Here’s what Allen said in her initial post:

Last post on someone i’m completely over. I’ve never been lonelier in my entire life. To all my friends who loved me for who I am – thank you. Power hungry people, I loved Michael Arrington for 8+ years starting when i implemented Eurekster search at the time on Techcrunch in 2006 and throughout the years i didn’t know he cheated on me multiple times, then tells people it was me immediately after he did it. It hurts when you love someone borderline and they can’t feel anything at all for you, and threaten to murder you if you told anyone about the physical abuse – all for keeping his reputation. The emotional abuse was equally bad. On a positive note, it can’t get any worse than this and I can’t get myself of this bed.

And here’s what she said in the comments on the Gawker article:

I’ve looked inward and outward long enough to finally say something and know exactly why I had to say it. His lies, abuse, threats and what he did to a friend of mine 5 months ago was unforgivable as well. He raped her, and she told me in person he called her to confirm he did it after the fact. I’ll leave it up to her if she ever wants to report it or say anything. This madness needs to stop, or he needs to start controlling his rage and rape ‘disorder.’

Arrington remained quiet for a period, while others rushed to throw in their judgments of his character, until finally, he put out a statement saying:

There have been some extremely serious and criminal allegations against me over the last week. All of the allegations are completely untrue, and I’ve hired a law firm to represent me in the legal actions against the offending parties.

I’ve also asked my attorneys to contact appropriate law enforcement agencies about these false allegations. Given the gravity of the claims, I think it’s important that the police be involved in this now.

The whole thing had largely been ignored by the media and blogs other than a select few, until Arrington’s statement, then everyone started covering it. Likewise when former TechCrunch CEO Heather Harde jumped to Arrington’s defense. She wrote:

During my five years at TechCrunch, there were no complaints or cases of sexual harassment or misconduct against Michael Arrington. If there had been any rumors of misconduct from staff or other third parties, I would have taken the matters seriously and investigated them. Many people, including Michael’s friends and girlfriends, sought me out as a confidante for disagreements or challenges they faced with Michael, so I would have been aware of rumored bad behavior.

You can read her full post here.

About a month ago, Arrington posted a detailed letter refuting the allegations. Here’s that letter:

And now this week, the lawsuit has been filed. In it, Arrington alleges that Allen felt “betrayed and slighted,” and aimed to “destroy his reputation and to deter third persons from associating with him.” The suit includes a demand for jury trial, and seeks $75,000 in damages.

Here’s the court document:

As you may recall, Arrington’s former girlfriend Jenn Allen recently alleged that he had been physically abusive, and accused him of rape. In a short response last week, Arrington called the allegations “completely untrue” and said that he would have a full response in a few days. It appears that he has made good on that promise.

“You have posted statements about Michael that are false and defamatory, and that have caused significant harm to his good name. It is my hope that you immediately will take corrective action, by retracting those statements. I have examined your posted statements, and compared them with provable facts. This comparison shows without any doubt whatsoever that, among others, the following of your statements about Michael are false,” says Arrington’s attorney Eric M. George in the letter.

The letter breaks down Allen’s accusations one-by-one, providing emails, photos, texts, and social media communications that refute her story. For instance:

(1) You stated that “he was physically abusive [on] March 5th [of] last year” (April 1, 2013, 2d posting, Gawker.) “[H]e did rape me, on March 5 last year, when he invited me over to make amends from a major catastrophe a couple months prior.” (April 1, 2013, 3d posting, Gawker.)

Your twice-repeated allegation of rape/physical abuse by Michael is not only false, but factually impossible. On March 5, 2012, Michael was in Washington and you were in California. Michael’s whereabouts are confirmed by travel records and credit card statements in my possession, and your whereabouts are proven by a photo of you at a San Francisco party at 1:05 a.m. on March 6, 2012. This photo was posted online but has been removed in the past several days. (The photo, together with screenshots of your Facebook page in March 2012 before and after it was deleted, are appended hereto as Attachment A.)

The letter calls for Allen to retract her accusations publicly by April 15th or face legal action. You can check it out in its entirety below:

Demand Letter to Jennifer Allen

For her part, it doesn’t appear that Allen is backing down from the allegations, as judged by her recent tweets:

Tweets by @JennAllen

“I simply do not believe any of the allegations to be true,” says Harde.

If you haven’t been following the new about Arrington, here’s a brief rundown:

Last week, Arrington’s former girlfriend Jenn Allen posted to Facebook, claiming that Arrington has physically abused her and threatened to kill her if she every went public with it. Gawker first spotted the post, and covered it. Allen then commented on the Gawker article, making additional allegations that Arrington was guilty of rape.

Later, a couple of “former friends” of Arrington’s also spoke out on the claims, stating that it fit a pattern and Arrington had physically abused another one of his former girlfriends. One accuser called it “the worst kept rumor in the valley for years.”

Today, Arrington posted a brief response, saying that “all of the allegations are completely untrue, and I’ve hired a law firm to represent me in the legal actions against the offending parties.”

Now, Harde has taken to Facebook to defend Arrington. Here’s her post in full:

As to recent allegations that have been leveled at my former business partner, Michael Arrington:

Michael recruited me to be his CEO. TechCrunch was a calling for him, not just a business venture. That he trusted me to grow it from his bedroom-based hobby to a leading media outlet speaks most authentically of his regard for women. In the five years that I worked with Michael, I can say he treated me as tough and true a business partner as one would hope to example for the field of gender studies. If anything, on more than one occasion I secretly wished that Michael trusted me less completely with tough calls for the business!

We operated TechCrunch out of Michael’s house for the first two years, so to say that I’ve seen the inner workings of Michael Arrington’s personal life is a gross understatement. As any startup, we worked long hours, and I overlapped significant blocks of time with Michael’s roommates, friends and girlfriends. I would have detected patterns of abusive physical behavior if they had been present.

During my five years at TechCrunch, there were no complaints or cases of sexual harassment or misconduct against Michael Arrington. If there had been any rumors of misconduct from staff or other third parties, I would have taken the matters seriously and investigated them. Many people, including Michael’s friends and girlfriends, sought me out as a confidante for disagreements or challenges they faced with Michael, so I would have been aware of rumored bad behavior.

I simply do not believe any of the allegations to be true.

“Former Friends” Jason Calacanis and Loren Feldman have been estranged from Michael Arrington longer than they ever were friends, and they are not reliable character witnesses on this matter. Jason should limit his bluffing to poker. Usurping a woman’s emotional breakdown for purposes of pursuing a personal agenda to disparage a former business partner is wrong.

I write in full support of Michael Arrington. He has done much to advance women in tech leadership, and I hope others who have similar feelings will share their direct experiences with the community. It’s important we set the record straight.

[Photo via Heather Harde, Facebook]

Last week, former girlfriend Jenn Allen made the claims on her Facebook page, alleging the Arrington physically and emotionally abused her and even threatened to kill her if she told anyone. She later left additional comment on a Gawker article, reiterating the allegations and also accusing Arrington of rape.

Later, one of Arrington’s former friends and tech entrepreneur Jason Calacanis came out and said that he’d heard of these sorts of stories for a while. Other people from Arrington’s life surfaced, one claiming that it was the “worst kept rumor in the valley for years,” and that the abuse extended to multiple women.

Now, Arrington has posted a brief response to the accusations. In it, he calls the allegations “completely untrue,” and says that he has instructed his lawyers to contact the proper authorities.

Here’s the full response:

There have been some extremely serious and criminal allegations against me over the last week. All of the allegations are completely untrue, and I’ve hired a law firm to represent me in the legal actions against the offending parties.

I know this isn’t, for now, much information. I will have a full and complete response to these allegations sometime later this week. My goal will be to direct as much sunlight as possible on the issues so that the absolute truth can be known and I can begin to put my life back together.

I’ve also asked my attorneys to contact appropriate law enforcement agencies about these false allegations. Given the gravity of the claims, I think it’s important that the police be involved in this now.

Jenn Allen, founder and CEO of RTist.com, claims in a recent post that Arrington was physically and emotionally abusive in a past relationship. She also claims that he threatened to murder her if she told anyone about the abuse.

You can read the entire post below:

Last post on someone i’m completely over. I’ve never been lonelier in my entire life. To all my friends who loved me for who I am – thank you. Power hungry people, I loved Michael Arrington for 8+ years starting when i implemented Eurekster search at the time on Techcrunch in 2006 and throughout the years i didn’t know he cheated on me multiple times, then tells people it was me immediately after he did it. It hurts when you love someone borderline and they can’t feel anything at all for you, and threaten to murder you if you told anyone about the physical abuse – all for keeping his reputation. The emotional abuse was equally bad. On a positive note, it can’t get any worse than this and I can’t get myself of this bed.

Gawker, who first spotted the post, was able to confirm that the two did in fact date at some point – specifically in 2006. Allen’s Facebook post indicates that the relationship lasted for “8+” years. There are plenty of photos of the two together back around 2006 – you can check them out on Flickr. So it doesn’t appear that the relationship is in question – but these are some pretty serious allegations for a public figure.

Obviously, this is a developing story.

UPDATE: Allen commented on the original Gawker post, making more allegations against Arrington, including rape.

[Image of Allen via Facebook]

Images of factory worker abuse have been around since long before any of us were born. If you think about the industrial revolution in America, you will realize that the modern society we enjoy today was built in the backs of exploited factory workers. While it is true that this may not be a necessary evil, it is an evil many societies have had to endure in the name of building a stronger nation.

Remember when “made in Japan” conjured negative images in our heads? I do, and I don’t believe that is the case anymore. Today, Japan is highly regarded for its machinery and transportation exports. Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea have all followed suit and used sweatshop tactics to build their economies. Essentially these nations were hungry and wanted to grow. Some business is better than no business and revenue, regardless of how it’s generated, builds the infrastructure and social programs that characterize a developed nation.

In china citizens flock to employment agencies to except Foxconn jobs because they are not presented with many other viable options for earning a paycheck to feed their families and keep clothing on their backs. Hopefully, none of us want to see others suffer, but we have been blessed in this country because, our forefathers did the work for us. We have the government resources to protect us from employer abuse because, somewhere along the way, somebody sacrificed so we could have it.

Since 1979 when China decided to embraced capitalism nearly 600 million people have escaped starvation and poverty by choosing to take employment in sweatshop-like environments. A perfect example is the Chinese village of Shenzhen. They were one of the first areas to embrace China’s economic reforms and to begin growing the economy. Thirty years later it is a city of 10 million people and a hotbed for manufacturing jobs.

If we take a lesson from history we can conclude that China is progressing very quickly and we may soon begin to see breakthroughs in the way they do business. I think America has a habit of forcing our politics onto other nations before they are ready for them. Sometimes you just need to allow something the freedom to grow and choose its own path.

Consumers should realize that a forced change over in China will end in one of two ways. Either Apple will pull all of their contracts from China over the labor disputes and Chinese workers will be left with no jobs or Americans will have to suffer tremendous price increases. Is an iPod worth $800-$1200 to you? Will you pay $1600- $2500 for an iPad? That’s what manufacturing in developed nations costs and it will be passed on to the consumer.

Apparently not. AdAge is reporting that Twitter is in the process of ticking off more than a few of the hands that might feed them in the future. Of course, Twitter may now be in the position to tell anyone, paying now or possibly later, for their services that they will just have to wait until Twitter is good and ready. While the argument exists that they are truly that powerful it would be a shame that if they used that power as an excuse to ignore the needs of corporate clients.

AdAge reports

On Twitter’s @Hyundai page, there is a collection of 140-character blasts in English and Korean about oysters, cellphones and the Yankees. Clicking on a profile photo reveals a collage of scantily clad ladies bearing cleavage and more, and a caption saying, “Have a Lustful Day.”

This kind of stuff leaves the folks at Hyundai Motor America less than thrilled

After having contacted the social-media site’s headquarters repeatedly to evict the squatter without success, the frustrated automaker has gone so far as to contemplate legal action. “They simply haven’t responded to requests,” said Chris Hosford, VP-corporate communications at Hyundai Motor America. “Our brand name is extremely important to us. … We’re very disappointed that Twitter has shown no interest in protecting brand names.” Unable to use the handle, the company has resorted to sending out official company tweets from @HyundaiNews.

Ughh. The L word. No not that one you sick person but L for “legal”. Last thing any start up needs is the fun and games of legal issues to get in the way of putting together a better service and offering.

The article talks in greater detail about how celebrities have been afforded special badges but the corporate side of the ledger (you remember, the one that could make money) is left to fend for themselves for now. Twitter’s policies are there but there is no guarantee of remedy in a timely fashion so some companies are left to get creative. Of course, one could argue that a big brand being late to the game and not securing these names years ago is on the company. There are two sides to every coin, after all.

So what is Twitter doing, if anything?

Twitter’s head of commercial products, Anamitra Banerji, said, “We understand brands’ frustration when it comes to account verification. We are working on ways to make the process easier and faster …. Given the volume of requests we receive, sometimes it might take a little while to close requests but we are trying to improve that too.” The social-media service, he said, is “[working] with business owners extensively to ensure that they own their trademarks/brand names on Twitter as our terms of service doesn’t allow name-squatting or impersonation.”

Ahh yes. The old volume of requests complaint. That one might have worked when Twitter was the little start up that could but the recent influx of investment takes the air right out of that argument. HIRE SOME PEOPLE, TWITTER!

So it’s interesting to see that not everyone is bent out of shape on this issue

Not all marketers are ruffled, though. Pfizer doesn’t own the handle @Pfizer, and a mystery tweeter is regularity tweeting updates about the company. Ray Kerins, VP-worldwide communications at Pfizer, told Ad Age that the company isn’t planning to take any action. “We are obviously watching any site that discusses our company or our products,” Mr. Kerins said. “We’re going to continue to watch. These social communities are actually very self-policing.”

Wow, now there is either great confidence in the ability of people to keep the street clean or a level of naiveté that will end up badly when the next brand firestorm comes up for Pfizer and the fake account is at the center of it. Maybe the folks who make Viagra are suffering from one of those side effects than impair judgment. Just a thought.

What’s your experience with getting Twitter to help in these situations? Should Twitter care? Happy Monday Pilgrims, let’s hear it!

Comments

Users can report things like community guidelines violations, privacy issues, sexual abuse, hateful content, suicide, cyberbullying, impersonating, spam and phishing, etc. They can also get tips about how to handle different situations.

"The center features straightforward safety tips and multimedia resources from experts and prominent safety organizations," says the YouTube Team. "We are empowering people with the information and tools they need to help them deal with issues like cyberbullying, online harassment, and hateful content.

YouTube has shown it really cares about abuse and safety lately. Apart from this, they have gotten stricter with their policy on sexually suggestive content, and encouraged users to report minor violence. Now users have a place to go when any problems arise, as well as a useful resource for keeping their YouTube experience wholesome. It should be very useful to protective parents.

The IWF have shared information about 2,092 child sexual abuse Web sites this year with the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Centre and Interpol for investigation and removal.

The IWF runs a hotline that offers assistance to all UK Internet users who run across images of children being sexually abused. Research by the group has revealed that one in 20 adult Internet users or 12.5 million people have been exposed to such images.

IWF CEO Peter Robbins said, "Our analysts witness the results of terrible sexual abuse being inflicted on very young children around the world and then circulated online."

"With the help of the online industry, the 28 Hotlines we work with around the world and our law enforcement colleagues, the public can help us to remove these websites and end the abuse that is perpetuated every time the images are viewed."

AOL, Google, MSN and Yahoo are just some of the companies helping to promote the IWF’s hotline, which allows Internet users to report child sexual abuse sites.

The IWF said of all the sites reported to them this year only one percent originated from a UK server, compared to 18 percent 10 years ago.

Confused? This should help:

1. Chris Knight creates a funny video as part of his campaign Rockingham County Board of Education.
2. Viacom’s VH1 takes the clip from YouTube and uses it in a VH1 segment, without Knight’s permission.
3. Knight’s flattered and uploads the VH1 clip to YouTube.
4. Viacom accuses Knight of copyright infringement and YouTube takes down the video.

Absurd? It doesn’t get any more ridiculous than that!

Knight is obviously feeling victimized by Viacom…

What does this mean for independent producers of content, if material they create can be co-opted by a giant corporation without permission or apology or compensation? When in fact, said corporations can take punitive action against you for using material that you created on your own?

That’s what’s happening to me right now, folks. Viacom is penalizing me for using my own original material, which they used without permission to begin with.

He says he doesn’t have the money to fight Viacom. Maybe Google could chip-in and help or perhaps the EFF might take up the cause.

Want to watch the VH1 clip?

via

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