Unicorns And Leprechauns Aren't Real... But Trolls Are (And They Have Lawyers)

from the reality-bites dept

A whole bunch of you have been sending in the silly story of Liberty Media's latest antics. As you may know, the porn producer has been crazy aggressive in going after file sharers, even going beyond the standard mass pre-settlement threat campaign, with a ridiculous amnesty offer to get people to pay $1,000 even if they haven't been accused of file sharing. Someone in Sweden, a guy named Ryan, apparently decided to taunt Liberty Media, sending an email to them "confessing" to regularly sharing Liberty Media works... along with mentioning the unicorns and leprechauns advising him. The whole thing was clearly a joke, but Liberty Media's parent company, Corbin Fisher, is apparently without much of a sense of humor and issued a subpoena to try to get the guy's info, claiming that they're taking his "confession" seriously. The guy says he's never shared or downloaded any Liberty Media stuff and isn't in the US anyway. Of course, Liberty is able to do this as a part of the discovery process, but do they really think this is going to go anywhere? I think, in the future, there should be some measure of how much of a sense of humor a company has, and people should learn to only deal with companies who can take a joke.
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Filed Under: copyright, humor, jokes, trolls
Companies: corbin fisher, liberty media


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  • icon
    Chosen Reject (profile), 11 Mar 2011 @ 2:01pm

    What's the problem? I think his unicorn was being a bit defamatory. It's his responsibility to control that thing. I say he needs to be on the horn ... er ... hook for his unicorn's actions.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Mike C. (profile), 11 Mar 2011 @ 2:03pm

    Wouldn't it be funny if...

    ... someone set up a "form email submission" site based in a foreign country that would allow you to submit a similar email to Corbin Fisher. I wonder what they'd do with 1000 such emails? Over 9000? Millions? Could make for fun times indeed.

    /Something like "click here to send an email confession to Corbin Fisher"
    //you could even throw in a spammer-like random return address generator.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Ben (profile), 11 Mar 2011 @ 2:20pm

    FUD!

    (Sorry, it's the TD equivalent of 'first')

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    hmm (profile), 11 Mar 2011 @ 2:21pm

    i wonder

    If corbin fisher ONLY went after the first guy, and thousands of people sent emails and they DIDN'T perform the exact same actions to each person in turn, could they be accused of prejudiced against the first guy?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Dark Helmet (profile), 11 Mar 2011 @ 2:31pm

    A possible answer...

    "I think, in the future, there should be some measure of how much of a sense of humor a company has, and people should learn to only deal with companies who can take a joke."

    Perhaps the correlation is that as the number of dollars made by your company through the act of an erect phallis wedging itself into the anus of Charlie-Sheen-High 18-20 year olds goes up, your ability to laugh goes down?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 11 Mar 2011 @ 2:44pm

      Re: A possible answer...

      I attended Charlie Sheen High (all six years!) and that sounds exactly like every Friday night there. And some Thursdays. Not so much Wednesday nights, as a surprising number of students had youth group.

      Actually, come to think of it, there was usually some sort of phallus/anus activity pretty much 24/7. I wouldn't recommend it for everybody, but it did put a new spin on debate class.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Capitalist Lion Tamer (profile), 11 Mar 2011 @ 3:03pm

    To the representatives of Liberty Media:

    As the legal representation of the Unicorn named in the "Liberty Media v. Ryan S.; Leprechaun; Unicorn, et al" case, I regret to inform you that Mr. Unicorn will be unavailable for questioning or court appearances.

    Due to the fact that he is not a US citizen and is unable to secure the proper VISA, he is being deported to the mythical land of his choosing, or failing that, the cover of a 1987 Trapper Keeper.

    Mr. Leprechaun has also secured my legal services and has expressed a desire to settle out of court as the discovery process may lead to the undesired exposure of certain search terms and site visits, most of which contain the word "midget" or various misspellings thereof.

    He plans to plead guilty to the lesser charge of "'avin a wee bit o' fun" and is offering a settlement payment of one (1) pot of gold. Given today's over-inflated gold prices, Mr. Leprechaun believes this should be more than adequate and refers you to the offices of Rep. Ron Paul should you feel your payout is inadequate.

    All ties to Ryan S. have been severed as an unhealthy fake porn addiction is generally linked to a lack of imagination, imaginative fake letters notwithstanding. Do to the sensitive nature of this suit, Ryan S. has only been able to secure the services of Yggdrasil and Krazy Kat for future imaginary legal advice, both of whom are notably in the public domain.

    Sincerely,
    The Law Offices of CLT

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    Unanimous Cow Herd (profile), 11 Mar 2011 @ 3:14pm

    I Bet It Happened Like This.....

     ::fade in:: Guy at PC. Leprechaun pops out of thin air. ::

    Leprechaun: "You must help us mighty nerd.
    Trolls have stolen our golden herd.
    To win the battle  against the trolls,
    Ye must use the P2P.
    And download all the works,
    Of Media, Liberty."

    Guy: "Wait, what? I don't believe in Leprechauns"

    Leprechaun: "If us and our word ye not believe,
    Go yourself and ask the unicorn,
    She knows of Media, Liberty
    and their Troll-on-elf porn"

    ::Pink and Purple unicorn bursts through door::

    Unicorn: "Oh Great and Noble Nerd. Take up the staff of Justice and share tons of adult material that it may harm the evil Trolls."

    Guy: "OK. Sure. Whatever. Can you please get the leprechaun to stop licking my leg if I do?"

    Unicorn: "Of course, Noble Nerd!"

    :: Typing.. Mouse Clicking.. Modem lights.. Screen Message "mail sent successfully" .. fade out ::

    Copyright 2011 Unanimous Cow Herd

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      Unanimous Cow Herd (profile), 11 Mar 2011 @ 3:19pm

      Re: I Bet It Happened Like This.....

      Copyright 2011 Unanimous Cow Herd
      P.S. You may copy and distribute this freely. After all, 30 cows agree.

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 Mar 2011 @ 3:59pm

    This is funny!

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    iamtheky (profile), 11 Mar 2011 @ 4:43pm

    His Legal Counsel?

    Being Randazza, right?

    And this man's services still come recommended by the EFF?

    If the answer is yes to all 3 of those questions you should be quite confused.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    jack smack, 11 Mar 2011 @ 5:14pm

    capricious is ryans email. arbitrary is the flesh factory's response.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Miso Susanowa, 11 Mar 2011 @ 5:30pm

    "Aww, they took my frickin kidney!!!!!"

    - Charlie the Unicorn

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • icon
    RyanS (profile), 11 Mar 2011 @ 5:59pm

    Hey!

    I'm the guy who is supposedly getting sued.

    I am a huge fan of this site (there's very little that Mike has ever written here that I disagree with), after TF published the story, Slashdot picked it and I was wondering if it would show up here as well.

    The little guy and the unicorn are at the side if you want to ask them any questions :D

    link to this | view in chronology ]

    • icon
      The eejit (profile), 12 Mar 2011 @ 12:01am

      Re:

      Hey, Unicorn, is your horn really a potent aphrodisiac? :p

      link to this | view in chronology ]

      • icon
        vivaelamor (profile), 12 Mar 2011 @ 5:38am

        Re: Re:

        "Hey, Unicorn, is your horn really a potent aphrodisiac? :p"

        Probably not, but they're great for identifying potions and curing various ailments. I also hear that if you zap one with a wand of polymorph then you may get a magic marker!

        link to this | view in chronology ]

    • identicon
      Rekrul, 12 Mar 2011 @ 12:35pm

      Re:

      I'm the guy who is supposedly getting sued.

      I am a huge fan of this site (there's very little that Mike has ever written here that I disagree with), after TF published the story, Slashdot picked it and I was wondering if it would show up here as well.

      The little guy and the unicorn are at the side if you want to ask them any questions :D


      You should have told them that the unicorn did all the downloading. :)

      link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 11 Mar 2011 @ 10:16pm

    I was amazed that this email met the requirement for a court to demand Google turn over his IP information to pursue this alleged "pirate".

    This can not possibly be so LMH can get his information and attempt to extract some sort of vengeance for making fun of them can it? (/sarcasm)

    But then I remember this is from the people pushing an amnesty agreement that actually has a clause stating it will not actually protect you from being sued by them, oh and hey you just signed off admitting your guilt so they don't even need the testimony of the Tooth Fairy to make the case stick because you screwed yourself.

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 12 Mar 2011 @ 7:32pm

    Hey Mike, doesn't LMH own CF rather than the other way around?

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 14 Mar 2011 @ 8:05am

    I would enjoy seeing the Judges response to being sent a copy of the email. I would then enjoy seeing the Judge having a field day with the lawyers... oooh maybe Thursday on St. Patricks day... that would be fitting

    link to this | view in chronology ]

  • identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 5 May 2011 @ 1:38pm

    hi

    link to this | view in chronology ]


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