Peter Jacobs (SunnComm DMCA bullies) - the saga continues
In a serendipitous follow-up to my last post about No Sympathy For The Devil - SunnComm's Peter Jacobs v. Alex Halderman, there's a letter by Peter Jacobs running right now in The Register
SunnComm CEO demands to be called a 'laughing stock'
I'm feeling a bit fisky:
[Begin Peter Jacobs letter - my comments in brackets]
Subject: In Britain...
does one re-write stories from other writers without talking to the principals?
[Sure! In Britain and everywhere else. It's the "echo chamber" at work. Running with the pack is always easy and safe.]
MediaMax under widespread ridicule? I think not.
[Almost no-one is going to understand what he's saying here, so he comes off like a raving lunatic. He means he doesn't consider Alex Halderman's paper to have valid conclusions. He keeps saying that, per next sentence, but nobody cares.]
You obviously didn't understand that Mr. Halderman discovered NOTHING except how to draw the press to him like a magnet.
[Umm, then why were you threatening him with DMCA charges, felony? Obviously he discovered something!]
Here's yesterday's BOSTON GLOBE article which you might consider using as a roadmap to help navigate the bandwagon you jumped on.
[I suppose that was worth a try, as a tactic. But it's hard to change the direction of the pack by pointing out a stray. Maybe he needs a blog ... ]
pj
Peter H. Jacobs
Chief Executive Officer
[End Peter Jacobs letter]
Then The Register writer goes on to say:
For the record, we did call SunnComm for comment, but the PR specialist on the phone did not make Jacobs available.
That matter aside, we turn to Jacobs' recommended "roadmap" for reporting. The SunnComm CEO objected to our use of the phrase "widespread ridicule" to describe how hundreds of stories had lambasted his company's DRM technology. So how does the "roadmap" describe the situation?
"SunnComm became an Internet laughingstock, and the enraged CEO, Peter Jacobs, threatened to sue Halderman for spreading false information about MediaMax. He even suggested the possibility of prosecuting Halderman under the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, an absurd statute that forbids attempts to bypass antipiracy systems," the roadmap writes.
Sorry for being so harsh, Peter, next time we'll call you a laughingstock as well.
Be sure to read the roadmap in full. We think you'll find it's a bit of Apples to squirrels comparison of DRM technologies.
[Ba-da-boom! Peter Jacobs isn't going to get the story told his way in this column.]
Again, it's a little like watching a tyrant get torn apart by a wild-dog pack, which he wanted to 'sic' on a villager. It's not that one approves of wild-dog packs. But I have no sympathy for his plaints of mistreatment given how he wanted to ruin Halderman's life with legal action.
By Seth Finkelstein |
posted in dmca
, journo
|
on October 17, 2003 01:33 AM
(Infothought permalink)
| Followups
