Home
Giza aka Douglas Muth's LiveJournal
Lisa Paolino's Legal Letter 
14th-Apr-2008 09:59 pm
Agent Muth, Reboot - Megabyte, Old and gray, Sand rockout - Naruto, drunk, Biting! - Drawn by Taurin Fox, big eyes, Reboot - AndrAIa Game Sprite Icon, Happy - Drawn by Taurin Fox, Happy, Reboot - Guardian Icon - Blue, amazed, Reboot - Hexadecimal's Gift, kyoot, Leopard, Reboot - Viral Icon, Leopard - Closeup/pissed, Reboot - Guardian Icon, Reboot - Generic Icon, ick, cute, Wheeeeee!
Since folks have been asking, I have finally published the letter that Lisa Paolino's attorney sent me. It can be found on the Save Ardmore Coalition site at:

http://www.saveardmorecoalition.org/node/2202

I have a bit of a rant there, but I'll add a little here. It just boggles my mind that she would do such a thing. What was she thinking? Is she really that ignorant of First Amendment issues to think that she could force someone to take down content that she doesn't like?

And yes, she is currently an elected official. She sits on the Board of Commissioners in Radnor. Isn't this like... some sort of misconduct on her part? Any legal types out there who can comment? Quite frankly, I have serious concerns about someone like her being responsible for running a township when she is pulling stunts like this.
Comments 
15th-Apr-2008 02:23 am (UTC)
Hey long time no talk.

Is an email a legal document ?
I mean, cant verify who sent it or if this is her real lawyer or she will claim some unrelated to her person did send this on their own ?
im sure they can find sneaky ways to claim she didnt send it.

how have you been, havent seen you in a while. Not like moving away from PA helps :)
15th-Apr-2008 02:29 am (UTC)

That's actually a good question. I have no idea, to tell you the truth.

I've been doing fine, BTW. Let me know then next time you're in town. :-)
27th-Apr-2008 04:24 pm (UTC)
I think an email can be a legal document. If people on college campuses get caught by the RIAA/MPAA sharing material, letters are sent to the DMCA officer, who in turn forwards them to the students involved. Sometimes these letters are just warnings. Other times they are actually in the form of settlement letters demanding students pay $8,000+ for their infringement. Some students involved have paid up, as not wanting to risk their chances in court. A few have fought the claims, but I don't know who these individuals were, or how successful they were going up to bat against the RIAA/MPAA.

Examples here:

Actual Sample Letter:

http://itc.wisc.edu/minutes/minutes.asp?min_id=60

MIT Article:

http://www-tech.mit.edu/V127/N24/riaa.html

“Moreover, Schiller cautioned that not all students who receive DMCA notices necessarily violated copyright law. Shiller said that it is becoming "quite difficult" to ensure IP addresses were actually used for infringement. "I've seen notices for random IP addresses that we would have never assigned," said Schiller.
Furthermore, the complexity of some protocols such as BitTorrent has caused erroneous DMCA notices to be sent. A discussion on the EDUCAUSE Security Discussion Group last month included concerns that HBO had sent a series of inaccurate DMCA notices with incorrect infringement times. The discussion also suggested that HBO was relying on questionable and possibly forged data from BitTorrent "trackers" — directory servers that contain information about IPs downloading a file — that could be readily forged.”

When the RIAA Makes A Mistak:

http://www.news.com/2100-1025_3-1001095.html

And finally, if you've gotten this far, info from the EFF:

http://w2.eff.org/IP/P2P/RIAA_v_ThePeople/college_faq.php

27th-Apr-2008 04:34 pm (UTC)

Just because the MPAA/RIAA do something a certain way, doesn't make it legal/valid.

There's a blog, I think it's called "Recording Industry vs. The People" that goes into detail about some of the really dirty tricks these people have pulled.
15th-Apr-2008 02:51 am (UTC)
Putting it on a forum and LJ is certainly public, but for legitimacy's sake, you ought to invite the ink and paper press to peruse your notes. This is huge.
15th-Apr-2008 04:25 am (UTC)

True, I probably should.

If you want to send the links off to any news organizations or political blogs that you know of, feel free. :-)

15th-Apr-2008 03:27 am (UTC)
What an unpleasant person.

Google says the attorney is legit.

Like errorist said, the ink and paper press might find this interesting.

I'd kinda like to know what's going on between the Save Ardmore Coalition and Paolino. If you've got the time, drop me an e-mail.
15th-Apr-2008 04:28 am (UTC)
> I'd kinda like to know what's going on between the Save
> Ardmore Coalition and Paolino.

Nothing that isn't on our site, really. She first came to our attention with sending us that letter. Before that, I didn't know her from Adam. Since then, we've simply been blogging about her as more stuff about her comes to light.
15th-Apr-2008 04:45 am (UTC)

Oh, I forgot to mention the troll activity, too. [Link 1] [Link 2] For some months now, we've had a person or persons trolling the site who seem to be pro-Paolino.

I have no idea if they're connected with the campaign or not, but they are certainly not helping my mental image of Lisa supporters. o.O
15th-Apr-2008 07:18 am (UTC)
Actually, that's a really soft letter, considering. I had expected a much more strongly worded letter from the indignation you had expressed. I wouldn't classify it as misconduct in any legal sense.

I understand the idea that a public figure shouldn't be suppressing speech, but she could have gone about it much stronger way initially, but didn't.
15th-Apr-2008 02:04 pm (UTC)

*shrugs* I'm not an attorney, so from my perspective, I perceived it as a "remove this blog or else" kind of letter.

Certainly not the best way for her to make a good first impression with me.
15th-Apr-2008 02:47 pm (UTC)
I wouldn't necessarily classify it that way. A lot of people who have attorneys/are familiar with higher end business are a bit more willing to have an attorney send letters on their behalf on items like this.

Now, it could be a precursor to a nastier letter if you weren't to comply, but it could also just be a simple request, since a lot of people are willing to do so.
15th-Apr-2008 01:51 pm (UTC)
Did he actually read what he wrote?

In the view of the undersigned, the blog contribution of RadnorRabbit implied criminality on the part of my client, when, in fact, my client did nothing more than notify the Radnor School District that her daughter was ill, documented the illness and then asked that the District permit a "pass" grade in lieu of a "D" as the final grade for the Ms. Paolino's daughter's "wellness" class.

Isn't being ill the definition of flunking a "wellness" class?
15th-Apr-2008 02:54 pm (UTC)
Keep in mind that she (via her attorney) isn’t MAKING this happen through law/government, etc., and therefore isn’t violating the first amendment rights of anyone. She is essentially just asking for the content to be removed. Yes, she is doing so in a somewhat brutal assholish way, but that is her own first amendment right at work – i.e. she gets to sound like a cunt with power and intimidate people or trick someone into thinking they did wrong to get her way. Attorneys do this ALL of the time. That’s seriously their first (and usually only) move.

But if you think of it, if someone sent an initiation letter full of horseshit, it means they have no real power to make shit happen on their own – they have to rely on the other party to basically cave under their own stupidity. So as long as you know your rights and don’t believe the lies of a lawyer, you are gold.
27th-Apr-2008 03:56 pm (UTC)
I hope everything goes okay with this, and for leaving the post up, it doesn't get you in any legal trouble. Honestly, I think these are just bully tactics on her part, but it does have to make me wonder as you stated--how many other times has she pulled this %*&^ and gotten away with it?
This page was loaded May 17th 2008, 10:45 pm GMT.