BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS

By Eric Goldman Davis v. Google, 09 CH 15753 (Cook County Ct. complaint filed April 9, 2009) Venkat sent a very interesting lawsuit this morning that raises some complex policy issues. The complaint alleges that Sean Healy created a blog at unknowncolumn.blogspot.com and posted defamatory content about speedskater Shani Davis' mom, Cherie Davis. [I believe the post in question is at http://unknowncolumn.blogspot.com/2006/02/memo-to-cherie-davis.html -- I'm not going to link to it, but it did show up as my first search result for "Cherie Davis"]. The complaint further alleges that Healy is now deceased, so he can no longer remove the content on Cherie's demand, and he did not have a "probate estate" to take over his blog. As a result, Cherie feels like she has nowhere to turn to clean up the alleged defamation, so she is suing Google's Blogspot for a takedown injunction. On the face of it, the lawsuit is clearly preempted by 47 USC 230, and Google oug...

Ultra-Orthodox Press Digitally Erases Women From Images (IF --Hillary becomes U.S. President... how while they show her? A blank spot surrounded by bodyguards & sharp-shooters?) by Neta Sela So how many members were there on the Winograd Commission? A prominent ultra-Orthodox website, www.ladaat.net, chose Thursday to digitally erase the image of Winograd Commission member, Professor Ruth Gavison, from their coverage of the commission’s report. What is seemingly a simple Photoshop function translates into a very thorny dilemma for the haredi print and internet media. On the one hand ultra-Orthodox papers and websites strive to cover all newsworthy events in the best manner possible. On the other hand, the haredi media is still considerably wary of publishing women’s photographs, even when the women in question play central and prominent roles in newsworthy events. The ultra-Orthodox press, bound by strict laws regarding modesty which demand that women be obscured to the greatest e...

HELP SHUT DOWN THE TALIBAN'S WEBSITE - AGAIN! from Hyscience The word from Rusty is that the official website for the Taliban has publicly challenged The Jawa Report to try to take them back offline again: Taliban.gif In an official announcement from the group on a well known Islamist bulletin board, the group gloats that, "For a long time now the official site of the Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan - Taliban has been shut down-- due to the exposure and prosecution it was closed by the enemies of Islam," but that party officials were able to get a new site up and running. The "enemies of Islam" that were able to get their website shut down? The Jawa Report. :-) The new website has a few more sophisticated safeguards, some of which we've already thwarted, but getting this new website shut down should not be that hard to do--with your help. The gauntlet has been thrown. The Taliban are practically begging for their website to be PWN3D once agai...