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Open Letter to Laurence Godfrey - why NOT to sue Michael Sims

Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2001 18:28:33 -0500 (EST)
From: Michael Sims <jellicle@inch.com>
To: <cyber-rights-uk[at]cyber-rights.org>
Subject: Re: your defamatory posting (fwd)
Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.30.0101131826200.28957-100000@shell.inch.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sat, 13 Jan 2001 19:00:17 +0000
From: "Laurence Godfrey" <laurence[at]godfreynet.co.uk>
To: jellicle@inch.com
Subject: Re: your defamatory posting

In view of your failure to respond to my recent emails, I intend to issue defamation proceedings in the English High Court without further notice.

Laurence Godfrey

***************************************************************
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***************************************************************

Dr. Laurence Godfrey

Email: laurence[at]godfreynet.co.uk
PGP ID: 0x1E677CBF, Type: DH/DSS, Size: 2048/1024
Fingerprint: 2766 BF27 1BB2 1A0B 5749 CE01 FDA2 29D5 1E67 7CBF

[Lord in heaven, God above, I am a kook for writing this. Feel free to question my sanity]

Dear Mr. Godfrey:

I've just joined this list. I got immediately attacked as a "net-kook" "stalking" "fuckwit". You have no reason to take advice from me. Nonetheless, I'm going to try to dissuade you from, quote, undertaking against Michael Sims your intended "defamation proceedings in the English High Court without further notice."

Let me be clear. I will not preach and finger-wag at you. I believe I understand your general reasoning, and there's no point in my advocating a US-based free-speech view to you. Instead, I will lay out, on purely practical and pragmatic grounds, why I believe you should not proceed in your action.

If it gives me any credibility to write this, I'm probably the person on this list who most deeply understands how you feel about Michael Sims. I'm not talking from sanctimony here. In fact, as part of his failed coup d'etat against Censorware Project, Michael was using legal threats to try to bully me into silence (this was not idle net flaming, there was serious legal consultation going on for a while). So, really, I feel your pain. Wow, do I understand your feelings.

But ... I'd like to argue to you that what you're doing is just a bad idea. Again, I'm not going to dispute your right to do it, or even if Michael is guilty of libel under UK law (he probably is). Rather, I submit to you that such actions are going to be extremely counter-productive in that they will help Michael immensely.

You will be making Michael a free-speech martyr. Rather than being known as "Michael Sims, the terrorist who shut-down Censorware Project", he'll be a hero. It'll be "Michael Sims, the free-speech champion who stood up for the freedom to flame". Yes, you can probably win a default judgement against him in a UK Court. But then, Michael will revel in the attention and publicity he'll receive, as well as the backing which will be volunteered in support of him.

What he said was venomously vicious. But once more, is it worth making him a martyr-hero over it?

I have an alternative to offer you. Declare that the wisdom of my letter has convinced you to withdraw your legal action, to refrain from suing Michael Sims. I guarantee you, the effects of such a statement by you, and possible coverage of it, will cause Michael agony a million times worse than any UK judgement you may obtain.

Consider if you would rather have an unenforceable, pyrrhic, victory in a UK court, or one which will deeply affect your attacker.

__
Seth Finkelstein http://sethf.com

More commonsense than we deserve.

-- David Swarbrick, Solicitor

-----Original Message-----
From: cyber-rights-UK-owner[at]mail.cyber-rights.org
[mailto:cyber-rights-UK-owner[at]mail.cyber-rights.org]On Behalf Of Seth Finkelstein
Sent: 14 January 2001 02:44
To: cyber-rights-UK[at]cyber-rights.org
Cc: laurence[at]godfreynet.co.uk
Subject: Open Letter to Mr. Godfrey - why NOT to sue Michael Sims

[Lord in heaven, God above, I am a kook for writing this. Feel free to question my sanity]

Dear Mr. Godfrey:

I've just joined this list. I got immediately attacked as a "net-kook" "stalking" "fuckwit". You have no reason to take advice from me. Nonetheless, I'm going to try to dissuade you from, quote, undertaking against Michael Sims your intended "defamation proceedings in the English High Court without further notice."

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