase has grown in popularity -- though, it seems that plenty of folks still don't quite understand it. However, it was only a matter of time until lawyers came up with a way to flip the Streisand Effect around, and use it to their advantage.Back in May, we had the surprising story of how the head of Sharman Networks (makers of Kazaa, and general pariah of the the recording industry) had sued P2Pnet, an amateur news/blog focusing on file sharing and related issues. It was surprising that she would sue a site that tended to support her position, but her complaint concerned some comments on the site that weren't written by the site's owner, but a visitor (raising plenty of valid questions about liability). The Register now informs us that part of the lawsuit has been dropped, but part of it continues. Sharman itself has dropped out of the case, but Nikki Hemming is still suing the site. This was a classic Streisand Effect case, where almost no one remembered or cared about the specific comments she was upset about -- but which have since received a lot more attention. That's where things get interesting. Hemming's lawyers have updated the lawsuit to claim: "the publicity generated by the lawsuit and subsequent P2Pnet web site hits will counter Newton's legal costs resulting in 'a net profit and ensuring the permanent success of [Newton's] P2P Website.'" It really is a unique strategy: accuse the person you're suing of profiting from the attention you brought him by suing him.
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I'm Outraged!
Theres money to be made in being a victim....
hey lets Sue Techdirt for.... being informative!!! damn em...
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Nothing new
Absolutely nothing new here.
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Re: Nothing new
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Re: Nothing new
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SO SUE ME! please...
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Streisand yarn (possibly very true)
Anyway, years later I was talking to a guy who was a chef in the same hotel. We got comparing stories and Streisand came up. He started laughing a really wicked way... You know what.. I won't finish the story because it's better left to the imagination but y'know what Barbie Streisand, you can scream and shout and bully and whine like a little girl all you like, but I sure hope you enjoyed that cream bagel and gobbled it all down like a good girl.
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Today's moral
I won't finish the story because it's better left to the imagination but y'know what Barbie Streisand, you can scream and shout and bully and whine like a little girl all you like, but I sure hope you enjoyed that cream bagel and gobbled it all down like a good girl.
Never piss off the people handling your food.
Let me get this straight.
I sue a site that in past supported me and my views based on comments made on the site, not by the owners/creators of the site.
So now the site that sued is getting a lot of free publicity for from my lawsuit.
So to remedy that I sue the site again for gaining free publicity that was generated by my actions, not the owners/creators of the site.
This is a classic example of not taking responsibitly for one's own action. If she had kept her mouth shut that comment would have been forgotten in a few weeks at best. Now she has just garaunteed her spot on www.dumbasslawsuits.com (I dont know if thats a reall site or not)
I can see it now. Artista Records is now suing FYE. The reason? Artista feels that it deserves some of the increased revenues FYE is generating due to carrying the albums of Artist's top musicians. An executive at Artista was quoted, "FYE is making that extra money becuase they are carrying our top artists. We feel some of that revenue belongs to us. We know that we get payed royalties by FYE to sale our....ahem...our artist's music but think about the artists we represent.
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We're so proud...
It is a cool phenomenon and that is a waaaaay-cool
house Bab's has. I think I'll go visit there in a few weeks, I'll be in the neighborhood
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Re: We're so proud...
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Re: We're so proud...
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Accountability
For those who don't read Kantian philosophy, here's a primer: There are no innocent victims. Stop whining.
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Make Noise! Bring Suit against CNN! ABC! CBS! NBC!
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IN that case
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Streisand
Whether you like her or not, Streisand is a very high profile Jewish woman and has for decades received threats from anti-Jewish groups. These pictures without doubt constitited an unnecessary invasion of privacy that could well have jeopardized her safety as well.
Streisand was not unaware of the potential negative publicity, but on this one occassion, chose to pursue the matter based on prinicipal.
Those oare the facts. You can debate it all you want but it won't change a thing.
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cosby team triosby
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