Bishops upset; Ashley Madison takes off
The regional hubbub over the Ashley Madison web dating service has been astonishing considering the site has been active with a massive advertising campaign for a few years now. The site by definition is not news, so in a way Massachusetts’ four Bishops were correct in releasing the following statement:
“Frankly, the media was suckered into the story,” said Raymond L. Delisle, a spokesman for Bishop McManus. “The story was all over the place, driving more and more people to the Web site.”
But apparently the Bishops got suckered as well. What could be a better advertisement for a good time than four high ranking church officials telling you something is wrong. With this kind of publicity I’d be curious to see Bishop McManus’ portfolio, he’s probably heavy in Ashley Madison stock. Well, if nothing else at least the church still has a healthy sense of Irony.
Wormtown Taxi on boston.com
Looks like our pal Jeff has a new partner syndicating his blog, congratulations sir!
Cape-Cod Blogger sued; Cape-Cod remains humorless
MetaBoston brings us the story of a Cape-Cod blogger and an anonymous, mud slinging sidekick who have found themselves in the midst of a law suit for violations of Massachusetts’ anti-SLAPP law, M.G.L. c. 231, § 59H.
Peter Robbins, author of the Robbins Report, a blog that appears on the popular community website Cape Cod Today, and an anonymous commenter have been sued over statements they made criticizing a group of Barnstable, MA residents who opposed the dredging of Barnstable Harbor. The case raises a host of interesting questions, including whether the statements at issue are protected opinions and the potential applicability of Massachusetts’ anti-SLAPP and retraction statutes.
The dispute arose over a March 11 post by Robbins entitled Barnstable Harbor: Filling in and falling in, in which he criticized a number of individuals, including Joseph Dugas and his lawyer Paul Revere III, who had challenged orders issued by the Town of Barnstable Conservation Commission and Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection that authorized dredging in Barnstable Harbor (not surprising for a community that is so intimately tied to the water, dredging in the harbor is quite a controversial topic).
On July 7, 2008, Dugas and Revere filed a defamation lawsuit against Robbins and “John Doe,” an anonymous commenter on the site who posted under the pseudonym “Noggin.” Plaintiffs’complaint alleges that the following statements by Robbins were false and defamatory:
• A reference to Dugas as “the infamous sh*t stirring Joe Dugas.”
• A description of Revere as “Paul ‘the dredge isn’t coming’ Revere.”
• The assertion that the “actions of Dugas and others represented by Revere with regard to the ‘litigation’ were malicious and not brought in good faith.”
• The claim that the reason the harbor wasn’t being dredged was because of the plaintiffs’ legal challenges.
Wow. I’ve gained a sort of admitedly pathetic, local notoriety based mostly on calling people giant flaming douche bags and these guys end up in court for ‘shit stirrer’? If anyone ever deserved the title of giant flaming douche bag, certainly it would be this Joe Dugas cat. One has to wonder if Mr Dugas even realizes that by filling this suit his name will forever be linked with the term shit stirrer online, where previously it would have been lost to the archives of a local community website. This is what we in the industry (the online jackass industry) refer to fondly as ‘doing it wrong‘.
Great write up and break down of the case at the Citizen Media Law Project.
And the Globe coverage can be found here
MSNBC Drops Olbermann, Matthews
The move, confirmed by spokesmen for both networks, follows increasingly loud complaints about Olbermann’s anchor role at the Democratic and Republican conventions. Olbermann, who regularly assails President Bush and GOP nominee John McCain on his “Countdown” program, was effusive in praising the acceptance speech of Democratic nominee Barack Obama. He drew flak Thursday when the Republicans played a video that included a tribute to the victims of the Sept. 11 attacks, saying that if the networks had done that, “we would be rightly eviscerated at all quarters, perhaps by the Republican Party itself, for exploiting the memories of the dead, and perhaps even for trying to evoke that pain again. If you reacted to that videotape the way I did, I apologize.”
More cuts at the T&G
Dear New York Times Company,
If these cuts don’t involve the most senior members of the T&G publishing and editorial staff, you’re still doing it wrong.
How many nails does it take to shut the T&G coffin?
Amazing numbers coming from the NYT today with advertising revenue slipping another 16.2 percent. But as seems to be the case with every financial release from the Times, it’s the New England media group, which includes the Telegram, that’s sucking hardest.
The company’s flagship The New York Times paper had 15.3 percent lower ad revenue. At its New England media group, which includes The Boston Globe, July ad revenue dropped 24.5 percent.
Media in the Worcester Mayor’s office is a shit show
Seriously, over the last few weeks I’ve been getting hammered with press releases from Mayor Konnie Lukes’ office and they just don’t make any sense. The only thing that makes less sense than the releases themselves is I can’t find any actual members of the press in the city who are receiving them. Check out this latest message received about an hour ago:
from Racicot, Mary RacicotM@ci.worcester.ma.us
date Tue, Aug 26, 2008 at 10:45 AM
subject FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - MAYOR LUKES ANNOUNCES…
mailed-by ci.worcester.ma.usFor Immediate Release:
Worcester, MA
Wednesday, August 27th at 3pm
Mayor’s Office
City Hall – Room 305
455 Main Street
Worcester, MAMayor Lukes announces a new collaborative venture in the City of Worcester.
Mary C. Racicot
Press Secretary ~ Office of Mayor Konstantina B. Lukes
City Hall ~ Room 305 ~ 455 Main Street ~ Worcester, MA 01608
508.799.1153
racicotm@ci.worcester.ma.us
P Think GREEN before printing this e-mail
Really? That’s it? An announcement of a yet to be announced, announcement? Someone is actually getting paid to mail me this shit?
Last week I received three identical messages “For Immediate Release: Mayor Lukes helps fill backpacks for city children!” The first line of which read:
Postponing the start to her vacation, Mayor Lukes will be in Southborough on Friday morning to help fill backpacks donated by Mohan Nannapaneni, a businessman with a passion for education.
Wow. You postponed the start of your vacation, for us proles? How thoughtful, your Shrillness.
We may be doomed fellow Worcesterites, enjoy the ride and complimentary hot dogs. Last one out please hit the lights.
Radio is a sound salvation
I’ll be sitting in on air with the T&G’s Dianne Williamson at 1PM on WCRN 830 AM today. Yet another excellent opportunity to hear me make a complete mockery of my families’ good name in a public forum! And you don’t even need to dust off your old transistor radio, just tune in from the comfort of your cubicle with this handy link.
And don’t forget to tune in at 6:30PM to WTAG 580 where I join the wise and powerful Mike Messina each and every Monday with the goal of solving all the worlds problems, so you don’t have to. Also available as a handy internet stream.
Worcester Magazine Sold
The Holden Landmark Corp., publisher of the Landmark, the Millbury-Sutton Chronicle, the Leominster Champion and four other publications has bought alternative weekly Worcester Magazine from Worcester Publishing Ltd.
According to Gareth Charter, Holden Landmark Corp. publisher, Landmark initiated acquisition talks. Charter and Worcester Publishing, which is owned and published by Allen W. Fletcher, “have been actively working on this for much of this year,” Charter said. “We initiated this, and we pushed it in the final stages,” he said.
Is Charter Communications violating MA state law?
Over the last few weeks on 508, Mike Benedetti and I have been discussing Charter Communications plans to begin monitoring customer web traffic to better target advertising. And examining the process used by the company they’ve contracted with on this, NebuAd, has raised more questions than it’s answered. After reading Ryan Singels take on the opt-out process over at WIREDs Threat Level, another question seems to be floating out there. Is any of this even legal? Now, Singel is talking about federal wiretap law, but for those of you who have been following this story on a local level here’s the language in the MGL regarding wire taps. I’d love to hear people’s thoughts as to how Charters plan would or would not be a violation of MGL Chapter 272: Section 99 which reads in part:
D. Exemptions.
1. Permitted interception of wire or oral communications.
It shall not be a violation of this section—
a. for an operator of a switchboard, or an officer, employee, or agent of any communication common carrier, whose facilities are used in the transmission of a wire communication, to intercept, disclose, or use that communication in the normal course of his employment while engaged in any activity which is a necessary incident to the rendition of service or to the protection of the rights or property of the carrier of such communication, or which is necessary to prevent the use of such facilities in violation of section fourteen A of chapter two hundred and sixty-nine of the general laws; provided, that said communication common carriers shall not utilize service observing or random monitoring except for mechanical or service quality control checks.
What am I missing here? Can an opt-out system that you can’t really opt out of satisfy that final clause? And can anyone recommend a solid high speed internet provider? I think it’s time for me to cut loose from Charter.
For those of you who haven’t been following this story (like the entirety of the Worcester media) and have no idea what I’m talking about, here’s a nice overview from the NYT.
link
