WebProNews » Michael Crook

Michael Crook Trolls The Internet With Support SOPA Site

Chris Richardson — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 21:47:14 +0000

This just in: If you don’t support SOPA, you are thief!!! So says the wisdom of one Michael Crook, who seems to be on a mission to troll everyone he comes into contact with.

You may have first heard of Crook after he filed a bunch of takedown notices following an appearance on Sean Hannity’s show on Fox News. Apparently, Crook thought because he was featured in the screen-captured images from his Fox News appearance, he had the right to demand the takedown, even though Fox News is responsible for the content. That is, they own it. PlagarismToday features an in-depth look at the events, which took place in 2006.

Fast forward to the end of 2011 and SOPA, or at least the discussion of, rules the day. Enter Crook and his Support SOPA site — no link, if you want to visit it’s SupportSOPA.org — which is a perfect example of a false dichotomy, if, for nothing else, Crook’s insistence that if you are against SOPA, you are a thief, meaning companies like Google, Facebook, Yahoo, LinkedIn, and Mozilla are thieves just because they have the audacity to think SOPA goes about its business incorrectly.

It should be noted that, in the Reddit thread related to the site in question, someone else points out the false dichotomy of Crook’s argument as well.

Because of Crook’s silly disclaimer at the bottom of his Support SOPA site, this post won’t be quoting it directly. Paraphrasing, on the other hand, is open for business. Crook’s disclaimer is also the reason we won’t be giving his site any link love. If you want to see it, simply copy and paste SupportSOPA.org into your browser’s address bar. Here’s a paraphrased example of Crook’s thoughts concerning SOPA:

A person is a thief if they don’t support SOPA because disagreeing with a ‘reasonable’ set of rules designed to stop piracy in its tracks surely means you support piracy… Or something like that.

You’ll find most of Crook’s reasoning is circular like the paraphrased section, which will only harm the Support SOPA movement even further. Perhaps a more rational, less accusatory approach would be better, but then again, we’re talking about a person who issued takedown notices to sites using screen captures of his Fox News appearance, even though the content was not his intellectual property.

Apparently, Crook thinks the much-maligned amendments makes SOPA all better, and therefore, if you don’t get on the SOPA bandwagon, well, enjoy stealing your next movie.

Besides the lack of formal logic being used in Crook’s pro-SOPA manifesto, the reason Crook comes across as a troll is, among other things, because he calls out Reddit as being something similar to fringe web presence that’s only used by the mentally ill. If it looks like a troll and grunts like a troll, it’s probably a troll.

And then there’s this nifty Google search, as pointed out by Redditor sucrerey.

That’s another reason why the site in question isn’t getting a link, although, articles like this one are probably all the encouragement Crook needs to continue his apparent trolling ways.

Crook’s Apology to the Internet

Dan Morrill — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 19:57:41 +0000

In a sweeping court enforced statement to the internet Michael Crook apologies to the internet for abusing the DMCA.

While this probably would not have been done to a major corporation, the issues with copyright continue on unabated, the EFF and 10ZenMonkies have gotten an admission from one of the internet’s more notorious personalities. The reputation that Mike has on the internet (for those that follow the darker seamier sides of the internet) is not a positive one, and is generally held in disregard.

In a Reputation 1.0 world, his rating is at the bottom end of the 10 point scale of 1. But this case is well worth noting, in that the events took place in public, and have ended in the same realm. It is doubtful that many would have given a public apology, even under court order. On the EFF site (10ZenMonkies was down at the time of writing)

"Crook’s legal threats interfered with legitimate debate about his controversial online behavior," said EFF Staff Attorney Jason Schultz. "Public figures must not be allowed to use bogus copyright claims to squelch speech."

In addition to withdrawing current complaints against Diehl and every other target of his takedown campaign and taking a copyright law course, Crook has also agreed to limit any future DMCA notices to works authored or photographed by himself or his wife, or where the copyright was specifically assigned to him. All future notices must also include a link to EFF information on his case, as well as the settlement agreement. Crook has also recorded a video statement to apologize and publicize the dangers of abusing copyright law.

"We’re pleased that Crook has taken responsibility for his egregious behavior," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry. "Hopefully, this will set a precedent to prevent future abuse of the law by those who dislike online news-reporting and criticism." Source: EFF

You can watch the apology to the internet here http://blip.tv/file/169553

Overall though it makes the final close of an interesting case all the more interesting in that the outcome was more public than the original case. So for folks thinking of abusing the DMCA, this final court ordered mandate for a public apology on the internet might make people think twice before they submit a bogus DMCA claim.

Additional information can be found at BoingBoing, 10ZenMonkies, and on the EFF web site here and here.

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An Internet Crook Is ‘Sorry’

WebProNews Staff — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 17:44:44 +0000

Michael Crook, along with the rest of us, learned some valuable lessons. The biggest lesson we all learned (Crook much, much more acutely), is that you don’t screw with the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF). The EFF eff’d him up good.

An Internet Crook Is ‘Sorry’

Crook didn’t make any friends in 2005 or 2006, appearing on the Fox News show Hannity and Colmes backing up his belief that the US troops in Iraq deserved to die, scamming the "Craigslist perverts," and denying the Holocaust.

Shortly after, when 10 Zen Monkeys got hold of a screenshot of Crook and posted it on their site – followed suit by much of the blogosphere – Crook sent out a flurry of Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) takedown notices, claiming all rights to his image as it appeared on Fox News.

But Fox News owned the image, not him, and posting it was covered under Fair Use. The EFF took him to task, taking up 10 Zen Monkeys editor Jeff Diehl’s cause and filed suit against Crook alleging violation of free speech and abuse of the DMCA.

The EFF announced that the suit has been settled, and the terms of the settlement are nothing short of sending Crook to the chalkboard to write "I will not abuse the DMCA" a hundred times. Crook’s mea culpa was entitled, "Dear Internet, I’m sorry," delivered via a 10 Zen Monkeys-produced web video.

In the video apology, required under the terms of the settlement, Crook admitted what he did was wrong, essentially "stepping on [Jeff Diehl's] free speech rights while attempting to protect my image." He said his appearance on Hannity and Colmes was "very embarrassing" and that he’d like to forget it.

Of course, two years worth of antagonism and stirring up angry Internet mobs isn’t exactly the best way to do that. And Crook also admits "the best advice is that if you want to maintain complete control over the use of your likeness, don’t voluntarily appear on TV and don’t consent to have your photograph taken."

In addition to the 10 Zen Monkeys-produced and all-rights-reserved video apology, the EFF settlement requires Crook to withdraw all DMCA complaints, and take a copyright law course.

"Crook’s legal threats interfered with legitimate debate about his controversial online behavior," said EFF Staff Attorney Jason Schultz. "Public figures must not be allowed to use bogus copyright claims to squelch speech."

Any DMCA takedown notices sent by Crook in the future must limited to works authored or photographed by himself or his wife, or where the copyright was specifically assigned to him. Future notices must also include a link to EFF information on his case and the settlement agreement.

"We’re pleased that Crook has taken responsibility for his egregious behavior," said EFF Staff Attorney Corynne McSherry. "Hopefully, this will set a precedent to prevent future abuse of the law by those who dislike online news-reporting and criticism."

EFF Fighting Crook Over DMCA

WebProNews Staff — Thu, 02 Nov 2006 17:16:19 +0000

The potential for misuse of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act reared its head again as a controversial figure has used it to force the takedown of a Fox News screen capture of his image from a pair of websites.

To channel the spirit of Howard Beale in “Network,” the Electronic Frontier Foundation is mad as hell and they aren’t going to take it any more. They have followed up their fight against one company for abusing the DMCA by stepping in on behalf of another client.

This time, the EFF has targeted Michael Crook, purveyor of fake personal ads on the classifieds site Craigslist. Crook would assemble the information provided by men responding to what they thought was a woman seeking a casual encounter and post it on a site called Craigslist-Perverts.org.

Jeff Diehl, editor of the site 10 Zen Monkeys, published an article that criticized Crook. The article also included a photo of Crook; that photo was a screen cap of Crook being interviewed on Fox’s Hannity & Colmes.

Crook responded by forcing Diehl off of two web hosts with DMCA requests for the image to be taken down for copyright infringement. EFF has characterized both of those DMCA uses as bogus.

“This is yet another case of someone intentionally misusing copyright law to try to shut down legitimate debate on an issue of public interest,” said EFF Staff Attorney Jason Schultz. “Crook certainly doesn’t own the copyright to the news footage — Fox News does. Furthermore, a still shot of that footage, used as part of a commentary on the controversy surrounding him, is clearly a fair use. It’s hypocritical for such an outspoken figure like Crook to attack other speakers just because they disagree with him.”

The problem comes from the DMCA “safe harbor” provision. An Internet service provider can stay within the bounds of safe harbor by immediately taking down content questioned with a DMCA request. EFF considers Crook’s actions “intimidation,” and they are seeking damages from Crook for Diehl’s financial and personal expenses.

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David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business.