An interesting outcome of the GPDR! Does the author have any recourse? Can they sue?
For what? Someone's negative opinion of them?
There is no concept of free speech in the EU; you can be sued for calling someone stupid, etc.
I thought I was being ‘blacklisted’, so I demanded to see colleagues’ emails
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Re: I thought I was being ‘blacklisted’, so I demanded to see colleagues’ emails
#12>Where my personality was called into question perhaps my working-class background, my northern accent, and my Aspergers could be a reasonable explanation. Easier to resort to such hypotheses than be self critical, I guess. Do we really fall in the category where one student with apparently decent thesis results gets ostarcized by her advisor AND the examiners, where no one in the faculty or comittee would stand for…
One way or another, we can't really know.
But I believe people have an unalienable right to tell their version of a story.
As far as these story go, this is one is very civil (and doesn't name the people that are accused of destroying a career and a life).
What I don't really understand is what this comment brings to the table. Why try to cast aspersions on an otherwise mild testimony, the truth of which is pretty much unknowable without further details?
What if the person is 100% right?
Re: I thought I was being ‘blacklisted’, so I demanded to see colleagues’ emails
#13Earlier quoted context omitted.
For libel and slander, calling him stupid when he passed the exams set by the very examiner himself. Loss of earnings, etc. Also against the universities for breach of the blacklisting prohibitions in the employment act. Their lack of checks and balances against this informal blacklist has left them wide open to be sued.
There's a wide gap between a blacklisting system and someone getting a bad recommendation from an advisor. I've met plenty of stupid people who can pass exams.
But intervening on a test result makes you look suspicious and opens you to narrative about motivation.
Re: I thought I was being ‘blacklisted’, so I demanded to see colleagues’ emails
#14Anecdotally, I met someone who stopped updating their linkedin profile because he found out someone was making anonymous comments and allegations to his employers. He didn't know what they were or who it was because it came second hand from a colleague who told him that an exec had asked about him because of an anonymous message. Also, whisper networks in tech are very much a thing and they are full of just the quali…
The real world is crazy. The amount of bullying, stalking and attacks I've gotten after getting a series of promotions in a rotten workplace with a few bad apples is unbelievable.
If I knew better, I'd have paid attention to the above comment.
Re: I thought I was being ‘blacklisted’, so I demanded to see colleagues’ emails
#15An interesting outcome of the GPDR! Does the author have any recourse? Can they sue?
For what? Someone's negative opinion of them?
The author mentions their Aspergers; which means the content of those emails, such as comments like 'stupid,' could be seen as coded discrimination. In nearly all of Europe, intellectual disabilities are a topic of non-discrimination legislation.
Ignoring the legal arm-chairing; universities and colleges retaining staff who discriminate students based on intellectual disabilities could face down some bad PR.
Re: I thought I was being ‘blacklisted’, so I demanded to see colleagues’ emails
#16Earlier quoted context omitted.
For what? Someone's negative opinion of them?
For libel and slander, calling him stupid when he passed the exams set by the very examiner himself. Loss of earnings, etc. Also against the universities for breach of the blacklisting prohibitions in the employment act. Their lack of checks and balances against this informal blacklist has left them wide open to be sued.
That just gets you into a Catch-22... being seen suing previous employers and supervisors will make it even harder to get hired in that field, and possibly any other as well.
If the person in question is not really unpleasant (and I don't know that they are not, but let's take it as given for a moment), my suggestion would be doing some strong networking. If you interact with people at conferences and are clearly not a bad person, then it's easier to defend yourself against the accusations by pointing out their variance with actual experience. In a perfect world, yeah, that work should not be necessary, but nobody's accused the world of being perfect in a long time.
(Ironically, if you pull this off and manage to build a new reputation on your own, then you might actually be able to safely sue.)
Re: I thought I was being ‘blacklisted’, so I demanded to see colleagues’ emails
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
For libel and slander, calling him stupid when he passed the exams set by the very examiner himself. Loss of earnings, etc. Also against the universities for breach of the blacklisting prohibitions in the employment act. Their lack of checks and balances against this informal blacklist has left them wide open to be sued.
That just gets you into a Catch-22... being seen suing previous employers and supervisors will make it even harder to get hired in that field, and possibly any other as well. If the person in question is not really unpleasant (and I don't know that they are not, but let's take it as given for a moment), my suggestion would be doing some strong networking. If you interact with people at conferences and are clearly not…
> being seen suing previous employers and supervisors will make it even harder to get hired in that field, and possibly any other as well.
If you win enough in damages then you don't need to worry too much about earning in the future.
No idea how likely that is, particularly after paying attorneys' fees.
Re: I thought I was being ‘blacklisted’, so I demanded to see colleagues’ emails
#18Earlier quoted context omitted.
For what? Someone's negative opinion of them?
The UK has famously strict libel laws, and notably the burden of proof is on the defendant to prove the truth of their defamatory speech. https://www.burnetts.co.uk/publications/blogs/libel-and-slan... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_defamation_law
Before 2013 in the UK, not even truth was enough of a defense. Truths that caused harm (even justifiable harm) were still actionable.
In Austria it's still illegal to make true comments that offend religion sensibilities.
Re: I thought I was being ‘blacklisted’, so I demanded to see colleagues’ emails
#19Anecdotally, I met someone who stopped updating their linkedin profile because he found out someone was making anonymous comments and allegations to his employers. He didn't know what they were or who it was because it came second hand from a colleague who told him that an exec had asked about him because of an anonymous message. Also, whisper networks in tech are very much a thing and they are full of just the quali…
Whisper networks just mean powerful people who talk among each other and do their research. That will always be the case. In politics isn’t that just the standard form of discourse?
Re: I thought I was being ‘blacklisted’, so I demanded to see colleagues’ emails
#20> I was able to ask my PhD college, and several other institutions, to see all emails in which my name appeared in either the subject line or the body of the email
Hmm, I don't think I like this, and I don't understand how the GDPR allows you to do this.
While I understand that stored emails that mention you are technically "data about you", I wouldn't consider them "your data".
Emails are a form of personal communication, and are only really accessible by the author and recipients. Furthermore, those emails would contain PI about other individuals - what of their rights, or indeed the rights of the email authors (regardless of the message content)?
I support the GDPR, but I don't think using it like this falls within it's intent.