[ga-abuse] M1 against Russ Smith (UPDATED)

[Alexander Svensson <svensson@icannchannel.de>]

M1: Alexander Svensson
Against: Russ Smith ("admin"), admin@consumer.net
Complainants:  (a+b) William S. Lovell, wsl@cerebalaw.com;
(c) William X. Walsh, william@userfriendly.com

Complainant Comments:
(a) "The following is yet another
email by Russ Smith containing gross name calling about
which I wish to complain."
(b) "Another complaint against Russ Smith (admin).  This
one happens to involve me personally, and I believe it does
constitute "slander" -- actually libel.  (Opinion cannot
be defamatory (which includes both slander and libel);
expressing something as actual fact can be.)."
(c) "Personal attack, and uncalled for."

Date:  17-22-Aug-01
Message:
(a) http://www.dnso.org/clubpublic/ga/Arc08/msg00547.html
(b) http://www.dnso.org/clubpublic/ga/Arc08/msg00715.html
(c) http://www.dnso.org/clubpublic/ga/Arc08/msg00767.html

Grounds: Personal attack, insults, slander
Recommendation: Suspension, two weeks.

M1 Comment:

This is the relevant part of message (a) by Russ Smith:
> Mr. Lynn is just another of a long line of stooges, crooks,
> liars, frauds, (and their associated  cheerleaders like who you)
> that I dislike.

"Stooge" and "fraud" are certainly personal attacks,
"liar" and "crook" are strong attacks and slanderous
in addition. Russ Smith had just been warned against
personal attacks ("You are such an unbelivable liar and
a fraud."). There's no minimum of decorum here.

This is the relevant part of message (b) by Russ Smith:
> Fraud, deception, and intentionally misrepresenting
> the law is the norm in the Intellectual Property legal community.  The
> corruption is so engrained into the system that it has turned into the
> normal way of doing business.  The attorneys who make these excuses or
> pretend that it doesn't happen are just as bad, and just as responsible, as
> the attorneys who have actually engaged in the practices.  While it is not
> every single on, it is the majority.
> [...]
> This is not "slander," it is FACT and every single trademark lawyers knows
> it.

"Fraud, deception, and intentionally misrepresenting
the law" and "corruption" are strong accusations. Here,
it was said in direct response to William Lovell, who
said that he as member of the Intellectual Property
legal community took strong exception to Paul Cotton's
sweeping judgement (which was toned down afterwards).
According to Russ Smith, William Lovell's defence of
his legal community is not the truth (since every
single trademark lawyers "knows" that "it is FACT"
that Russ Smith's allegations are correct).

William Lovell calls this "libel"
http://dictionary.law.com/definition2.asp?selected=1153&bold=||||
(the more precise term in the U.S. legal
terminology), which is equivalent to "slander" for
the purposes of list monitoring.

These are relevant parts of message (c) by Russ Smith:
http://www.dnso.org/clubpublic/ga/Arc08/msg00767.html
> Cade is also involved in ensuring that corporations like AT&T have
> unfettered access to the personal information for individuals.  Cade lobbies
> to make sure that no laws get passed that will place any restrictions on how
> personal information is used by companies such as AT&T.
>
> I have seen Cade in action here in Washington.  You should see how these
> people operate.  You cannot believe anything these people say ... and I mean
> anything.  Their allegiance is to their corporation and their stockholders.
> They don't care about anybody or anything else.  Many of them know little or
> nothing about what they are talking about.  All they know is how to suck up
> to those who have some power.  Lobbying, policy development and advocacy are
> exactly the same thing.  let's just say you lie on behalf of your parent
> company.
>
> [...]
> Why should anyone believe anything said by an AT&T lobbyist is beyond me.
> How can anyone be so stupid as to believe these people?
>
> But hey, if you have something to sell give ole Marilyn a call as I am sure
> she loves telemarketing calls

This is a personal attack on Marilyn Cade, from the point
on when the word "lie" is introduced and those who believe
"an AT&T lobbyist" (Marilyn Cade being the only AT&T
lobbyist on this list) are called stupid.


Proposal for a message to the GA:
-------------------------------------------------------
The list monitors note that the posting rights of
Russ Smith, admin@consumer.net, have been suspended
for two weeks, effective immediately.

The list monitors find that postings by Russ Smith
contained personal attacks, some of them slanderous.
"You are such an unbelivable liar and a fraud."
http://www.dnso.org/clubpublic/ga/Arc08/msg00341.html;
"just another of a long line of stooges, crooks, liars, frauds"
http://www.dnso.org/clubpublic/ga/Arc08/msg00547.html;
"I have seen Cade in action here in Washington.  You should see
how these people operate.  You cannot believe anything these
people say ... and I mean anything."
"Why should anyone believe anything said by an AT&T lobbyist
is beyond me. How can anyone be so stupid as to believe
these people?"
http://www.dnso.org/clubpublic/ga/Arc08/msg00767.html;
"Fraud, deception, and intentionally misrepresenting
the law is the norm in the Intellectual Property legal community."
"The attorneys who make these excuses or pretend that it
doesn't happen are just as bad, and just as responsible, as
the attorneys who have actually engaged in the practices."
"This is not 'slander,' it is FACT and every single trademark
lawyers knows it."
http://www.dnso.org/clubpublic/ga/Arc08/msg00715.html
(posted as an answer to a member of that legal community;
claiming that it is not an opinion, but a fact)

The GA posting rules are laid down in
http://www.dnso.org/dnso/notes/2000.GA-ga-rules.html:

- The messages must be relevant to the business of the GA
- The messages must observe a minimum of decorum, including:
  - Not indulging in personal attacks, insults or slander
  - Not using offensive language
- If the GA Chair or a list monitor asks for a limit to the number
  of posts per person per day, this must be respected
- The size of messages should be kept reasonable (there should be
  a VERY good reason to send a message of more than 10 Kbytes).

The list monitors note that Russ Smith has been
previously warned against making personal attacks and
have therefore now decided to suspend the posting rights
of Russ Smith for two weeks. This decision can be
appealed to the GA Chair.
--------------------------------------------------------


M2:
M2 Comment:
Action: