Name: The Troll Wars 6.9 - Shadowproof
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The Troll Wars 6.9 - Shadowproof

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, I don’t come away with necessarily the same “this is denial of free speech” meme thats being spun hard on the right. Nor do I find the Judge totally deficient in wisdom or clueless as has been alleged. He is musing aloud, after all, and while perhaps not a world class analogist on the order of say, a highly skilled blogger operating at the height of his literary powers (ahem), the Judge does indeed make some points worth considering in light of the fact that no one on either side…yet… has proven much in the way of actual damages. And yes, it appears people on both sides have been damaged in this process. But how much of this is self-inflicted damage still remains to be objectively determined.And maybe never will be.There are limits to free speech. Can a blogger use free speech with the intent to purposely discredit another citizen and/or his lawful activities? Is the tactic used here, an orchestrated amplifying of internet speech accusing an individual through crowdsourcing, an appropriate act? Under the circumstances, is it legal?Is it appropriate to spread accusations against others into the mainstream media after the accusations were first taken to the Police, who subsequently haven’t pursued them? Would it be constitutional for the police or a prosecutor to open an investigation based solely on the demands of a crowd? I recognise that some of these questions apply equally to the Trayvon Martin case. However, in that case we have an innocent, unarmed teenager walking though the neighborhood on his way home from the store who was shot and killed. In this case, all mentions of harm or damage are still nebulous at best. No one, thank God, is dead.What follows comes from hearing over a restraining order filed against Aaron Walker by Brett Kimberlin, not a trial. The Judge, a self-confessed non-infoboob, wonders aloud how so many people can find so much free time to spend chattering online about this story. I wanted to fairly scream at my computer screen in answer that this is something brand new, Old-Timer, its called interactive infotainment, and it is a replacement for TV designed for pseudo-intellectual, overly literate narcissists, of the sort whom Tale, Donkey could easily be admitted as Exhibit A, your honour.WALKER: I have had a crime committed against me. What is unreasonable about seeking justice?THE COURT: You know, I shouldn’t say this, but I think you’ve got it twisted. The one who decides to prosecute the crimes is the government–WALKER: –Of course–THE COURT: –and only the government, and not you.WALKER: Of course, Your Honor.THE COURT: And you’re doing this, I think, under a guise — under this new banner of, “I’ve got the right to do.” You can’t. You can’t. Suppose you didn’t like a girl and you wanted to talk about her chastity. He feels the same way. He feels violated. And [inaudible] you have to look at the reasonableness between the two of you on the content. That’s why said, “Where’s this going?”WALKER: But, Your Honor–THE COURT: –This is going to you guys shooting — shooting each other, in my opinion.WALKER: Well, Your Honor, that is absolutely–THE COURT: –You plan to be peaceful (ph). I think — you know, I’m Irish, okay, and one of the things the Irish are best at in the world is boxing. And a real good Irish middleweight is a counterpuncher. He doesn’t throw the first punch, but, boy, he lets the second one go, and he’s got ya, see?WALKER: Well, Your Honor–THE COURT: –You’ve decided to battle, and he comes back. And see, you’re — you — you’re the kind of guy, you don’t want to get into this to settle this, mano y mano. You want to get all these friends who got nothing else to do with their time, in this judge’s opinion, because — my God, I’m a little bit older than you are, and I haven’t got enough time in the day to do all the things I want to do. And I thought by retirement, I would have less to do. I got more! Because everybody knows I’m free! So they all come to me. But you, you are starting a — a conflagration, for lack of a better word, and you’re just letting the thing go recklessly no matter where it goes. I mean, you get some — and I’m going to use word I (ph) — freak somewhere up Oklahoma, got nothing better to do with his time, so he does the nastiest things in the world he can do to this poor gentleman. What right has that guy got to do it?WALKER: He has no right to do that, Your Honor.THE COURT: Well, he’s — you incited him.WALKER: But, your honor, I did not incite him within the Brandenburg standard though.THE COURT: Forget Bradenburg [sic]. Let’s go by Vaughey right now, and common sense out in the world. But you know, where I grew up in Brooklyn, when that stuff was pulled, it was settled real quickly.I believe I grok what idea the Judge is lumbering toward here, and remember, he’s speaking extemporaneously from the bench, “thinking aloud.” What he’s saying here is that this antagonism which has been presented to him, regardless of who threw the first punch, needs to be defused before it becomes truly harmful to someone, anyone, who may or may not be Mr. Kimberlin, Mr. Walker or anybody.And whether Worthing is the exact cause of Kimberlin’s complaint, he does definitely bear responsibility for willingly becoming involved in blogging about the case rather than only arguing it in court, a choice that has definitely stoked the flames of the crowd.A person can be held responsible for inciting a mob. Whether this incident rises to the level of mob incitement is very debatable and it is certainly worth the debate given to where the Judge, and this reporter, fear this crowdsourcing experiment could lead in the Blade Runner future.What the Judge has not considered, nor have the previous Judges considered, is any responsibility Kimberlin bears for placing this mess before the court, and then compulsively filing motions almost non-stop.But, in so doing, Kimberlin has been able to set the legal agenda and the ground rules to date do seem to favour his side of the story, while Worthing and Patterico in particular are using the internets rather than the courts to make their points.The Judge is clearly telling Worthing that he is in the wrong place, wrong time to present his argument. He dug himself a hole with the Judge and trying to blame Kimberlin or the court is a fruitless proposition, although it has been very good for increasing blog coverage, and some media coverage, as well.Which only serves to underscore the Judge’s valid point about the escalation of antagonisms.He invited Worthing to appeal the Peace Order and that next stage appears to be forthcoming. , pro bono.The key for Patterico, Stack and Worthing, IMHO, is to get into the proper legal setting before unleashing their case. I note that Mike Stack has not participated in Everybody Blog About Brett Kimberlin day.Perhaps Stack, the non-lawyer of the three, knows something the other two apparently don’t know.Patterico and Worthing, arguing with indigestible blogfill alone not only doesn’t seem to be effective, it is actually backfiring, because their blogging about Kimberlin in the context of amplifying their accusations through crowdsourcing, in fact can easily be construed as a conspiracy to launch public persecution of someone who doesn’t currently stand accused of any crime.Stay tuned.Shadowproof is a financially independent news organization. All of our funding comes from small donations made by readers like you.We use your donations to hire freelance writers and cover our operating costs. Monthly membership subscriptions give us the stability we need to make plans while ensuring our organization does not depend on grants or major funders. If you like what you read, support our writers with a donation today.&nbsp;

, I don’t come away with necessarily the same “this is denial of free speech” meme thats being spun hard on the right. Nor do I find the Judge totally deficient in wisdom or clueless as has been alleged. He is musing aloud, after all, and while perhaps not a world class analogist on the order of say, a highly skilled blogger operating at the height of his literary powers (ahem), the Judge does indeed make some points worth considering in light of the fact that no one on either side…yet… has proven much in the way of actual damages. And yes, it appears people on both sides have been damaged...

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The Troll Wars 6.9 - Shadowproof

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