Slashdot Mirror
Lawyer Puts $10k Bounty on Blogger's Identity
I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Raymond Niro of Niro Scavone Haller & Niro is fighting back against criticism from the Patent Troll Tracker blog by offering a $10,000 bounty for the identity of the person behind it. He thinks the blogger might work for Microsoft, Intel, or has connections to a 'serial infringer' and that could 'color' what they say."
This reminds me of the time Richard Stallman offered a half eaten french fry and all the change he could find in all the couches of MIT's student commons area for the identity of an Anonymous Coward on Slashdot that called him a "tree hugging bearded hippie."
My work here is dung.
Truth is a defense for libel. So long as the blogger in question has not made any actual false statements, and has couched all opinions as such, rather than as facts--then he should STFU and GBTW.
But then, if he's a patent troll, he's rather defined as "not being able to STFU and do something useful," now, is he?
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
CowboyNeal. Isn't that the answer to everything around here?
(Attention lawyers: I'm _kidding_! Put the subpoena down!)
It's not even been a week since The smartphone was patented , and now we've got people wanting to sue for criticising patent trolls. I thought America was the "land of the free". Oh wait, it is, if you've got millions of dollars in your pocket and a lot of lawyers.
What's saddening is that this stuff never makes it to the mainstream media.
Don't mind the extra X. Alex
Money please.
Swi
p.s. Patent trolls still suck fat nut.
Find some random guy i thailand, cut a deal with him to admit it's him.
Laugh at said lawyer.
Untill he realises it and offers another 10k bounty for your identity.
http://trolltracker.blogspot.com/ *slashdot effect activate*
Thanks! I hadn't heard of this blog before, but now that the $10k bounty has been offered, I know about it. Great publicity!
A position isn't false, or wrong, because its proponent fails to consistently act in accordance with said position.
"Is he an employee with Intel or Microsoft? Does he have a connection with serial infringers? I think that would color what he has to say."
This is douchebag lawyer speak for "companies that spend money researching, developing and selling products." Unlike his clients who think up obvious ideas and rush to file a patent, without ever doing a bit of work. It's scumbags like this that exacerbate the terrible state of our patent system. I for one can't wait until there's real reform and this guy's out of business.
I would hope an attorney of Mr. Niro's stature and experience would realize he has no right nor legal recourse against this anonymous blogger. I suspect that had the blogger written anything libelous, Mr. Niro would have already brought suit.
Since Mr. Niro has not brought legal proceedings against this blogger, I can only quote the next best legal authority on this matter:
Ha, Ha!
You know who else thought that a position isn't false, or wrong, because its proponent fails to consistently act in accordance with said position? That's right!
Shop as usual. And avoid panic buying.
Tsunami -- You can't bring a good wave down!
I am interested in your offer. Who shall I write to when it comes time to collect my money?
Horseshit.
I'm Spartacus.
$10K please.
whois gawk date unzip strip find touch finger mount join nice man top fsck grep eject more yes exit umount sleep dump
The blogger could write them a letter disclosing his own identity, cash in the $10k himself, and when they publish the letter sue them for infringing upon his copyright on the letter.
As a state gets corrupt, its laws multiply; the most corrupt states have the most numerous laws. (Tacitus, Annales 3:27)
No! I'm Spartacus!
In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
I'm Spartacus and so's my wife.
$20k please.
All Americans are African-American.
There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter
My best friends call me "cash".
Can I have the $10,000 now?
I would have reservations if I was a Native American.
According to his wikipedia article and its references that is an urban legend. A blood transfusion actually would have worsened his problems because he had numerous internal injuries.
What did likely kill him was the lack of sleep he had due to his profession (causing him to fall asleep at the wheel). Unfortunately that's still a problem for doctors and interns to this day. I have a friend who is a doctor and he works over 80 hours every week (at Duke, the hospital they would have ideally had gone to if it wasn't 30 miles away from the crash site).
You mean that Americans (who happened to be black) invented them. I don't mean anything derogatory by that, but making such distinctions only serves to demean those individuals and their works. The implication is that there's something so noteworthy about a black person achieving anything of substance that their race must be mentioned. Of course black people have made significant contributions to our society, our culture and our technology. So have French, Greeks, Germans, Italians, Russians, Czechs and millions of others of all nationalities. Why does their ethnic background matter so much to some people? They were all citizens of this great nation, all helped to make it what it is today. That should be enough.
... she came to the U.S. about twenty-five years ago from that continent, earned her citizenship, and has the right to call herself an African-American. But she doesn't. She calls herself an American and she's proud of that. This is her country now. As for me, I was born here, but I don't go around brandishing my ethnic roots. That would be complicated, since I'd be something like a "Greek-Irish-German-with-some-other-stuff-mixed-in-American". Not so easy on the ears.
My girlfriend is a true African-American
She told me flatly that she could cure all of them of their desire to be called "African Americans" by the simple expedient of sending them to her home country for a few months. Most of them would come back here and would count themselves lucky to be Americans. Bad as things can be for many people in the United States, there are places that are worse. Much worse.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
The identity of the blogger will lead to accusations and lawsuits, and the legal fees for the blogger will dwarf $10k. And the threat will shut down the criticism, which is the point. The identity of the blogger should be worth a lot more to Niro, say $100k. And then let the blogger win by revealing his identity.
Antisocial personality disorders mixed in with a liberal dose of schizophrenia or Asperger's.
IAALS.
Go to questionable startup rate your prof^H^H^H^Hlawyer and pull up their list of IP and Patent lawyers. Send "registered" emails from separate accounts for each name on the list. Then, if he should ever determine the identity, chances are it's on the list, and whoever sent the email will have a good claim on the money. That is provided, of course, said mouthpiece doesn't accuse the snitch of participating in a conspiracy to do exactly that. So the flipside is that if we spam the address with false positives, either the real stoolie will have little hope of making any money off of it, or we get in on the action.
I'm just speaking hypothetically, of course. I'm pretty sure someone else holds a patent on this sort of spam, and the lawyer involved has set an elaborate trap for an infringement suit.
I really don't see the problem, do you? I'm certain it will all be legal, so there's nothing to worry about. No. Really.
Indeed, an excellent point, we're all Africans, race comes down to the finer points of how long ago our immediate ancestors left Africa and gained a tiny evolutionary advantage in colder and less sunny climates by growing more body hair and producing less Melanin. Makes racism seem very silly doesn't it?
I'm Troll Tracker, and so's my wife!
Dammit, someone beat me to it. Oh well!
I'll arrest anyone who doesn't tell me who this Anonymous Coward is.
- The D.A.
Why do people like you always say "African American"? Please know that I do not agree with the GP that you replied to. What an idiot. I agree with you, blacks have contributed a wealth of knowledge and culture to our American society.
;-)
I just hate the term "African American". Most of the black Americans in the USA have _never_ been to Africa. So what makes them "African"? If someone watched me commit a crime, would they say it was a German/Irish/English American? No. They would say it was a white guy. So why should I say that all black people in America are "African Americans"?
What if the black person is not from Africa, but Jamaica? Or, what if a black guy, on vacation from England, committed a crime? Should I say it was an "African American" even though the guy is not an American, but from England? How would some bloke from England be an "African American" when he certainly is not an American. Should I just say it was an "African"?
I hate PC-terms. When I recently started a new job I was asked, after getting the job:
() White
() African American
() Hispanic
() Asian
() Native American
() Other
WTF? Why as a "White guy" am I identified by my skin color and that is "OK", yet all other races have a "name"? So if I was Mexican I am "Hispanic", however, if like my good friend, I was born in Puerto Rico, I am some how also "Hispanic"? Oh, and as a programmer, I have 3 good friends I work with every day. Very good guys. One is from the Philippines, one is from Korea (South), and one is from Japan. Very, very different people and ethnic groups, yet they are all "Asian"? Not to mention the people from India I have worked with, I guess they are "Asian" too?
Did I mention I hate PC-term "African American" yet?
A friend of mine was born and raised in Africa, by white parents who were also born and raised in Afica. He has now moved to the US. Does that qualify him as African-American?
"I am Sparticus!"
Help! I'm a slashdot refugee.
And just call for Niro's head?
Someone hates these cans.
That would be the "Charity for Anti-Social Humans". I am a serving member and will gladly pass any funds along to the appropriate coffers...
Me failed English...
FreeBSD over Linux. If my comments seem odd, this may explain...
I thought you were going to point out that people all over the world advance technology, culture and so on, but apparently it's only the ones that are american citizens ;) I don't really get patriotism to be honest, though if I went to certain parts of Africa which you point out are far worse to live in than parts of the 'western' world, then perhaps I'd understand why people think it's worth dying for a country..
which is totally what she said
..Neal
I'd out myself, and be $10,000 richer.
1. Criticize Mr. Niro with an anonymous blog
3 ????
4. Profit!
Copyright infringement is "piracy" in the same way DRM is "consumer rape"
Vigilantism is not only necessary, it is justified. We need to seek out the personal information of this lawyer, his entire firm, and the President and board of directors of the companies that employ them. Publish their names, home addresses, any phone numbers that can be found, their license plate numbers, the names of their family members, the schools their children attend. Everything. This is War, ladies and gentlemen. Of a more dire and extreme sort than any in history. Only by securing true strategic objectives can the enemy be worn down. We must destroy not just his willingness, but his ability to fight. Destroy the ability of those who drive the conflict to live their lives in the most basic way and victory is assured.
We, the greater whole of society, are everywhere. We surround them. We can destroy them. All that is required is the will.
A friend of mine was born and raised in Africa, by white parents who were also born and raised in Afica. He has now moved to the US. Does that qualify him as African-American?
A friend of mine had gas because he ate some poison. So they took him to the hospital and pumped his stomach. Does that make him a gas pump?
I admit it, I broke the dam.
It's me. I'll take a personal check.
I've already uncovered the identity of this mysterious blogger, and caught him with his hand in the cookie jar. Here's the evidence:
The Desperado
Looks like he isn't going down without a fight, though...
512 MB RAM, 20 GB disk, 200 GB transfer, five datacenters. $19.95/month.
If a person is born in Africa then becomes a US citizen, they're African-American.
If a person is born in America and stays a US citizen, they're American.
Heritage is all screwed up. How many generations have to be born in America before you consider it part of your heritage?
If the blogger was really suave, he'd reveal his identity to the lawyer and then ask for the 10k. What would they do then? Seems like they'd come out looking like fools.
The blogger should just collect the reward himself...
:P
or barring that, tons of people should claim the reward, so that the signal to noise ratio drives this guy back into his hole
http://blog.slaingod.com
The biggest flaw with the current civil litigation system is that punitive damages have become as much about making the winning plaintiff rich, as its original purpose to chastise the defendant.
The simple solution is a plaintiff is only entitled to actual damages and make all punitive damages awarded to the government. This gets the punitive portion back to it's original purpose punish the loser to protect the public. It also forces the plaintiff to demonstrate they have been materially impacted to get actual damages, so just sitting on a patent doing nothing won't net you any money.
True it won't stop all patent trolls who will try to inflate actual damages, but it will reduce the number because the sky high rewards won't be there.
D6 63 0D 70 89 81 BB 8E 7B 7C 5F 5D 54 EA AB 73
These days, a good attorney is a good defense, not the truth. You can have all the truth on your side, but if you cannot afford a good lawyer, proper procedures will not be followed (because you do not know them), and the judge will think you are wrong.
In our times, it is money, not the truth, that shall set you free.
I hate to steal karma, but there's a comment on PTT's blog that was so insightful that I felt it serves as useful food for thought. It was a comment left last thursday by one using the pen name "ipreactionary", all credit goes to him:
[http://trolltracker.blogspot.com/2008/01/j-carl-cooper-and-technology-licensing.html]:
"As a practicing patent attorney with a large corporation, I can see why PTT and other commentators might want not to divulge their name. His anonymity works for me, because the subject of our interest shouldn't be who PTT is, but rather whether the US patent system is functioning effectively and fairly. And PTT's remarks on patent predators aren't any less germane because the sharks are identified by name, and he/she isn't. Forget that it's Niro (or Acacia, or whoever) that PTT comments on, and focus on the fact that they and others are manipulating an imperfect system to the detriment of both the system and its participants.
BTW, there are those who might defend the abuses written of here as nothing more than "arbitrage". I don't agree. Arbitrage smooths out market irregularities caused by assymetrical information or unbalanced supply and demand. It is ethical, and even helpful, where a market is efficient and the market rules are clear and fairly enforced. The swamp of legal, political, technical and economic uncertainties that trolls are rooting around in (and helping muddy up) is more like an armed prospectors' land-grab than what the patent system set out to be: A reward of exclusivity in return for the useful sharing of information. Vigorous enforcement of patents on trivial or useless "inventions", by contingency-fee opportunists, doesn't make them any less trivial and useless. And bundling or accumulating them under shell corporations, the better to leverage them against companies for whom the expected value of a loss at trial (however unlikely) exceeds the price of a settlement, does nothing to better the "market" for IP. It doesn't promote adoption or commercialisation of technology. It doesn't raise capital in support of yet more innovation. It doesn't improve the function of the patent system. It's extortion, pure and simple.
This isn't an abstract, theoretical discussion. It won't be long before Congress, made up of individuals who understand neither the purpose nor the functioning of the US patent system, begins to tinker with it as if it were a tax code with which additional revenues could be extracted and assets could be more equitably redistributed. Trolls cheapen the patent system in a way that makes legislative erosion even more likely. The abuses PTT writes about call the patent monopoly and its proponents into disrepute, and thereby weaken the rights appropriately reserved under other patents to those who really have made a technical contribution to society. As far as I'm concerned, PTT can call the trolls by name. The moneys they've extracted from productive members of society should be enough consolation for them.
Blog on, PTT!
"
It's true no man is an island, but if you take a bunch of dead guys and tie 'em together, they make a good raft.
Sounds to me like yet another exercise in Bulverism. Rather than actually try to argue with your opponent on the merits, you fantasize some motive on the part of your opponent, and assert that that motive must be throwing your opponent's reasoning off. You saw the same thing with SCO insisting that Groklaw must be being paid by IBM. Actually, this reasoning is irrelevant. Even if the opposition actually is motivated by the fantasy motive, their reasoning could still be correct. You find out if their reasoning is correct by examining it logically, not by speculating about their psychology.
You're totally right. We've all got so caught up in all the arguing and bickering that we've forgotten what's really important. What's really important is which god you believe in.
GLORX 3:16
Actually, race does not come down to those finer points, race isn't a real category. It is a made up class that people are assigned to.
A blog about stuff.
I would have reservations if I'd remembered to phone ahead.
I am Spartacus.
Gimme my ten grand, punk!
I hear voices, and they don't like you
His number is (312) 236-0733. Call him and give him theories. I think everyone should.
Democracy Now! - your daily, uncensored, corporate-free
...he isn't accusing him of libel. RTFA. And no, I'm not going to sit here and explain to you why he wants the guy's identity, you are just going to have click on the link and READ THE F****** ARTICLE! Its not particularly long, it shouldn't be that hard to read it. And don't give me any "You must be new here" responses. I know /.ers have a habit of writing before reading, but thats not something to be proud of.
Mathematics is made of 50 percent formulas, 50 percent proofs, and 50 percent imagination.
I think you missed my point. I was commenting on the stupidity of labeling someone by a geographic label when it actually pertains to the color of their skin.
Anyone with dark skin is considered an "African American", even if they never set foot in Africa, and even if their ancestors may be from South America.
Anyone with light skin is considered European, even if they come from Africa or South America.
It's just a stupid thing to label people; I don't care what label or euphemism you use.
..if the blogger reveals himself, does he get $10,000?
We could make our own JPEG! But it stands for Jaundiced People against the Extortion of GPH.
Homonyms are fun!
You're driving your car, but they're riding their bikes there.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
I don't believe in imaginary property either, but I do believe in $10,000. ....I'll take the case!
If I were rich, I'd pay $20000 to any local mafia for each patent troll that gets killed. And if I were *really* rich (enough money to buy laws and hire a horde of fat, nasty, dirty, sucky, ugly lawyers), I'd have patents abolished. Then I'd go to hell (or at least I would believe I'd go to hell if I believed in imaginary friends) for giving my money to lawyers and politicians.
I was about to say 13256278887989457651018865901401704640, but it appears this number is private property.
I believe this is the right time to say, I am Spartacus!
It was me!
Prove me wrong.
There's no failure quite as dissatisfying as a complete and total solution to the wrong problem.
I didn't read any patriotism in his post, just the explicit lack of racism. As such, it's a nice post.
I find patriotism highly loathsome, but it's a separate issue so let's leave that for another day.
"Good news, everyone!"
However, as IANAL. this is only the opinion of an ordinary citizen.
*sigh* there are days when I feel that we really do need to scrap the system and start over with the basics.
anyway, my point: the real root cause for this story is greed, pure and simple.
> Niro, Jabba, Hutt & Niro
Thank you. Really, thank you.
And let's not forget also that, as far as slavery goes, almost everyone is descendant of slaves, with the Europeans being all, with very few exceptions, descendants of tribes and whole peoples enslaved by, either the Greek, or the Romans, or the Nordic tribes, or depending on the case all of them in succession, with these guys also enslaving each other and even themselves all the time. Racists who love to look down on blacks because their ancestors were slaves should stop being idiots and look on the mirror and then, for consistency, down at themselves, for they're no exception to their own "rule". If anything, they were freed a little earlier, which is hardly something to be that proud of.
Conservatism: (n.) love of the existing evils. Liberalism: (n.) desire to substitute new evils for the existing ones.
IANAL, but the US Supreme Court says that the Constitution protects anonymous speech--the case is MacIntyre vs. Ohio State Election Commission. As an attorney, Niro damned well should know that fact. Given that, his conduct is utterly reprehensible.
"My opinions are my own, and I've got *lots* of them!"
Clearly, patents are a legal liability for your company. For other programmers, they enable them to make a career based on the only great idea they're going to have in their lives. So we can't just abandon software patents as others are suggesting.
To a certain extent, your company can defend your coding that might infringe on a frivolous patent based on the non-obviousness (it must not be an obvious invention to an ordinary person in that field) requirement for a patent. If lawyers show up claiming your spontaneously coding infringes on their client's patent, you can use a black-box reverse-engineering demonstration by contract coders to show that the original patent fails the non-obviousness requirement. But what if your code was an inspired bit of cleverness that was shared by someone else who decided to patent it? Well, that's the threat that makes me agree with you that the current software patent system is woefully inadequate because it punishes innovation.
Good luck with your start-up!
Seth
$5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
I am Spartacus
I am Spartacus
and so on.....
the next time that you are called a 'white' by someone that insists blacks are African Americans, you might find it fun to insist that they call you 'slave trader' American, or remind them that the abbreviation for African American is AA. Perhaps reminding them that Lincoln tried to ship them back to Africa will give them some humility? History is so full of fun facts. If they pull out the term caucasian, you would do well to remind them that 'whites' are NOT from the caucasus islands. Another fun little fact of life: in Africa they are also prejudiced against one another by skin color. Yes, light vs dark, or one tribe versus another, one country vs. another. That kind of solidarity of dark skinned people ONLY happens in North America, so exactly what kind of African American are they? and what tribe do they support? Personally, I'm Anglo-Saxon American, I'm listed in the DAR (revolutionary American), and I just prefer that you call me by my name...
On those little quizzes, always select 'other' as the discussion as to why you chose other can be lots of fun. Its a racial question that does not account for South Americans, mulatto etc. If your grandfather was black, your grandmother was chinese and your mother was south american, what race do you belong to? How do you answer the quiz? select 3 or more categories?
ALL PC terms are insulting.
Support NYCountryLawyer RIAA vs People
No wait, wait...it's me, it's me...now where can I go to get the reward???
and so is my wife.
Slashdot Burying Stories About Slashdot Media Owned
This time, I'll keep it polite...
Not in Omaha.
Dewey, what part of this looks like authorities should be involved?
Both of them are different from the norm, and both are affected by their place on the autistic spectrum.
I'd agree with you that it's not a disease - more a collection of characteristics, but Aspergers is real, and it is debilitating to those who suffer from it.
One swallow does not a fellatrix make
I'm white and have filled out job applications where I've marked the "african-american" box. Those areas are always optional, and I typically just leave it blank. I knew it was illegal for the employer to question it though. The HR person was probably a bit confused by my name Josh (insert German sounding last name).
Anyone born in the US is American.. plain and simple.. unless you renounce your citizenship and move to another country. I bet most blacks in the US can trace their American heritage back farther than I can trace mine... but I've never been a German-American. I don't have dual citizenship, so I can't consider myself a German-American.
"Action without philosophy is a lethal weapon; philosophy without action is worthless."
That's Caucacus Mountains, a region just south of Russia, near Turkey. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasus
Originally it was a racist term, as people theorized that humans started there and spread out to Africa and elsewhere, making "white" people more pure.
...my dog.
And now everyone on the Internet knows it.
What if 3 of his grand-parrents are from Sweden and only one if from Africa. Most likely people will still call him an African-American
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
Yeah, well, they call it the Melting Pot for a reason.
The higher the technology, the sharper that two-edged sword.
All 19 hijackers were known terrorists 09-10-2001. Lack of FBI intelligence does not justify warrantless wiretaps..
It is common knowledge that both the host of the website and the e-mail address of the Troll Tracker have low-wage employees, performing routine office work. It is also common knowledge that they are most likely to have access to the registrant's identity, but that making that identity available to this patent troll is illegal. The bounty, therefore, constitutes enticement to an illegal action. IANAL, and I think I could convince a judge that the bounty is illegal. Who is the DA in that jurisdiction and why isn't he upholding the rights of citizens to our privacy, and to be free of undue search and seizure by corrupt lawyers? Fire him.
All 19 hijackers were known terrorists 09-10-2001. Lack of FBI intelligence does not justify warrantless wiretaps..
Probably because so much of what gets passed off as patriotism is actually jingoism and chauvanism.
I see even classic Slashdot is now pretty much unusable on dial up anymore.