myers@uwmacc.UUCP (Jeff Myers) (01/31/86)
[Posted to net.legal, net.politics, and net.jokes] [Mailed to postmaster@uwmacc.uucp, postmaster@rutgers.arpa, usenet@gatech.uucp, carter@rutgers.arpa, josh@rutgers.arpa, mcgrew@rutgers.arpa, poli-sci-request@rutgers.arpa, hfavr@mtuxo.uucp, postmaster@mtuxo.uucp] In September, 1985, I travelled for two weeks to Nicaragua, and wrote about my experiences for the UW-Madison student newspaper and for the usenet. Eight articles were posted by me to net.politics (six of these appeared in print in the student newspaper). The first seven of these articles appeared as a single issue of the Poli-Sci Digest (mod.politics) in, I believe, early November. J Storrs Hall (josh@rutgers), then moderator of the Digest, claimed that he did not receive the eighth portion, which I then sent to him by electronic mail. I never got a word in reply -- mailer problems are highly unlikely, because of the fact that my machine is one hop away from an arpa site, and arpa mail is quite robust. Just recently, in the January 23, 1986 issue (V6 #1), a reference back to the original 7 article issue of the Digest (V5 #45) appeared, with what appeared to be the missing eighth article. Other than the title, the article had been COMPLETELY rewritten, with no indication of this having occurred being admitted. Here is the text of the header for that article: > Return-path: <CARTER@BLUE.RUTGERS.EDU> > Date: 7 Nov 85 23:57 EST (Thu) > From: _Bob <Carter@RUTGERS> > Subject: Poli-Sci Digest V5 #45 > > JoSH, > > Is the following orphan file I found something that you would like to > run in POLI-SCI? > > _B > > Helping Nicaragua - What You Can Do > > Last of an eight part series. The article was formatted in the same style as my own, used the first person, referred to "my journey back to Madison", implied that I am in favor of press censureship in the country being discussed, and stated that I was present at an execution of Miskito Indians, and was nonchalant about it. This is a clear and shameful case of fraud with intent to libel, and a blatant misuse of the usenet, which is an important public medium not to be so abused. (1) I hold Robert Carter and J Storrs Hall of Rutgers responsible, if not for writing (which I believe they did), then for distributing without verification of authorship, an article which disparages my reputation as a journalist and citizen of the United States. It is clear that Mr. Hall was aware that it was a forgery, as he had to have received the actual text of the eighth article by mail. (2) I am quite disappointed with the action of Charles McGrew, the new moderator of the Poli-Sci Digest and long-time moderator of the Human-Nets Digest for publishing an article claimed to be an "orphan file", yet clearly associated with the original seven articles which were published intact by the Digest he has taken over. (3) I expect the text of this message, and of my original eighth article to be published in the next edition of Poli-Sci Digest. I would also appreciate a public apology by the three named individuals at Rutgers University in that forum. The text of the fraudulent eighth article was posted by hfavr@mtuxo.uucp to net.politics and net.jokes clearly labelled as political satire, and with the title linking it to my series deleted but with the text and references to tecNICA and Madison intact. I didn't find this very funny. I have been considering filing suit in Federal District Court here in Wisconsin, and have not yet ruled this course out. This court would have jurisdiction as demonstrable harm can be said to have occurred in Wisconsin, and the suit would be for at least the $10,000 minimum. I am loath to do so due to the bad publicity which could be generated with respect to the usenet. It should be noted that the major legal problem with my case is proving significant damages -- my case will be made much more difficult if the course of action specified in (3) above is followed, as this would demonstrably lessen the damage to my reputation. Followups to this article should NOT be crossposted to net.jokes. They probably aren't too fond of this article being there in the first place. I would also appreciate a message stating that you received this message from those it was directly mailed to. I will also be glad to supply the text of my original article(s) or the text of the fraudulent one to any interested party. -- Jeff Myers The views above may or may not University of Wisconsin-Madison reflect the views of any other Madison Academic Computing Center person or group at UW-Madison. 1210 West Dayton Street Madison, Wisconsin 53706 ARPA: uwmacc!myers@rsch.wisc.edu UUCP: ..!{harvard,ucbvax,allegra,topaz,akgua,ihnp4,seismo}!uwvax!uwmacc!myers BitNet: MYERS at WISCMACC