Here's the latest on Michael Crook (shown at left), the nutty griefer who tried to bully a bunch of blogs including BoingBoing into removing this photo (despite the fact that Fox News, not Crook, produced it). Scott Beale, founder of the ISP Laughing Squid, says,
10 Zen Monkeys, the blog hosted by Laughing Squid which is currently at the center of the EFF lawsuit against Michael Crook, has just put a call out for Michael Crook DMCA war stories in order to help in the case against him. Link to post soliciting your documentation.
WHY THIS MATTERS:
Crook is a deranged, serial troll, and his behavior is consistent with that of someone who craves attention, no matter how negative. But what does matter is the fact that the DMCA is so poorly conceived and written that even the nuttiest, most deranged of trolls can abuse it into silencing constitutionally-protected online speech.
For instance, others might use the same tactic to chill political speech: what better way to see to it that your opponent's campaign ads are yanked from YouTube a week before the elections? Laws this broken need to be fixed.
Related BB posts:
• Michael Crook sends bogus DMCA takedown notice to BB
• EFF Sues Michael Crook for Bogus DMCA Claims
• RU Sirius show about EFF suit against Michael Crook
• Ethan Ackerman schools us on DMCA and ISPs' obligations
• Troublemakers enjoy harassing sites with bogus DMCA
• EFF fights another DMCA abuser
• HOWTO protect yourself from "The Craigslist Experiment"
Reader comments: Anonymous says,
YTMND does Crook: Link.
And someone else points us to online video of the Fox News interview with Mr. Crook that led to the whole mess: Video Link New Video Link to Hannity and Colmes interview.
