Streisand Effect Derails Man's Analog Plan To Buy Up All The Newspapers Detailing His DWI Arrest
from the oops dept
The concept of buying up all the newspapers in town to avoid some embarrassing story or picture of oneself is old humor. The concept, featured in sitcoms of yester-yore, relies on a couple of things: newspapers being the single source of a story or photo and for news stories to not travel quickly nor beyond the insular community in which they occurred. Because of that, the joke doesn't really work in a hyperconnected world with digital media.
This was a lesson painfully learned by Joseph Talbot of Newark, it seems. Talbot, an otherwise apparently well-respected businessman, was arrested recently for driving while intoxicated. Understandably, he was embarrassed upon learning that news of his arrest had been written up in the local newspaper. His solution was to deploy the sitcom-level chicanery previously discussed.
Several Newark store clerks told the Times of Wayne County they saw Talbot buy hundreds of copies of the newspaper over the weekend, said Ron Holdraker, the editor and owner of newspaper. He estimated Talbot purchased somewhere between 900 and 1,000 copies of the paper from at least eight locations.
Holdraker, who graduated from Syracuse University in 1974, said the newspapers cost about $1.25 each, meaning Talbot would have spent at least $1,125 to buy the papers.
And that's roughly when the Streisand Effect took over. Talbot may now be wondering how much it costs to buy up all the internets, because the once-mundane and localized story of his arrest in the community newspaper has instead become a far more widespread story about his attempt to cover it up, featured across many websites. Spending over a thousand dollars to buy up the local papers is one thing. Trying to silence all of these internet sites would likely be far more expensive. Our own price tag, for instance, is a hundred million and one dollars, and we're likely to be on the cheap end of things.
Look, there's no joy in understanding that Talbot's emarrassment has multiplied because of his admittedly hilarious attempt at a coverup, but the world does need to understand that attempts to hide information in this manner will only result in it being further spread.
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Filed Under: dui, hiding info, joseph talbot, newspapers, streisand effect
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I kind of feel sorry for the guy as his "crime" is pretty mundane. But hell yes there is joy in Streisand. Otherwise you wouldn't be the one writing about them when they happen.
So, cheers for the inevitable next Streisand Effect! Because people never learn.
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It gets better!
"After being brought to a state police office in Lyons, Talbot refused to give a breath sample and would not let troopers take his fingerprints or photo, saying he didn't want to end up in the local newspaper, according to state police. He was then charged with second-degree obstructing governmental administration in addition to the DWI charge."
So, his first attempt to stay out of the newspapers made the story more newsworthy and thus more likely to be reported than a simple DWI charge. Then, he tries to remove evidence of the first report, but does so in a way that ensures that the story is reported and repeated in ways way beyond the reach of the original story.
It's not just Streisand, it's someone repeatedly digging a hole to try and avoid repercussions from their actions. .. and failing so hard that a story of no interest to people who don't know him professionally or personally is being repeated to an international audience.
I don't feel sorry for him, he's brought this on himself because he couldn't deal with the consequences of his original actions.
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I would feel bad for this guy, except he was arrested for DUI. He deserved the name-and-shame of a public arrest and his face in the paper. That he took ridiculous (and unsuccessful) steps to avoid his crime coming to light tells me that he cares more about himself than about the people he could have hurt by driving while intoxicated. He deserves no sympathy. He deserves only humilitation and shame.
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Well yeah, it was doomed to failure any way he played it. Even if he had bought every copy *and* stopped every subscription from going out direct from the publisher, that wouldn't have gone unnoticed. People would have complained about not being able to get a copy, which would have led to an investigation revealing what he'd done, and they might even have been able to print more to meet demand on the day anyway depending on their setup. On top of that, the newspaper does have a website, which did report on the original arrest (http://www.waynetimes.com/law-order/bank-vppalmyra-man-calls-trooper-asshole-refuses-mug-shot/). So, even if his plan to remove all physical copies had worked, the news was still public available.
There's probably more to the story, as I don't think anyone's going to be this desperate unless he knows that the charge will have serious consequences for him over and above what a judge might give him. But, it's clearly all about his DUI not being made public so I hope he enjoys his new international audience.
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Oooh, "Mecha-Streisand". Nevermind...
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I can't see that there are many useful penalties against it in the US legal system, but it would certainly provoke a litany of "never going to employ him, never going to work with him, never going to buy from his store, never going to sell to him, wouldn't let him marry my daughter" social consequences from my side of the room.
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If guilty, of course. From what I saw it doesn't look like he's been in court for DWI yet. Which would make all this extra hilarious if he was actually found not guilty of the original crime.
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Oh who am I kidding, the reporters are only going to wrote up a follow up article if he is convicted.
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Smart people tend to fare better.
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I wouldn't want to be in his shoes right now.
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However I have a problem with your "let's-nuke-this-guy's-life" way of thinking. He should be punished? Absolutely. In a way that destroys his life? Not unless he does it repeatedly.
If he does it again after the first lighter punishment then we may talk about a few years in jail or even something more severe if he keeps doing anyway. But for a single offense? A fine, some educational courses and community service should suffice.
If we punish in a draconian way we leave people with no recourse but to turn to crime to survive. We don't want that.
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We apply harsh social and legal punishments to deter others from doing what he did. He should, at the bare minimum, lose both his license to drive (for several months) and the respect of his friends and family (for a lot longer).
I have no pity for this man. He made the decision to drive while intoxicated, and it only takes one "minor mistake" - one night of driving under the influence - to wreck someone else's life. And even if this were just one "slip", how can we know if this is just the first such "slip"? It is better to teach him a harsh lesson about what his actions could have wrought upon others than let him off with a slap on the wrist.
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It certainly looks like he knows he's screwed anyway, but I guarantee there's more to the story here that will probably come out later. I'll try to make a mental note to check back in a few weeks and see what the real story is.
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Try telling that to a parent whose child has been mown down by a drunk driver, or someone grieving for a partner they lost to a drunk driver.
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I also don't know how drunk he was. Here you'll get the full force of law if you have more than 0 alcohol in your blood whereas in the UK it's incredibly high (0,8 mg/L in your breath if memory serves). In both cases you aren't drunk enough to actually cause accidents. So yeah, I agree with you but I evaluate the story taking into account other factors.
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Ohmygosh!
It probably would have been cheaper.
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;)
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Shut Techdirt up for (x)
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Apparently, for the requested 1 million, there is zero demand. How many takers would take TD a day off for 100.000, that Paypal guy and Hogan? For 10.000, Steele perhaps?
What about a measly 1000, Shiva A.?
The last offer could still be a good deal for both parties. A. would show the judge he's done everything to silence the 'bad news' before going to court. MM of course would finance his defense ;-)
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Mike has shown that free speech does have a price and apparently someone is now negotiating that price with him. I understand the offer is negative 15 million.
Like the old joke says, we have established character, now we are haggling over price.
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A failure to understand
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This one's a little petty
> emarrassment has multiplied because of his admittedly
> hilarious attempt at a coverup, but the world does need
> to understand that attempts to hide information in this
> manner will only result in it being further spread.
The Streisanding stories on Techdirt are generally of the sort where someone tries to use copyright or some other tool of digital information suppression to hide info, and in that respect fit right in to Techdirt's bailiwick.
This one may be amusing because of they guy's failure to be even at all sophisticated. But I think it's a bit lame for it to have ended up here. There's no real link to the important issues that Techdirt generally concerns itself with. The post just seems to be mocking the guy, and then justifying it with a lame claim about the world **needing** to understand the Streisand effect?
Misusing copyright and patent law are important topics. The Streisand effect per se is not.
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What a genius...
Just wanted to clear that up.
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Fair?
I'm leaning towards the view that the drivers side airbag should be replaced with a 12" metal spike sticking straight out. Might make people take driving a little more seriously...
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