Brandt dug up an old webpage of mine, one which I assumed had been deleted by my alma mater. I remembered the password and removed the pictures of myself and any personal information, and added a link to Google-Watch-Watch. I guess that pissed him off, so now instead of linking to the page, Brandt has posted a copy of my page (prior to alterations) and the pictures on his own website. Advice on how to handle this would be much appreciated. Obviously this is a blantant copyright violation but I'm not sure what to do about this.
It doesn't bother me that Brandt knows my name or my face, as I've never been particularly careful about protecting my identity. My concern is: where does it end? What's next? My address? My place of employment? Google maps and satellite pics of my house? My credit report? He's already got the names of the *children* of another Wikipedian on his hitlist.
"Ignore him" and "do nothing" are not options. While the "No, I'm Spartacus!" volunteering of personal information to Brandt is a heartening display of solidarity, it's not a sufficient response. I understand that there is a limit to what WP can do outside its own cyberborders, and I understand that I bear some responsibility for pissing off the wrong internet nutcase, but we as a community must come up with some sort of response to this type of harrassment or we're going to lose good people whose only "crime" is to edit an encyclopedia article in good faith.
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On 12/26/05, Rob gamaliel8@yahoo.com wrote:
Brandt dug up an old webpage of mine, one which I assumed had been deleted by my alma mater. I remembered the password and removed the pictures of myself and any personal information, and added a link to Google-Watch-Watch. I guess that pissed him off, so now instead of linking to the page, Brandt has posted a copy of my page (prior to alterations) and the pictures on his own website. Advice on how to handle this would be much appreciated. Obviously this is a blantant copyright violation but I'm not sure what to do about this.
In theory see a lawer who will chrage you to send warning letters.
It doesn't bother me that Brandt knows my name or my face, as I've never been particularly careful about protecting my identity. My concern is: where does it end? What's next? My address? My place of employment? Google maps and satellite pics of my house? My credit report? He's already got the names of the *children* of another Wikipedian on his hitlist.
Children who appear top be in europe no less. Unfortunetly I suspect that he has no assets on that side of the atlantic.
"Ignore him" and "do nothing" are not options. While the "No, I'm Spartacus!" volunteering of personal information to Brandt is a heartening display of solidarity, it's not a sufficient response. I understand that there is a limit to what WP can do outside its own cyberborders, and I understand that I bear some responsibility for pissing off the wrong internet nutcase, but we as a community must come up with some sort of response to this type of harrassment or we're going to lose good people whose only "crime" is to edit an encyclopedia article in good faith.
Brandt isn't the only member of the board of Public Information Research. If we could contact the others we might be able to atchive something. The website is registered in their name. http://www.namebase.org/staffbl.html
-- geni
geni wrote:
Brandt isn't the only member of the board of Public Information Research. If we could contact the others we might be able to atchive something. The website is registered in their name. http://www.namebase.org/staffbl.html
I have offered to Brandt to come to Texas and give a talk about Wikipedia to him and his board of directors, and seek to have a dialogue about privacy issues and Wikipedia policies. This is the only thing I really know to do: try to engage him in a more productive dialogue than what has gone on so far.
I have gotten no response yet, positive or negative, but I am still hopeful.
--Jimbo
On 12/26/05, Jimmy Wales jwales@wikia.com wrote:
geni wrote:
Brandt isn't the only member of the board of Public Information Research. If we could contact the others we might be able to atchive something. The website is registered in their name. http://www.namebase.org/staffbl.html
I have offered to Brandt to come to Texas and give a talk about Wikipedia to him and his board of directors, and seek to have a dialogue about privacy issues and Wikipedia policies. This is the only thing I really know to do: try to engage him in a more productive dialogue than what has gone on so far.
I have gotten no response yet, positive or negative, but I am still hopeful.
--Jimbo
Do let us know what happens. Some of this information is just taking it too far.
Rob wrote:
Brandt dug up an old webpage of mine, one which I assumed had been deleted by my alma mater. I remembered the password and removed the pictures of myself and any personal information, and added a link to Google-Watch-Watch. I guess that pissed him off, so now instead of linking to the page, Brandt has posted a copy of my page (prior to alterations) and the pictures on his own website. Advice on how to handle this would be much appreciated. Obviously this is a blantant copyright violation but I'm not sure what to do about this.
DMCA notice. Anyone from any country can send one of these. To him and two levels of upstream. Possibly as a press release as well.
http://www.holysmoke.org/ga/ga45.htm
- shows how [[Tilman Hausherr]] has successfully used DMCA notices sent from Germany when Scientology-related organisations played fast and loose with his photos.
The takedown provisions of the DMCA are a matter of great concern, but a DMCA notice when someone is pretty damned clearly *ripping off your stuff* is IMO quite morally sound.
- d.
geni wrote:
On 12/26/05, Rob gamaliel8@yahoo.com wrote:
Brandt dug up an old webpage of mine, one which I assumed had been deleted by my alma mater. I remembered the password and removed the pictures of myself and any personal information, and added a link to Google-Watch-Watch. I guess that pissed him off, so now instead of linking to the page, Brandt has posted a copy of my page (prior to alterations) and the pictures on his own website. Advice on how to handle this would be much appreciated. Obviously this is a blantant copyright violation but I'm not sure what to do about this.
In theory see a lawyer who will chrage you to send warning letters.
A formal DMCA notice would be better idea. A lawyer should not be needed for doing this. A person like him, who is already experienced in litigation is more likely to treat lawyer letters as a joke.
Ec
On 12/26/05, Ray Saintonge saintonge@telus.net wrote:
geni wrote:
On 12/26/05, Rob gamaliel8@yahoo.com wrote:
Brandt dug up an old webpage of mine, one which I assumed had been deleted by my alma mater. I remembered the password and removed the pictures of myself and any personal information, and added a link to Google-Watch-Watch. I guess that pissed him off, so now instead of linking to the page, Brandt has posted a copy of my page (prior to alterations) and the pictures on his own website. Advice on how to handle this would be much appreciated. Obviously this is a blantant copyright violation but I'm not sure what to do about this.
In theory see a lawyer who will chrage you to send warning letters.
A formal DMCA notice would be better idea. A lawyer should not be needed for doing this. A person like him, who is already experienced in litigation is more likely to treat lawyer letters as a joke.
Ec
Someone experienced in litigation probably knows how to send a DMCA put-back notice (claiming fair use) as well.
Anthony
On 12/27/05, Anthony DiPierro wikilegal@inbox.org wrote:
Someone experienced in litigation probably knows how to send a DMCA put-back notice (claiming fair use) as well.
Can one claim fair use in such a notice? In any case, it's a more legally risky move.
-Matt
Matt Brown wrote:
On 12/27/05, Anthony DiPierro wikilegal@inbox.org wrote:
Someone experienced in litigation probably knows how to send a DMCA put-back notice (claiming fair use) as well.
Can one claim fair use in such a notice? In any case, it's a more legally risky move.
I don't see why they couldn't claim fair use, and certainly has the right to issue a put-back notice. But we can't presume that he will do that, because that would mean admitting defeat before we start. In the legal cat-and-mouse game you always want the other guy to do as much of the work as possible.
Ec
Has anyone tried simply communicating with him civilly? One would think that we could work out some compromise with his HiveMind website and also our content. I find it hard to believe that a man who works hard to prevent "privacy violations" would commit such a large one as posting the private details of all 650+ admins online.
-- Ben Emmel Wikipedia - User:Bratsche bratsche1@gmail.com "A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees." -- William Blake
He's not concerned about privacy; neither his own, nor anyone else's. He's more interested in self-promotion, and this is one good way of doing it.
Jay.
On 12/29/05, Ben Emmel bratsche1@gmail.com wrote:
Has anyone tried simply communicating with him civilly? One would think that we could work out some compromise with his HiveMind website and also our content. I find it hard to believe that a man who works hard to prevent "privacy violations" would commit such a large one as posting the private details of all 650+ admins online.
-- Ben Emmel Wikipedia - User:Bratsche bratsche1@gmail.com "A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees." -- William Blake _______________________________________________ WikiEN-l mailing list WikiEN-l@Wikipedia.org To unsubscribe from this mailing list, visit: http://mail.wikipedia.org/mailman/listinfo/wikien-l
On 12/29/05, jayjg jayjg99@gmail.com wrote:
He's not concerned about privacy; neither his own, nor anyone else's. He's more interested in self-promotion, and this is one good way of doing it.
Jay.
Careful: with an attitude like that, you'll end up on a certain table run by Brandt. :) -- Ben Emmel Wikipedia - User:Bratsche bratsche1@gmail.com "A fool sees not the same tree that a wise man sees." -- William Blake