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Sorority Files Lawsuit After Sacred Secrets Posted On Penny Arcade Forums
Limekiller42 writes: Lawyers for the Phi Sigma Sigma sorority have filed suit in Seattle's King County Superior Court against an unidentified person for "publicizing the sorority's secret handshake, robe colors and other practices." The well-written article is by Levi Pulkkinen of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and states that the sorority is seeking a restraining order and financial compensation for damages.
Those are not the secrets I would be interested in.
Pornhub for "secret practises" published there too ?
Unicode killed the ASCII-art *
Seriously, who cares about a bunch of rich cunts and their little childish college games.
Bunch of wankers, the lot of them. Immature, strutting nobends.
Why do sororities even exist?
They seem like an utterly retarded idea.
Slashdot social media options: AIM, ICQ, Yahoo, Jabber and Mobile Text. Why no MySpace?
There is no "damage" here aside from learning that this secret society is as ludicrous as all the rest. A fact that most people would know already.
Wouldn't these be considered trade secrets and under the responsibility of the sorority to guard against disclosure? If the physical pieces are not trademarked, nor the written contents or acts copyrighted as a performance. Note that a quick Google shows they were founded in 1913, which would make all of their original text public domain.
(Oh, and Streisand Effect, of course)
Is it just my observation, or are there way too many stupid people in the world?
The information was never put into a tangible form so there is no copyright, so I don't buy the intellectual property infringement. I guess it could be a trade secret, but it's up to organization to protect that information. However, it's not much of a secret if a few thousands of people know it. No theft here. The only case they might have is breach of contract.
Getting a judgment is another matter entirely.
Of course with the right lawyer and the right jury
http://articles.latimes.com/19...
You can get a million dollar award for a MRI destroying your psychic abilities.
... they're ashamed and angered by everyone knowing that they made up a secret club and have secret meetings that any pack of 4th graders would be proud of. Seriously, ladies, now that the world knows, don't you feel kind of childish? Greeks: Providing a safety cuddle blanket for insecure high school grads for over two centuries
taking themselves way too serious like this. And college kids are the worst.
I thought this was already reveled in the movie "Where the boys aren"t 3"
I'll guess that their colors are pink and black.
Also isn't it a sexist to claim that some female released the information that was posted?
Phi Sigma Sigma secrets are:
Phi Sigma Sigma (PSS) secretly stands for Philanthropic Social Society. However, this is never written down or recorded (until now) because it is so "sacred". The Handshake consists of a series of motions. Member A first begins with the pointer finger and the thumb surrounding Member B's pointer finger and thumb. This is the "Phi". Then Member A wraps the remaining fingers, middle, ring and pinky around the hand as a symbol of the "Sigma". Depending on who is the senior member, the pinky finger is wrapped around the older member's hand. Next is the hand knock. It goes Knock. Pause. Knock. Pause. Knock, knock, knock. The meetings are set up usually with the President, VP and other officers sitting at the front. The President wears a yellow or gold robe and the officers wear royal blue robes. The remaining members sit across from the officers in a pyramid formation with the base closest to the officers and the apex farthest from the officers. Members are seated by class order, then by alphabetical order. The table at which the President and Vice President are seated consists of candles on each side. Two gold candles and one blue at each corner of the table. Members usually recite an oath, "We, the members of Phi Sigma Sigma, promise to keep secret and sacred all of our proceedings." The way to enter the pyramid is by using the hand knock to notify the members you are wanting to enter the room. The President will respond back with her gavel by repeating the knock. The person will enter then travel to the apex of the pyramid formation. The President will say the secret and sacred words "Remove the Veil" and then the member will respond back with the Chapter's name, example, "Zeta Eta." The Gold and King Blue symbolize "Perpetuity" and "Sincerity". At initiation, blue "veils" (tulle from the local fabric store) are placed on the heads of the potential new members and are later removed to symbolize some sort of occult transformation and that they are full-fledged members.
I RTFA and PA is not even being sued here. The sorority is suing "Jane Doe", since they don't even know who posted the comments....for craps sake, I might take Slashdot out of my feed soon.
neorush
Pretty hard to show damage, and I fail to see what exactly is the copyright able item.
At least these dimwits didn't invoke the DMCA.
My god if I had a penny for every time the DMCA has been used to bully someone in a lawsuit and been pulled out of context, I would have my own space program being run out of my back yard.
seriously who is with me on this? If I were a judge and some business didn't upgrade their security and got hacked and then tried to use the DMCA to paint someone as being a "Terrorist" with the DMCA, I would tell them this. " That is not the purpose of the law, that is not what the law was invented to do, and the loop hole you are looking for does not exist in the legal system. If you don't like it, I suggest you speak with your legislature to pass the law that actually applies to what you are trying to use the DMCA to do, otherwise you are wasting the courts time to cover up for you not doing your own due diligence to protect your business and your business model and that is not the responsibility of the courts. Come back when a law applies to your situation. Bye!
Some other secret societies wouldn't have _sued_ such a person... Then again, a more decisive action would have probably not gone too well with 'philantropic' and 'social'...
Groups of people coming together to perform a play form a particularly close "tribe" - it's like having a group of people who are even closer than family, for a few weeks at a time. But they don't go around attacking and killing other actors, or even non-actors. It's much more likely that the non-actors will withdraw from the actors than that the actors will go on a killing spree against the people in the rival theater company...
Piss?
How in the world can they claim violation of the DMCA? Did he rip a DVD of the secret handshake?
The judge should throw these lawyers out of his courtroom and disbar them.
In the complaint they say it is a violation of the DMCA. Disbar these lawyers
On the other hand, I could see an MRI actually destroying a hypothetical human magnetic navigation sense.
- A number of animals, including birds, are documented to have a magnetic sense they use in navigation.
- Bacteria are known to migrate vertically using the earth's field to align them as "dipping needles" so their cilia drive them downward to lower-oxygen water.
- The bacteria obtain their magnetic alignment by depositing crystals of magnetitie of a size that will hold no more than a single magnetic domain, and thus be automatically magetized. New crystals are deposited next to old, making them align in the same direction. The row of crystals is a strong enough magnet to align the bug like a compass needle. The row is normally split when the bug reproduces, so the two new bugs are both magnetized the same way, rather than one getting a 50/50 chance of swimming the wrong way. (No doubt the occasional offspring gets none and has to take the chance - which let the species survive magnetic reversal events.)
-Some nerve cells in a number of animals contain such magnetite particles, leading to the speculation that these may be the basis for a magnetic sense.
- Among such nerve types is on in the human nose, leading to the speculation that some humans may be able to "smell" magnetic fields (or have some magnetic sense in some OTHER group of neurons that ALSO produces the particles and that those in the nose are vestigial mis-triggering of the mechanism, or that an organism in their ancestry may once have had a magnetic sense, of which this is a vestigial remanent.)
- (I have a small number of personal, anaecdotal, experiences that lead me to believe that I once had a magnetic sense that was input to my brain's location processing, but at a priority far below visual observation. These all occurred before I ever had an MRI.)
- If some nerves do detect ambient magnetism by monitoring mechanical forces originating in magnetitie particles, the strong magnetic field of an MRI machine might be expected to disrupt this by modifying the magnetization of the particles, or by yanking on then so strongly they disrupt, or even kill, the nerves in question.
So if humans DO have a magnetic sense of this form, it might actually be destroyed by exposure to, and especially testing in, an MRI machine.
Bantam Dominique roosters crow a four-note song. Once you've heard it as "Happy BIRTHday" you can't NOT hear it that way
... I'm not surprised to find that most of the comments range from confusion to outright derision over the fact that people still get together and socialize.
I am, however, surprised to find that people assume that because this is a sorority they must be "immature", "wankers", and "rich cunts". In the very next post, they'll be wondering why people assume that Linux users are antisocial, inflexible, and terrible employees.
It must've been from a video tape from some of those Lambda Lambda Lambda nerds!
http://penny-arcade.com/comic/...
http://www.penny-arcade.com/news/post/2012/11/19/phi-sigma-sigma
Posted anno to avoid karma whoring.
Their secret knock (knock pause knock pause knock knock knock) is very likely to be the main rythme of some song...
As such, it can be seen as a copyright violation of that song... And phi sigma sigma could be liable for damage to that song author...
So, they try to get that hidden as fast as possible before some musician recognize his own property.
There is NOTHING "sacred" for any of that greek bullshit. It's all stupidity for the sake of stupidity.
Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
"
Phi Sigma Sigma secrets are:
Phi Sigma Sigma (PSS) secretly stands for Philanthropic Social Society. However, this is never written down or recorded (until now) because it is so "sacred". The Handshake consists of a series of motions. Member A first begins with the pointer finger and the thumb surrounding Member B's pointer finger and thumb. This is the "Phi". Then Member A wraps the remaining fingers, middle, ring and pinky around the hand as a symbol of the "Sigma". Depending on who is the senior member, the pinky finger is wrapped around the older member's hand. Next is the hand knock. It goes Knock. Pause. Knock. Pause. Knock, knock, knock. The meetings are set up usually with the President, VP and other officers sitting at the front. The President wears a yellow or gold robe and the officers wear royal blue robes. The remaining members sit across from the officers in a pyramid formation with the base closest to the officers and the apex farthest from the officers. Members are seated by class order, then by alphabetical order. The table at which the President and Vice President are seated consists of candles on each side. Two gold candles and one blue at each corner of the table. Members usually recite an oath, "We, the members of Phi Sigma Sigma, promise to keep secret and sacred all of our proceedings." The way to enter the pyramid is by using the hand knock to notify the members you are wanting to enter the room. The President will respond back with her gavel by repeating the knock. The person will enter then travel to the apex of the pyramid formation. The President will say the secret and sacred words "Remove the Veil" and then the member will respond back with the Chapter's name, example, "Zeta Eta." The Gold and King Blue symbolize "Perpetuity" and "Sincerity". At initiation, blue "veils" (tulle from the local fabric store) are placed on the heads of the potential new members and are later removed to symbolize some sort of occult transformation and that they are full-fledged members.
"
"Only one thing is impossible for God: To find any sense in any copyright law on the planet." - Mark Twain
Is that why Haimes stopped flying south for the winter after the scan?
There seems to be a good amount of confusion and a (teensy) bit of hate in the comments that I'd love to help clear up.
Background: two years in an engineering fraternity.
As for my view on the article: they have no legal basis here to do anything. Honestly the only reason that this is on here is because Penny Arcade is involved. They even made it a more public ordeal by being so aggressive about it.
then I would like to open a class action lawsuit against all Greek groups and their members for all their bullshit. I will be seeking eleventy trillion dollars in damages for general douchbaggery, massive nepotism, and because fuck them.
...given its mindset begins that early.
When worn over the chest, Phi Sigma Sigma looks like "PEE"
November 2011: Somebody posts anonymously on PennyArcade about Phi Sigma Sigma rituals
Late 2012: Phi Sigma Sigma discovers the post about rituals
2013: Nothing happened
2014: Nothing happened
2015: Phi Sigma Sigma attempts to file lawsuit
So now, we have somebody who made a post to an online forum almost four years ago, under an account that has exactly one post, and has not been active since November 2011, faced with a potential lawsuit. That's assuming that there is enough data to actually identify who the member is. And assuming that the user who posted is actually a former member and not somebody else who learned about the 'sacred secrets' some other way.
Considering it is a breach of contract suit, I'd be interested to see what the actual contract looks like.
So, they are going through scientology playbook, then? /shakes head
A successful API design takes a mixture of software design and pedagogy.
Please sue me too.
Phi Sigma Sigma (PSS) secretly stands for Philanthropic Social Society. However, this is never written down or recorded (until now) because it is so "sacred". The Handshake consists of a series of motions. Member A first begins with the pointer finger and the thumb surrounding Member B's pointer finger and thumb. This is the "Phi". Then Member A wraps the remaining fingers, middle, ring and pinky around the hand as a symbol of the "Sigma". Depending on who is the senior member, the pinky finger is wrapped around the older member's hand. Next is the hand knock. It goes Knock. Pause. Knock. Pause. Knock, knock, knock. The meetings are set up usually with the President, VP and other officers sitting at the front. The President wears a yellow or gold robe and the officers wear royal blue robes. The remaining members sit across from the officers in a pyramid formation with the base closest to the officers and the apex farthest from the officers. Members are seated by class order, then by alphabetical order. The table at which the President and Vice President are seated consists of candles on each side. Two gold candles and one blue at each corner of the table. Members usually recite an oath, "We, the members of Phi Sigma Sigma, promise to keep secret and sacred all of our proceedings." The way to enter the pyramid is by using the hand knock to notify the members you are wanting to enter the room. The President will respond back with her gavel by repeating the knock. The person will enter then travel to the apex of the pyramid formation. The President will say the secret and sacred words "Remove the Veil" and then the member will respond back with the Chapter's name, example, "Zeta Eta." The Gold and King Blue symbolize "Perpetuity" and "Sincerity". At initiation, blue "veils" (tulle from the local fabric store) are placed on the heads of the potential new members and are later removed to symbolize some sort of occult transformation and that they are full-fledged members.
No sir, certainly not. Better not let the family know.
This has to be about the stupidest "secret" I've ever heard of. No wonder nobody ever tells it.
Phi Sigma Sigma secrets are:
Phi Sigma Sigma (PSS) secretly stands for Philanthropic Social Society. However, this is never written down or recorded (until now) because it is so "sacred". The Handshake consists of a series of motions. Member A first begins with the pointer finger and the thumb surrounding Member B's pointer finger and thumb. This is the "Phi". Then Member A wraps the remaining fingers, middle, ring and pinky around the hand as a symbol of the "Sigma". Depending on who is the senior member, the pinky finger is wrapped around the older member's hand. Next is the hand knock. It goes Knock. Pause. Knock. Pause. Knock, knock, knock. The meetings are set up usually with the President, VP and other officers sitting at the front. The President wears a yellow or gold robe and the officers wear royal blue robes. The remaining members sit across from the officers in a pyramid formation with the base closest to the officers and the apex farthest from the officers. Members are seated by class order, then by alphabetical order. The table at which the President and Vice President are seated consists of candles on each side. Two gold candles and one blue at each corner of the table. Members usually recite an oath, "We, the members of Phi Sigma Sigma, promise to keep secret and sacred all of our proceedings." The way to enter the pyramid is by using the hand knock to notify the members you are wanting to enter the room. The President will respond back with her gavel by repeating the knock. The person will enter then travel to the apex of the pyramid formation. The President will say the secret and sacred words "Remove the Veil" and then the member will respond back with the Chapter's name, example, "Zeta Eta." The Gold and King Blue symbolize "Perpetuity" and "Sincerity". At initiation, blue "veils" (tulle from the local fabric store) are placed on the heads of the potential new members and are later removed to symbolize some sort of occult transformation and that they are full-fledged members.
The secret is the alphabetical order. Not every Greek secret society can master it, ergo, it is considered a trade secret.
confusing sororities with fraternities to some extent. Not that there aren't bad examples of both, but I've known a number of women (some in science, some not) that had good experiences with sororities that were based around sisterhood and providing support and outreach and stuff. I'm sure there are some examples of that with fraternities as well, maybe just less of them (I maintain any men-only secret society will eventually become fucked up no matter what). Still not sure why this is news though, only the vitriol about sororities is interesting here.
I think you mean white and black.
Without having read the article a simple google image search makes the group's colors pretty fucking obvious:
https://www.google.com/search?safe=off&site=&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1920&bih=977&q=phi+sigma+sigma&oq=phi+sigma+sigma
You don't need to have inside knowledge to figure that shit out.
Why are these girls complaining? The club book of their arch enemy, whose club's express purpose is to exclude these girls, has been revealed.. And neither Club Dictator-for-life nor the Club President and the First Tiger complained about it.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
The same handshake that an Outlaw MC member taught me in '72 was the same handshake a coke dealer taught me in '79, and the same handshake I learned a few years ago from one of my nephews' friends for their "clique".
It's also a Masonic handshake, I was amazed to learn; those go way back, fwih.
There's more important shit to worry about going on in the world and this is what they're suing for...
Just a waste of time and money.
Phi Sigma Sigma secrets are:
Phi Sigma Sigma (PSS) secretly stands for Philanthropic Social Society. However, this is never written down or recorded (until now) because it is so "sacred". The Handshake consists of a series of motions. Member A first begins with the pointer finger and the thumb surrounding Member B's pointer finger and thumb. This is the "Phi". Then Member A wraps the remaining fingers, middle, ring and pinky around the hand as a symbol of the "Sigma". Depending on who is the senior member, the pinky finger is wrapped around the older member's hand. Next is the hand knock. It goes Knock. Pause. Knock. Pause. Knock, knock, knock. The meetings are set up usually with the President, VP and other officers sitting at the front. The President wears a yellow or gold robe and the officers wear royal blue robes. The remaining members sit across from the officers in a pyramid formation with the base closest to the officers and the apex farthest from the officers. Members are seated by class order, then by alphabetical order. The table at which the President and Vice President are seated consists of candles on each side. Two gold candles and one blue at each corner of the table. Members usually recite an oath, "We, the members of Phi Sigma Sigma, promise to keep secret and sacred all of our proceedings." The way to enter the pyramid is by using the hand knock to notify the members you are wanting to enter the room. The President will respond back with her gavel by repeating the knock. The person will enter then travel to the apex of the pyramid formation. The President will say the secret and sacred words "Remove the Veil" and then the member will respond back with the Chapter's name, example, "Zeta Eta." The Gold and King Blue symbolize "Perpetuity" and "Sincerity". At initiation, blue "veils" (tulle from the local fabric store) are placed on the heads of the potential new members and are later removed to symbolize some sort of occult transformation and that they are full-fledged members.
This is the question I asked myself when reading this story. I couldn't imagine why anybody would care so much about these sorts of completely inconsequential secrets. The fact that they are involving lawyers and and threatening litigation, however, makes me feel like this sorority should have it's names changed to something like "Pile of Shit Society" or something, and I'm glad these piles of shit are having their secrets revealed. Maybe the fact that the handshakes are revealed will be a plausible excuse for why you might know the handshake. I sure wouldn't want people to know I was a legacy pile of shit.
Sororities bring all sorts of people from different races, nationalities, interests, politics, and even income levels together.
Everyone who is not, has never been in, and never wants to be in a sorority comes together united in the same opinion:
We all hate sororities.
"With your revenge spell, my foreman was fired the next day! This is the same #%$!@ that canned me. Serves him right. Ricco, (my foreman) was practically in tears when he left the bosses office. The only thing I regret is not having my camera. I want to order a custom spell now!" quickrevengespell@yahoo.com, Anthony Y, Florida
Well when I went to college at the glorious SUNY Brockport, Phi Sigma Sigma was the fat/ugly girl sorority... better known as the Phi Sig Pigs. I wouldn't even fuck any of them.