MMM Receives Legal Threats • Hacker News Board

Re: MMM Receives Legal Threats

#21

Post by toomuchtodo » Wed, Mar 12, 2014, 7:53 PM UTC

danvideo wrote: post #9

xacaxulu wrote: post #4

MMM is handling this like pros! Hopefully this will serve as a blueprint for future people in similar situations.

Maybe MMM site is a good place for it, maybe not - but the idea sounds great - to have a place where people can submit info about when this happens to them as well to publicize and share advice.

http://www.chillingeffects.org/

Re: MMM Receives Legal Threats

#22

Post by dubfan » Wed, Mar 12, 2014, 7:54 PM UTC

tanon500 wrote: post #5

Organization who allegedly asked the lawyer to take action: http://www.kisstrust.com/ * Maybe this was just an incompetent attorney, but regardless, taking legal action against a website for a comment posted really demonstrates that the company isn't capable of using its good reputation to handle the situation, and therefore lacks said reputation. Can't compete on the merits - GTFO. /rant

They seem to have a history of playing fast and loose with the law. See this thread on Bogleheads where forum posters discovered they took a forum member's post, put it on their site as a "review" with no link to the original thread, and had the gall to claim the text was "public domain": http://www.bogleheads.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=107952

Re: MMM Receives Legal Threats

#23

Post by TrainedMonkey » Wed, Mar 12, 2014, 7:56 PM UTC

Zancarius wrote: post #15

TrainedMonkey wrote: post #10

Well this one should be slam dunk to dismiss unless they file lawsuit in Texas eastern circuit court.

I think you misspelled "circus."

In original context those words are synonymous, so correction need not apply.

Re: MMM Receives Legal Threats

#24

Post by Zancarius » Wed, Mar 12, 2014, 7:58 PM UTC

TrainedMonkey wrote: post #23

Zancarius wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you misspelled "circus."

In original context those words are synonymous, so correction need not apply.

You raise a fantastic point, my friend.

Re: MMM Receives Legal Threats

#25

Post by notastartup » Wed, Mar 12, 2014, 7:59 PM UTC

not sure I understand what's going on here, why are they being threatened legally and who is doing it?

Re: MMM Receives Legal Threats

#26

Post by fnordfnordfnord » Wed, Mar 12, 2014, 8:00 PM UTC

Marc Randazza or Popehat would make quick work of this fool.

Re: MMM Receives Legal Threats

#27

Post by lingben » Wed, Mar 12, 2014, 8:02 PM UTC

google cache of relevant MMM forum thread (removed):

http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:tMinWjW...

Re: MMM Receives Legal Threats

#28

Post by thaumaturgy » Wed, Mar 12, 2014, 8:06 PM UTC

Ken Popehat (http://www.popehat.com/) might be worth contacting. Even if he can't help directly, he might know someone who can. He's about the closest thing the internet has to a folk superhero in law; he has a "Popehat signal" (http://www.popehat.com/tag/popehat-signal/) he uses for a "call for pro bono help for online folks who get threatened with bogus censorious lawsuits" (http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/1aokls/iama_federal_cr...) and he got involved, at least twice, with a university-area bus company that has tried to silence criticism on Reddit (http://beta.slashdot.org/story/185659).

Re: MMM Receives Legal Threats

#29

Post by lesserj » Wed, Mar 12, 2014, 8:09 PM UTC

eli wrote: post #2

Sounds like they would be pretty foolish to proceed with a lawsuit, doubly so if MMM happens to be in a state with a strong Anti-SLAPP law.

MMM is in Colorado, which does have statutory protections against SLAPP [1]

[1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategic_lawsuit_against_publi...

Re: MMM Receives Legal Threats

#30

Post by byoung2 » Wed, Mar 12, 2014, 8:12 PM UTC

notastartup wrote: post #25

not sure I understand what's going on here, why are they being threatened legally and who is doing it?

KISS Trust is a company that offers revocable trusts for people. Someone on the MMM forum said that this company was a scam and warned others to stay away. That post made the first page of Google for a search for KISS Trust, and the company noticed. They sent a cease and desist to the blog owner demanding that he take the post down. He refused. Now the company is getting more bad press because of the legal fight than from the original post. It might have been better to create an account and respond to the original poster directly to resolve the issue.