New post added to JonMon lawsuit

[cos]

Fascinating. I never commented on the original post this lawsuit seems to be about, but yesterday I received one of those letters to notify me that I'm one a "Doe Defendant" that will be added to the lawsuit. This letter tells me I'm being added because of my posts at both the original post (where I actually did not comment at all) and also this recent post - the one where ron_newman first told us that he's being sued. So... it looks like JonMon is watching the new posts and adding people to the lawsuit as they comment? In any case, the URL of that newer post is in the letter.

As in the other letters, he informs me that he holds copyright to this letter and implies that because of that, he can "prohibit anyone from publishing or disclosing it in whole or in part". Kinda wacky. Copyright doesn't actually give him the right to prohibit disclosure, and even directly quoting it "in part" for the purpose of commentary or criticism is fair use (which is what I'm doing here).

Return address, BTW, is PO Box 391512, Cambridge MA 02139

Comments

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

Of course he is. He's also reading the UHub posts.

[myselftheliar.livejournal.com]

I hope you're reading this Johnny, and I hope you know I still think you're a vile piece of trash.

[srakkt.livejournal.com]

This behavior suggests both that he doesn't understand the Streisand Effect and that he actually thinks he has a chance of winning this case. Why else would he double-down?

[also-huey.livejournal.com]

I've got to assume that this guy has at least one friend. That friend really needs to say "Dude. When your head is level with the ground, STOP DIGGING".

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I'm the first person to have commented on the Ron's post where he said he was being sued, but I have not (yet) received an email... Presumably because all I said was basically, "get a lawyer", so it appears that someone is actually reading the thread(s) and picking and choosing who to sue. That actually surprises me, as I wouldn't think it would be worth anyone's effort. At this point, wouldn't you just sue everyone on the threads?

Not that I'm complaining, mind you, it just seems odd...

[cos]

Are you as easy to identify and find as I am? Maybe he just hasn't gotten around to finding your postal address yet.

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

True. But it is easy to send me an email through LJ... I thought he was sending threatening emails recently...

But it's true that finding my actual identity from my LJ handle is probably not that easy...

[cos]

Hard to know, but some guesses include:

a. He does appear to have succeeded on several past occasions in getting stuff about him taken off the Internet, and we've heard that he's used threat of lawsuit in at least some of those cases (if not all, I don't know). If that's what actually happened, then past results may be encouraging him to continue that strategy.

b. Possibly he believes that as more of us post about getting these letters, it'll make other potential commenters decide to steer clear in order to avoid trouble, and thus not comment or link to this stuff or spread it via their social networks. He may be right that some people who would've done so are choosing not to for this reason.

[also-huey.livejournal.com]

Both of those theories fail when you note that the person with the biggest reach to comment on this so far is Ken at Popehat, and I'm just guessing Ken hasn't gotten a letter yet. ...addressed to him, I mean, I'm sure he's seen at least one, addressed to somebody else.

This has the potential to be as cool as the epic beatdown that Prenda Law got yesterday. ...or, to kinda fizzle out like Charles Carreon did. And either way, it should make for some entertaining internet-poking-at for a while.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

My own OPINION is that it's a serious mental disorder. That he needs to be in the public eye, and needs to have his name discussed and that this is some sort of warped intentional bid for attention. Sending these letters to harass new people in my OPINION is a way for him to feel powerful and threaten people and thus feel like he has impact. My own IMPRESSION is that he's lashing out for feeling excluded and that these actions make him feel more included again.

He would certainly not be the first person in the history of ever to do grave harm to himself in a desperate need for attention.

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

For educational and non-profitable purposes, here is the letter I received:

http://web.mit.edu/boojum/Public/jonmon-letter.html

[spatch]

I don't think he's been doing email. I think he's sending physical mail to people whose information he can find and verify, and he don't care who said what at this point because he wants all discussion of him deleted. I mean, cos didn't even say anything remotely defamatory in the one thread in which he did comment.

Sorry, Jon, but you don't get to silence the Internet.

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

One person did get an email. He's expecting an actual paper mail when he gets home today, but yeah, there have been emails...

I kind of wonder how hard it is to associate this to my personal identity...

[lbmango.livejournal.com]

"With your identity is revealed" ? Really? He couldn't afford a proofreader?

also: "removefromnewmanlawsuit@gmail.com" ? Really? sheesh. I wonder how long before someone signs that email address up for a variety of interesting daily advertisement sites. Not that I'm suggesting anyone do this, but come on, we all know that it will happen.

[rmd.livejournal.com]

Yeah. This whole situation as described seems to be outside of what I would consider the realm of expected behaviors.

[spatch]

Oh, that's just terrific.

[infinitemorning.livejournal.com]

The assertion that the gentleman in question may or may not have at least one friend is sheer conjecture and a baseless accusation. You'll probably be sued for it.

[cos]

BTW, after I left this comment, someone wrote me privately to tell me that yes, they are refraining from commenting or posting due to these letters.

[infinitemorning.livejournal.com]

I really, really want to see him go after Popehat. Because then Ken White becomes DIRECTLY involved, and that will be spectacular.

[infinitemorning.livejournal.com]

I've idly considered doing the same on my blog, but I'm not sure Wordpress would stand up for my free speech and fair use if he sent them a DMCA notice or something.

[cos]

FYI, "fair use" is hard to claim in court when you're publishing the entire content of something, rather than a small relevant piece. Then again, I'm not sure what sort of commercial value this letter has, or how you may be damaging the market for it, so damages may be small even if a court decides it's not fair use. And of course I'm not a lawyer so feel free to regard my words with skepticism :)

BTW, that letter does look like the one I got, although the one I got of course also lists the URL of Ron's more recent post.

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

IANAL (alas), but my understanding is that there are four big parts of fair use, and how much of it is just one part.

I think I'm pretty solid on purpose (criticism and education, not profit), and the effect on his own ability to profit from selling his own copies of the letter; I'm not so strong on amount used. "Nature of the work" I understand less well, but I think the letter counts as non-fiction.

[cos]

I believe that unpublished letters tend to get more protection (that is, the standards for fair use are a bit higher) than other works, but I'm not an expert on that. But I believe that posting the whole thing makes a fair use claim hard to win even if you're golden on the other parts.

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

Just a few months ago I accused a rather skeezy individual of being "the new JonMon." But I guess that can't be true, can it? The old JonMon still slithers among us. I'd presumed he'd headed for greener pastures (i.e., at town with more than one high school)

[also-huey.livejournal.com]

I have an attorney on retainer. Send it, over..

[koshmom.livejournal.com]

Someone would have to determine Ken White's real name first, before serving papers. I'm guessing it's not his real legal name, mostly because other people involved in Popehat seem to have last names of "Beige" "Eggshell" and other white-tints.

[aerynne.livejournal.com]

The worst part about the OKC contact is that if he hadn't already sleazed on me as a college sophomore, his initial message wouldn't have sent up any red flags (well, except for being eerily similar to what he sent to the women he contacted from the matchmaking project, according to the Tech). If you're not aware of the history, he can sound reasonably personable.

[beinneighe.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think it is--I was looking up Popehat in wikipedia, and came across this link to his CV (resume? badassness?) http://www.brownwhitelaw.com/attorneys/kwhite.html

[infinitemorning.livejournal.com]

It is, in fact. He used to sign off as simply Ken, but his secret identity has been revealed on multiple occasions at this point, so I don't think he bothers with it any longer. The other posters on his site use handles riffing off that and assorted in jokes from the blog. ("Via Angus," for example, is a reference to someone who accused him of being in bed with the Illuminati or Freemasons or something, all because he said "Via Angus" in some post, referencing where he got some item or other, and she claimed it was some kind of secret invocation.)

[jedi.livejournal.com]

I've heard rumors, and I am not advocating doing this at all, that certain individuals are going to ensure that for each thing taken down about jonmon five more things will take their place.

I'm not sure he fully understands what happens when you swat at the bee hive.

[sparkgrrl658.livejournal.com]

also, the purpose of this..."to is notify you."

those are the things that have stood out from day one and he hasn't bothered to update the errors in any of the other letters he has sent off either. good times.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard of anyone taking anything down yet. Everything I've seen has had folks saying "I got a letter, I'm not taking anything down."

[awfief.livejournal.com]

FWIW by posting this you confirmed you received it. I haven't seen anyone who said their letter was certified or had a return receipt.

[cos]

I'm not sure, but informally it sure looks to me like the 2010 post has a lot more deleted comments now than it did the last time I looked at it.

[cos]

It's not like he'd have had any trouble knowing who I am or where I live. Both of those are very easy to find.

[cos]

*nod* Re-reading the HL Record article this week, I noticed that without the rest of the context, the message of his they quoted at the beginning seems fairly normal for what you'd expect on a dating service. Someone who didn't know anything more and just got that message probably wouldn't think anything was wrong.

[ron_newman]

The entire journalfen.net otf_wank post is gone. And there have been comments deleted in various places, from what I can see.

[awfief.livejournal.com]

*nod* I guess the folks who have deleted stuff aren't saying "OK I delete it" in public, so I'm only seeing the folks who are saying "I won't delete it!" - my sample was a self-selecting audience. I stand corrected.

[mperrotti76.livejournal.com]

truth.