Deposed Revenge Porn Jester Craig Brittain Tries To DMCA Censor Popehat, Adam Steinbaugh... And The FTC
from the Brittain:-'I-feel-I-still-have-more-reprehensible-stupidity-to-offer' dept
The DMCA takedown system is once again being abused by Craig Brittain. The recently deposedBrittain's takedown asks for the delisting of 23 posts from various sites, all of which have been denied by Google. Among the more scathing posts Brittain hoped to remove with his abusive request include those written by two of his nemeses, Ken White (of Popehat) and Adam Steinbaugh. Also listed: posts residing at Ars Technica, Gawker, Forbes, Huffington Post, GigaOm, Reddit, Salon, Vice and The Verge. Somehow, it appears that our own article on Techdirt about him may be the only one he didn't seek to take down. Gee, thanks, Craig!
To top it off, Brittain also requests -- wait for it -- that the FTC's press release concerning his settlement with the agency, along with details of the case proceedings, be removed as well.
But what takes it into truly surreal territory is Brittain's seeming inability to realize just how hypocritical his request is. For someone who made a living posting photos and contact information without permission (and made a further living pretending to be a "takedown lawyer" who could make the unauthorized photos and contact info vanish for the right price), he seems suddenly very sensitive about the use of photos and personal information. Or at least the use of his, anyway. From the takedown request hosted at Chilling Effects:
Unauthorized use of photos of me and other related information. Unauthorized use of statements and identity related information. Unauthorized copying of excerpts from isanybodydown.com. Using photos which are not 'fair use'.[For whatever reason, Brittain claims the infringed item is a "book," which one must admit would be quite the conversation starter, ender and shatterer of friendships/marriages, should the now-dead "Is Anybody Down" website have been published as a glossy, hardbound coffee table-type book.]
Desperate times call for desperate measures, I suppose, and for someone who only knew how to profit off the misery of others, a lifetime ban from exploiting both ends of a revenge porn website must be making Brittain very desperate indeed. You'd think he would have learned from the last time he sent out a bogus takedown request that the only thing that does is create more criticism. Brittain's name is irrevocably toxic and he can't seem to think of a better way to clean up his destroyed reputation than tossing a self-serving DMCA hail mary. With these 23 own-goals on the record -- along with a new wave of criticism headed his way --
Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Filed Under: adam steinbaugh, censorship, copyright, craig brittain, dmca, ftc, photos, popehat, revenge porn, takedown
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I and a few others will be happy to submit this Techdirt post to Reddit.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
You just know....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
He didn't try to censor you?
The Trolls are ignoring you?
I guess Techdirt is no longer a playa in the fight against douchebaggery.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
ADAM!!! Get over here.
The ONLY teeth the DMCA have is if you don't own the copyright and represent that you do.
DOOOO-IIIIT.
Copyfraud... MUHAHAHAAH
One does have to wonder if his settlement has any terms about not trying to hide the crime, it would be lovely if he sunk his deal doing this.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Open and Shut
They need to do something about DMCA abuse in the future(or preferably NOW) before this kinda stuff gets really out of hand.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Hahaha
[ link to this | view in chronology ]