We need Techrights to expose corrupted institutions like the European Patent Office.
Trying to bankrupt them with defamation lawsuits does not help.
How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
21–30 of 34 posts
Re: How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
#22We need Techrights to expose corrupted institutions like the European Patent Office. Trying to bankrupt them with defamation lawsuits does not help.
I'm curious what you think the correct response to defamation is? At multiple opportunities (including the morning of the trial) Roy and Rianne were given the option of just removing the defamatory material and apologising and having the case dropped without having to pay anything. This is in no way my preferred outcome.
Re: How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
#23Ironically I think the technical analysis argues that he could infact be guilty. He goes from, 11 seconds is a big gap to, anything within 90 seconds could be the same person. The real question is, how often did the timeouts coincide.
Your assumption is that a 11 second delta is a somewhat better evidence than a 90 seconds delta, but the provided article successfully defended this isn't the case IMO. It depends on the last activity of the user The article also shows that there's a 40 second delta between the harassing account and the harassed person himself, further semonstrating this doesn't mean anything and can happen purely by chance
To be pedantic: it depends on the last activity of the client, not the user. Anything the client sends counts, even if it's not as a result of user action. This makes it incredibly hard to figure out what could reset that timer - you'd need to know the user's client, its configuration, its plugins and so on.
Re: How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
#24See also https://techrights.org/i/2025/12/case-judgment-summary.html
> He was awarded substantial damages of £70,000 and was also awarded his costs.
I could do with £70,000 - I'm suing you for your comment of making me jealous of £70k.
Re: How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
#25The facts were never argued, the other party failed to follow procedure.
After "being warned of the consequences on multiple occasions the Schestowitzes never provided any witness statements" , so that's hardly Matthew's fault.
Yeah but that means that the “court said I’m right ” rhetoric is invalid. It’s as if you said that a no bill or dismissal proved your innocence: it doesn’t.
Now although I have only superficial understanding of the case at stake I believe the author nonetheless (but with a weak certainty until I hear the other side).
Re: How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
#26403 Error.
Re: How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
#27We need Techrights to expose corrupted institutions like the European Patent Office. Trying to bankrupt them with defamation lawsuits does not help.
I'm curious what you think the correct response to defamation is? At multiple opportunities (including the morning of the trial) Roy and Rianne were given the option of just removing the defamatory material and apologising and having the case dropped without having to pay anything. This is in no way my preferred outcome.
Will read the court decision during Xmas time.
As a side note, my organization FFII eV was sued for defamation for criticizing patent trolling companies in the past:
https://edri.org/our-work/edrigramnumber3-16ffii/
My position was always to correct the statements, stick to the facts, and avoid wasting money on lawyers.
Re: How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
#28Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm curious what you think the correct response to defamation is? At multiple opportunities (including the morning of the trial) Roy and Rianne were given the option of just removing the defamatory material and apologising and having the case dropped without having to pay anything. This is in no way my preferred outcome.
Will read the court decision during Xmas time. As a side note, my organization FFII eV was sued for defamation for criticizing patent trolling companies in the past: https://edri.org/our-work/edrigramnumber3-16ffii/ My position was always to correct the statements, stick to the facts, and avoid wasting money on lawyers.
I'd have been entirely happy with that outcome, and I sent Roy and Rianne emails asking for that before getting lawyers involved. Even then, the initial request was just for correction - we offered to settle several times after the case started, and Roy documented his refusal in https://techrights.org/n/2025/11/04/We_Turned_Down_Every_Set... . As I said, these efforts continued until the morning of the trial, when I explicitly told my lawyers to make an offer that would involve Roy and Rianne paying nothing.
The way English court costs work is that if someone offers a settlement that would be more favourable than the court eventually orders (ie, the defendant could have settled for less than the damages the court orders, or the claimant could have settled for more than the damages the court orders) and that settlement is refused, then additional damages and costs are due as a consequence of refusing the early settlement offer and costing everyone more money. But for this to work, the court cannot be told about the settlement offer until afterwards - otherwise the judge could be influenced. As a result, there won't be any discussion of settlement offers in the judgement.
(This does have an unfortunate consequence - a defendant who wants to keep a case out of court can make a settlement offer that's higher than the court is likely to offer, and if the claimant refuses then the entire exercise ends up being much more expensive)
Re: How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
#29Earlier quoted context omitted.
Will read the court decision during Xmas time. As a side note, my organization FFII eV was sued for defamation for criticizing patent trolling companies in the past: https://edri.org/our-work/edrigramnumber3-16ffii/ My position was always to correct the statements, stick to the facts, and avoid wasting money on lawyers.
I'd have been entirely happy with that outcome, and I sent Roy and Rianne emails asking for that before getting lawyers involved. Even then, the initial request was just for correction - we offered to settle several times after the case started, and Roy documented his refusal in https://techrights.org/n/2025/11/04/We_Turned_Down_Every_Set... . As I said, these efforts continued until the morning of the trial, when I…
This seems like a case where some application of Game theory would lead to a prediction of an unusual outcome being the most common one.
Re: How did IRC ping timeouts end up in a lawsuit?
#30This is pretty funny and reminds me of when some company in the US tried to sue someone for copyright infringement. The evidence they offered up was just screenshots of IP addresses, not even a packet log of the traffic in question.