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Guy Who Didn't Invent Email Sues Gawker For Pointing Out He Didn't Invent Email (techdirt.com)
Mike Masnick, reporting for TechDirt: Oh boy. Remember Shiva Ayyadurai? The guy who has gone to great lengths to claim that he "invented email," when the reality is that he appears to have (likely independently) written an early implementation of email long after others had actually "invented email." In the past we've called out examples where gullible press have fallen for his easily debunked claims, but he keeps popping back up. The mainstream press repeated his bogus claims about inventing email after he married a TV star. And, most recently, he decided to scream at the press for memorializing Ray Tomlinson -- someone who actually did have a hand in creating email -- upon his death. [...] We, of course, have not been alone in debunking his claims. Back in 2012, a few weeks after we first debunked them, Gawker's Sam Biddle did a long and thorough takedown of Ayyadurai's claims. Apparently that story really angers Ayyadurai, and I'm guessing that seeing Hulk Hogan win his crazy lawsuit against Gawker helped Ayyadurai to decide to sue Gawker as well.
The celebrity wife in question is Fran Drescher.
SJW's don't eliminate discrimination. They just expropriate it for themselves.
On the one hand, this lawsuit is, well, bonkers. On the other, he's suing Gawker so.... go crazy email not inventing guy?
I browse on +1 so AC's need not respond, I won't see it.
Let's not spend any of those precious seconds ticking away talking about this... it's a collective waste of our time.
Do NOT feed the troll, remember?
His claims were utterly decimated before, .
They were reduced by 1/10th?
Tort Reform. Why is it that none of the presidential candidates are talking about this and neither is the media?
[1] http://www.bostonmagazine.com/...
His whole argument seems to come down to the fact that he invented an email system with the name "email" as opposed to "electronic mail" or "e-mail". He believes his copyrighting of the term "Email" gives his claims some sort of increased merit. There's something of the etymological fallacy to this, since the difference between "e-mail" and "email" is pretty small. I'm not even sure the copyright it even defensible, but that's a side issue.
I have two theories about this guy. One is that he's just a fraud, and the other that he's mentally ill and suffering some sort of fixation. He has literally allowed this whole fracas to severely damage his career; MIT basically canned him over this.
I think the guy is an extraordinarily egotistical asshole, but I'm also beginning to think he's probably nuts. Why would anyone pursue a matter to the extent, and accruing the kind of personal damage he has, simply so people won't mention RFCs or Tomlinson? It's fucking crazy. And considering the number of places his claims were exposed as hyperbole and in some ways outright lies, is he going to sue everyone who demonstrated the inherent flaws and inaccuracies in his claim? I get that he had made some sort of business out of his BS claim, but it's dead now. No court is going to award jack shit, not in the US anyways.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Ayyadurai's whole claim really rests on the fact that he copyrighted the term "Email". Therefore, in the twisted logic of he and his supporters (who very likely are all just sockpuppets of Ayyadurai), that means he "invented" "Email". It's really just equivocation, and probably a bit of an etymological fallacy.
But his attacks on Tomlinson, who in fact, never even claimed to invent electronic mail, but rather came up with the "@" symbol as a means of routing mail between ARPANET servers, demonstrates that even in his own mind he confuses what he supposedly invented. In the end, he invented some email system that was briefly used, died like so much software, inspired no descendants, and had nothing at all to do with the descendants of the Arpanet email systems still in use today. It was an unknown dead end whose only legacy is some guy with a potentially worthless copyright and a serious psychological disturbance.
The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
Ahem, the Romans were killing their own; it was punishment for a legion's failure in battle - akin to the modern "the beatings will continue until morale improves"...
I'm gonna kick myself for admitting this but I think I know him and I'm 99.9% sure that's what we used (I'm MIT Alumni) for inter-departmental communiques. (Yes, verbiage intentional.)
Now, this was a lot of years ago and my head's a bit fuzzy from years of varied substance abuses but man, if he's who I think he is, he's supposedly an idiot and an arrogant twat. (Not firsthand knowledge - repeated after some lectures others went to.) I won't swear that it's him but if you really want I can try to contact some old friends and see if they remember.
If it is him, and if my friends are to be believed - it was quite mentionable as he had a fit in a lecture hall, then I am not even remotely surprised. (79 - 83 and 87 - 91. Applied Mathematics, if you're curious.)
"So long and thanks for all the fish."
Here is a brief bio of the Shiva Ayyadurai, if you are not familiar with him. His sons, of course, are much more famous.
Ayyadurai started his career as a relentlessly self-improving boulangerie owner from Belgium with low-grade narcolepsy and a penchant for buggery. In 1978, he married a fifteen-year-old French prostitute named Chloe with webbed feet. Ayyadurai enjoys womanizing and drinking. In addition to email, he also invented the question mark. Ayyadurai has two sons, Austin and Douglas.
Obliterated. Jeez. Obliterated, dismantled, buy never decimated.