Techdirt Sued for Defamation Techdirt was started in 1997 by Mike Masnick and grew into a blog that analyzes and offers

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Techdirt Sued for Defamation
Techdirt was started in 1997 by Mike Masnick and grew into a
blog that analyzes and offers insight into news stories about
changes in government policy, technology, and legal issues that
affect companies' ability to innovate and grow. The blog averages
1.5 million visitors per month, with over 65,000 posts and more
than 1.4 million comments.
Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai has proclaimed himself to be the inventor of
email and has filed a $15 million defamation lawsuit against the
Techdirt website and its founder Mick Masnick for expressing doubts
as to his claim. Ayyadurai is being represented by Charles Harder,
a Beverly Hills attorney who became famous by filing multiple
lawsuits against the Gawker blog site ("the source for daily
Manhattan media news and gossip") that eventually forced that
company into bankruptcy. Ayyadurai contends that a series of posts
on Techdirt are libelous because the posts call Ayyadurai the "fake
email inventor" and a "fraudster" and states his claims to have
invented email are "bogus."
Ayyadurai maintains a website called The Inventor of Email and
that describes his involvement with early email systems. According
to the website, Ayyadurai had a goal of building a simple
communication system that everyone could use to quickly and
reliably send and receive digital messages. He designed his system
based on a thorough analysis of the paper-based mail systems used
in organizations around the world in the mid-1970s. He identified
that the essential features of these systems included functions
corresponding to "Inbox," "Outbox," "Drafts," "Memo", "To:",
"From:", "Date:", "Subject:", "Body:", "Cc:", "Bcc:",
"Attachments," "Folders," "Compose," "Forward," "Reply," "Address
Book," "Groups," "Return Receipt," and "Sorting." He provided these
capabilities in a software program with an interface so simple that
users needed no expertise in computer systems to use it efficiently
to "Send" and "Receive" mail electronically. He claims that it is
these features that make his program "email" and that distinguish
his program from prior electronic communications systems.
Harder, on behalf of Ayyadurai, sent a letter to Diaspora, a
social networking platform, demanding that certain posts supportive
of Techdirt be removed. The letter claims that these posts are
defamatory, violate Diaspora's terms of service, and "constitute
harassment and intentional infliction of emotional distress."
On the other hand, historians point out that email began long
before 1978. For example, there was a messaging system called
MAILBOX at MIT in 1965. Ray Tomlinson is frequently credited with
inventing the modern concept of email for the Internet in 1972. By
1975, there were things such as email folders (invented by Larry
Roberts) and some other basic email apps. These early email
programs were basic and elementary but by 1978 they had essentially
all the features that Ayyadurai claims to have invented.
Ed Klaris, a long-time media lawyer in New York, says "This is a
classic scientific debate, which is a cornerstone of the First
Amendment, second only to political debate. Theories of who
invented something as basic as email software code need to be free
and open and not constrained by claims of libel."
Mounting a defense against this lawsuit may prove very costly
and time-consuming for Masnick and his small company. Says Masnick:
"In our view, this is not a fight about who invented email. This is
a fight about whether or not our legal system will silence
independent publications for publishing opinions that public
figures do not like. And here's the thing: this fight could very
well be the end of Techdirt, even if we are completely on the right
side of the law."
Critical Thinking Questions
1. Visit the Techdirt blog site at https://www.techdirt.com/ and
read several of its postings over a period of a few weeks. Do you
think that Techdirt is an important independent media resource
worth protecting or should it be subject to strong scrutiny and
pressure to shut down? Explain your answer.
2. Visit the Inventor of Email's website at
http://www.inventorofemail.com/. View the video there and read
several of the postings found there. Do you think that Ayyadurai
presents a strong and convincing argument that he invented email?
Why or why not?
3. What measures might Masnick take to defend himself and his
organization in this defamation lawsuit? What measures might
Ayyadurai and his attorney take to strengthen his case against
Masnick? Is demanding that social media sites take down posts
supporting Masnick a winning strategy? Why or why not?