Guy Sues Wikipedia & Craigslist For $1 Billion Because (He Claims) He Found Nudity On Both
from the pro-se-me dept
Admittedly, most pro se lawsuits (filed by an individual, without a lawyer) are complete junk -- and on any given day you can find some really silly lawsuits. But sometimes they're worth highlighting anyway, just for how amusing they can be. Eric Goldman alerts us to the following lawsuit, filed by one Russell Dan Smith, arguing that both Craigslist and Wikipedia should be barred from being available in the state of South Carolina, and that each should be forced to pay $500 million, with half going to the state of South Carolina (might help with the budget) and half going to Russell Dan Smith (might help with the monthly payments he has to make on his $10,000 Puma camper).What, you might ask, should force both sites to be blocked in the great state of South Carolina, as well pay up a billion dollars, combined? According to Mr. Smith, both sites "have been and still do openly promote child prostitution and the distribution of child pornography." Also, "both defendants also promote adult prostitution and nudity designed to excite prurient interests in the people viewing it." How does Mr. Smith know this? Because, he notes, he discovered such things on both sites, but "not intentionally." You see, "the pictures came to him by way of his surfing defendants' websites for valid non-pornographic purposes." You see, "plaintiff does not and does not want to view such nudity as heretofore described." Understood, of course. And "for allowing such nudity of children and adults to be seen by those who do not want to see it, both defendants are liable of attempting to lure other persons to share in this crime."
Mr. Smith also highlights the fact that Craigslist sued South Carolian Attorney General Henry McMaster -- a lawsuit that was tossed out, but is being appealed. He claims that "there is a probability shown by the preponderance of the evidence that defendant Craigslist was a criminal organization suing the Attorney General of the State of South Carolina for no other reason than that the State had been investigating the organization and intended therefore to paralyze by fear of further action." Of course, as covered in detail at the time, McMaster had been threatening to put Craigslist execs in jail, for actions of its users -- actions clearly protected under Section 230 of the CDA, which other courts have highlighted. Craigslist's offensive lawsuit was not to "sue McMaster," so much as to get a declaratory judgment that it had done nothing wrong, so as to stop McMaster from continued grandstanding.
As one final point, it does seem worth pointing out that, on the documents filed, there is a note reading that "frivolous civil proceedings may be subject to sanctions...." Seems worth pointing out...
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Filed Under: lawsuits, porn, pro se, south carolina
Companies: craigslist, wikipedia
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for the children
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Re: for the children
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Lawsuits from crazies
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Say, what?
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Oh, SC
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Re: Oh, SC
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Nudity on Both
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Re: Nudity on Both
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OMG!!!
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One day...
Anyway, the Wikimedia Foundation really ought to be sued, but not for this. Rather, they should be sued for the sweetheart contracts they hand out, no-bid style, to corporations that favor their own staff and trustees. (It's called "self-dealing", and thus far the WMF does a fairly good job of deflecting attention away from it, but it is an ingrained practice there.)
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Re: One day...
How does that even make sense in your mind? User-generated content is the responsibly of the USER not the WEBSITE. The reason section 230 exists is to codify simple logic.
"Rather, they should be sued for the sweetheart contracts they hand out, no-bid style, to corporations that favor their own staff and trustees. (It's called "self-dealing", and thus far the WMF does a fairly good job of deflecting attention away from it, but it is an ingrained practice there.)"
{{Citation Needed}}
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Re: One day...
This makes no sense. There already is punishment for websites not behaving responsibly - it's codified into the law. There are certain policies a site has to enforce in order to maintain its safe harbor, including responding to DMCA takedown notices, and probably a few other things as well (registering?). I personally have yet to see this pendulum you're speaking of, so please share any examples you might have that don't involve grandstanding politicians.
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This can't be a real suite...
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To be fair to the guy
Additionally the large and ever increasing number of porn images spill out all over wikimedia commons. Try searching for 'furniture' here:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page
and you are no more than a couple of clicks away from extreme porn content.
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Re: To be fair to the guy
Porn porn porn!
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Whats Sad
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Dont forget.
Those such as Linu Medina are scientific in nature, and dont count for that.
Craigslist may actually have child pornography on it, but Craigslist isnt reliable.
I think I might sue McMaster. You see, onI saw that there was a child pornography bust in South Carolina. McMaster shouldnt be allowing this sort of thing to happen.
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Re: Re:
In 1980 when I was released from the US Penitentiary, Leavenworth, KS, I formed People Organized to Stop Rape of Imprisoned People (POSRIP); that was later incorporated as Stop Prisoner Rape, and which is now Just Detention International. I am now the author of several books. Still, I am a truly vindictive individual ala galore. The person on Hardforum who threatened to murder me should think about saying such things, since the website would be responsible for pathetic threats.
Anyway, you now have plenty of information to research and find to be extraordinarily truthful.
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"..nudity designed to excite prurient interests in the people viewing it."
;D
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Hell, why not just sue "the internet"?
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I demand to see it now! o_O
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This guy is thinking small time...
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remove the images...
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Sue Guy
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If this were for real there would be jail time
If this person hasn't forwarded his evidence to the police or to the people he's suing so the problem can be fixed, he's morally if not legally an accessory.
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Court case
The state court bumped the case up to the Federal court and joindered it to a class-action case in Charleston, SC.
My regards to the begging head of Wikipedia, who started this whole thing. He will not be rid of me anytime soon. He had best watch his p's and q's, since I'm watching to grab him at every point.
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Laughed the whole time I was reading this
It never happened, of course. But I loved the free advertisement. With my book out now ("Raped In Prison: A Horror Story", RoseDog Books, March 2021), plus as founder of Just Detention International (the only organization in the world solely involved with ending rape in prisons), I love being talked about. Even works of fiction like this one is free press, and I love it. Thank you!!!!!
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