craigslist troll jason fortuny caught, sued, cites DMCA abuse

by Violet Blue on August 5, 2008

Remember griefer extraordinaire Jason Fortuny‘s “The Craigslist Experiment“? I’ve cited it more than once in my online privacy talks (Google Tech talk video). Reader El D just wrote me saying,

Though Sunday’s New York Times dubbed him a spokesperson for internet trolls, Jason Fortuny’s just been sued in federal court.

Fortuny re-published over 180 responses to a fake sex ad on Craigslist in 2006 — but he’s finally been located and issued with a summons. Fortuny responded to the lawsuit and argues he re-published the photo to stand up to the victim’s “bogus” DMCA notice, and that the victim simply gullibly volunteered the information. In a motion to the court Fortuny even argues that he did a public service by highlighting a privacy risk on the internet, whereas “bringing legal action against me may punish me, but it won’t change or even impact online culture.”

Violet Blue

The London Times named Violet Blue "One of the 40 bloggers who really count" and Self Magazine named TinyNibbles one of the “Best Sex Resources for Women.” Blue is an autodidact and pundit on sex and technology, hacking and security, porn for women, privacy and bleeding-edge tech culture. She is a journalist for ZDNet, CBS News, CNET; she's an educator, speaker, crisis counselor, volunteer NGO trainer, and the author and editor of over 40 award-winning books.

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{ 1 comment }

1 Mark August 6, 2008 at 5:00 am

I love that argument:

“bringing legal action against me may punish me, but it won’t change or even impact online culture.”

I’d love to hear that used with a non-cyber crime. “bringing legal action against me may punish me, but it won’t stop armed robbery.” lol.

Hey V – mail me.

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