Showing posts with label censorship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label censorship. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
She's Back
Nadine Dorries blog has been restored, minus a certain post which I'm sure you can find if you look hard enough..... ;-)
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Fightback MP silenced - what do you think?
Nadine Dorries, virtually the only MP to stand up to the Telegraph in the last few days, has had her blog taken down by the Daily Telegraph. Many of the political blogs have the story, e.g.
Craig Murray (himself the victim of blog censorship by the Usmanovs, owners of Arsenal I think)
Dizzy Thinks found that the Telegraph was behind it
NHS blog doctor, one of the first with the story, put it down to David Cameron.
I notice, in passing, that none of the leading political blogs have reposted Nadine Dorries' comments, though a few have linked to the cached version of the blog (see below). What's the matter with them? Surely, somewhere among these courageous men, women and pseudonyms is the cojones to stand up to censorship? It's interesting to see who gets round to publishing her comments - fearless in condemning MP's but a bit more flaky when it comes to standing up to the billionaire owners of Sark?
Well, if you can find anything libellous at the cache of Ms Dorries blog, you're more perceptive than I am. Here is what I think is the offending passage (if you've read her blog, it could be any one of several, e.g. reposting a 'Private and Confidential' letter the Telegraph sent just hours before splashing her personal finances all over the next issue), which I'm posting because
a) this is a free and democratic society, and if MP's have to have their expenses open to scrutiny then their arguments should be open to scrutiny too.
b) I dislike censorship, whether it's happening to Dave Walker, Nadine Dorries or anyone else. Hey, even people I dislike. Most of them.
See what you think
Posted Thursday, 21 May 2009 at 17:04
Just park a couple of facts for a moment, which you may not agree with but are factual. The first is that MPs have always been encouraged, by whatever means possible, to draw down their ACA allowance in full. This is because it was upped in place of an appropriate pay rise.
The rules surrounding the ACA were deliberately sloppy in order to maximise the opportunity that MPs had to draw. This was always felt to be the safest political method to remunerate MPs, rather than face the media backlash of a pay rise.
Parliament is in chaos. The public are angry. The Telegraph has upped its circulation. There are 650 members of Parliament. In any walk of life, in whatever profession, you will find people who are dishonest. It will always be thus as long as we are all human!
The Telegraph are uncovering a few cases of fraud, but not enough, so they are more than slightly embellishing some of the stories. I write as a case in point.
Craig Murray (himself the victim of blog censorship by the Usmanovs, owners of Arsenal I think)
Dizzy Thinks found that the Telegraph was behind it
NHS blog doctor, one of the first with the story, put it down to David Cameron.
I notice, in passing, that none of the leading political blogs have reposted Nadine Dorries' comments, though a few have linked to the cached version of the blog (see below). What's the matter with them? Surely, somewhere among these courageous men, women and pseudonyms is the cojones to stand up to censorship? It's interesting to see who gets round to publishing her comments - fearless in condemning MP's but a bit more flaky when it comes to standing up to the billionaire owners of Sark?
Well, if you can find anything libellous at the cache of Ms Dorries blog, you're more perceptive than I am. Here is what I think is the offending passage (if you've read her blog, it could be any one of several, e.g. reposting a 'Private and Confidential' letter the Telegraph sent just hours before splashing her personal finances all over the next issue), which I'm posting because
a) this is a free and democratic society, and if MP's have to have their expenses open to scrutiny then their arguments should be open to scrutiny too.
b) I dislike censorship, whether it's happening to Dave Walker, Nadine Dorries or anyone else. Hey, even people I dislike. Most of them.
See what you think
Posted Thursday, 21 May 2009 at 17:04
Just park a couple of facts for a moment, which you may not agree with but are factual. The first is that MPs have always been encouraged, by whatever means possible, to draw down their ACA allowance in full. This is because it was upped in place of an appropriate pay rise.
The rules surrounding the ACA were deliberately sloppy in order to maximise the opportunity that MPs had to draw. This was always felt to be the safest political method to remunerate MPs, rather than face the media backlash of a pay rise.
Parliament is in chaos. The public are angry. The Telegraph has upped its circulation. There are 650 members of Parliament. In any walk of life, in whatever profession, you will find people who are dishonest. It will always be thus as long as we are all human!
The Telegraph are uncovering a few cases of fraud, but not enough, so they are more than slightly embellishing some of the stories. I write as a case in point.
then come the conspiracy theories
one Enter the Barclay brothers, the billionaire owners of The Daily Telegraph. Rumour is that they are fiercely Euro sceptic and do not feel that either of the main parties are Euro sceptic enough. They have set upon a deliberate course to destabilise Parliament, with the hope that the winners will be UKIP and BNP.
A quick online check of the Barclay brothers and their antics on the Island of Sark is enough to give this part of the rumour credence.
two Another rumour is that the disc was never acquired and sold by an amateur, but it was in fact a long term undercover operation run by the Telegraph for some considerable time, carefully planned and executed; and that the stories of the naive disc nabber ringing the news desk in an attempt to sell the stolen information are entirely the work of gossip and fiction.
These rumours do have some credibility given that this has all erupted during the European Election Campaign and turn out is expected to be high with protest votes, courtesy of the Daily Telegraph, or should I say the Barclay brothers.
Now, if this is all a power game executed by the BBs, how would they do that? It is a fact that these men are no fools and are in fact self-made billionaires. I would imagine and believe that if any of this is true, they know the British psyche well enough to whip up a mood of public anger, hence the long running revelations in the DT.
Where do I get this from? Well, at heart I am just a cheeky scouser. I like to go into the rooms of the faceless and nameless in Parliament, sit on their desk and ask pertinent questions like: who are you? What do you do? I've made friends with one or two. One in particular I am very fond of. He is a mine of very astute information; and whilst in his office yesterday, we chunnered over the 'what is this all about?' question.
three (ish) He reckons this is all a power game. That the British public are being worked like puppets by two very powerful men. Whipped up into a frenzy to achieve exactly what they want.
His very poignant words to me were ���if any of this conjecture is true, Parliament will become full of racists, fantasists, and has-been celebrities. We will be rendered impotent and may never again regain the authority to withstand the pressure, opinion and whims of the overtly wealthy.��
Scary stuff!
Wacky conspiracy theory? Unfounded rumour? Adding 2 and 2 and making 99? You decide, I'm sure you're capable of thinking for yourselves without some media lawyer doing it for you. Better to rebut with facts than add to the speculation by using censorship.
The other place to debate Dorries' comments is Liberal Conspiracy, where people are, shall we say, unsympathetic.
Update: Dizzy has more on the what, when, where and why (see comments). And Nadine Dorries is trying to get her blog restored, according to one of her local papers.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Gutless Google and the case of the missing questions
It seems Dave Walker isn't the only one to have been spooked by J Mark Brewers desperate attempts to silence anyone investigating his, um, 'interesting' business practices.
It looks like Brewer has also sent a Cease and Desist (or something very like it) to Google, resulting in Google removing a detailed Ministry of Truth post about the former SPCK bookshops from its listings. Full details here. The delisted post has some penetrating questions about transfers of money between Brewer-owned charities. It's interesting that Brewer hasn't gone after the blog in question, even though Ministry of Truth also sent his questions direct to Brewer, and (true to form) recieved no answer. We really must find Mark Brewer's postman to find out what's happened to all those letters, as MB is very poor at replying.
Word to Google: a cease and desist from J Mark Brewer is a badge of honour. Wear it with pride, like Sam Norton and Phil Groom did. I know you caved in to the Chinese dictatorship in a craven and shameful display of self-censorship, but for goodness sake this is just one lawyer/businessman, and not a very good one at that.
Word to J Mark Brewer: just think what this behaviour says about you. Someone asks some tricky questions, which you could have tried to answer. Instead you try to cover your tracks, and take the questions out of the public domain. Cover-up. It's usually an indicator of guilt.
Summaries also at Phil Groom, Matt Wardman
It looks like Brewer has also sent a Cease and Desist (or something very like it) to Google, resulting in Google removing a detailed Ministry of Truth post about the former SPCK bookshops from its listings. Full details here. The delisted post has some penetrating questions about transfers of money between Brewer-owned charities. It's interesting that Brewer hasn't gone after the blog in question, even though Ministry of Truth also sent his questions direct to Brewer, and (true to form) recieved no answer. We really must find Mark Brewer's postman to find out what's happened to all those letters, as MB is very poor at replying.
Word to Google: a cease and desist from J Mark Brewer is a badge of honour. Wear it with pride, like Sam Norton and Phil Groom did. I know you caved in to the Chinese dictatorship in a craven and shameful display of self-censorship, but for goodness sake this is just one lawyer/businessman, and not a very good one at that.
Word to J Mark Brewer: just think what this behaviour says about you. Someone asks some tricky questions, which you could have tried to answer. Instead you try to cover your tracks, and take the questions out of the public domain. Cover-up. It's usually an indicator of guilt.
Summaries also at Phil Groom, Matt Wardman
Friday, October 17, 2008
Waiting
At time of posting, no reply as yet from Mr. Mark Brewer. However, if you want something to pass the time, there's a fascinating and 'robust' exchange related to a video that the Society of St. Stephen the Great posted on Youtube. You may recognise some of the commenters, others are a matter for detective work.
On October 20th it will be 90 days since Dave Walker had his 'cease and desist'. His 'Save the SPCK' button is all that remains. 
meanwhile, great to hear that the Cardiff bookshop has been revived. And if you want a widget like the one in my sidebar to keep up to date with the latest SPCK-related news, go here. Thanks to Matt W for creating this.Monday, September 29, 2008
Latest on SPCK/SSG
Though most of the action is going on at the spck/ssg blog, I know that some readers are keen to stay up to date with the latest goings on.
Most of the legal stuff looks like it will take months, but also going on:
- there's a round up of Orthodox views on whether the Society of St. Stephen the Great is truly advancing the ancient faith on this thread.
- Matt Wills has a picture of a poster at Salisbury bookshop, seeking volunteer staff. It has some interesting claims: "the U.K's most successful Church and Bookshop Charity. - Saint Stephen the great/SPCK bookshops", and Matt does some analysis, and Phil Groom does a bit more.
- Some interesting stuff at Solomon Hezekiah's blog, previously under the radar, posted a few weeks ago. Father Christian Troll has also had some correspondence from an anonymous source, at which he has taken umbrage of biblical proportions.
- Numbers: the petition to encourage Durham Cathedral to act on the SPCK bookshop they currently host has over 250 signatories, including local clergy and theological college tutors. And the 'We Support Dave Walker' Facebook group is nearly up to 500. Dave is still steering well clear of SPCK related issues, though if you search for 'spck' at The Cartoon Blog then there are still some traces of Dave's faithful and excellent work in keeping track of the whole SPCK saga. However, as none of these were covered in Mark Brewers 'cease and desist' letter to Dave, they can happily stay up there. You can join a Facebook group for the spck bookshops too.
Since the attempt to get SSG declared bankrupt in the US was thrown out, comments on these various threads seem to be getting a bit bolder/harsher depending on how you look at it. There is a lot of anger and distress, which is understandable, but I hope there can be some room left for repentance and change.
Update: along with the links above, blogs still posting regularly on this are asingleblog, and One blog One Lord. Matt Wardman may post an update once the conference season is over. You can stay up to date with who's posted what via Phil Grooms very handy News Index page.
Most of the legal stuff looks like it will take months, but also going on:
- there's a round up of Orthodox views on whether the Society of St. Stephen the Great is truly advancing the ancient faith on this thread.
- Matt Wills has a picture of a poster at Salisbury bookshop, seeking volunteer staff. It has some interesting claims: "the U.K's most successful Church and Bookshop Charity. - Saint Stephen the great/SPCK bookshops", and Matt does some analysis, and Phil Groom does a bit more.
- Some interesting stuff at Solomon Hezekiah's blog, previously under the radar, posted a few weeks ago. Father Christian Troll has also had some correspondence from an anonymous source, at which he has taken umbrage of biblical proportions.
- Numbers: the petition to encourage Durham Cathedral to act on the SPCK bookshop they currently host has over 250 signatories, including local clergy and theological college tutors. And the 'We Support Dave Walker' Facebook group is nearly up to 500. Dave is still steering well clear of SPCK related issues, though if you search for 'spck' at The Cartoon Blog then there are still some traces of Dave's faithful and excellent work in keeping track of the whole SPCK saga. However, as none of these were covered in Mark Brewers 'cease and desist' letter to Dave, they can happily stay up there. You can join a Facebook group for the spck bookshops too.
Since the attempt to get SSG declared bankrupt in the US was thrown out, comments on these various threads seem to be getting a bit bolder/harsher depending on how you look at it. There is a lot of anger and distress, which is understandable, but I hope there can be some room left for repentance and change.
Update: along with the links above, blogs still posting regularly on this are asingleblog, and One blog One Lord. Matt Wardman may post an update once the conference season is over. You can stay up to date with who's posted what via Phil Grooms very handy News Index page.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
HOLD THE FRONT PAGE: Very Important new SPCK/SSG Development
Big developments in the SSG case today. Mark Brewer is now the subject of court proceedings for fraud, trying to evade his legal responsibilities, and bringing disrepute to the US court system
http://spckssg.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/motion-for-sanctions/ has the full text of the legal proceedings against Brewer and SSG
http://spckssg.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/the-significance-of-the-motion-for-sanctions-against-mark-brewer/ has Matt Wardmans excellent summary and commentary on this.
Incredible stuff. I'm in and out of meetings, otherwise I'd post more.
The legal motion concludes (emphasis mine):
14. At best, as this Court has already found, Mr. Brewer’s conduct was in bad faith. The Trustee submits as set forth herein that such bad faith also amounts to a fraud on the Court. At worst, his conduct violates § 157 of Title 18 and possibly other statutes. As an attorney and a law firm, Mr. Brewer and Brewer & Pritchard owe a duty of candor and honesty to this Court and to the bankruptcy process. The acts that are the subject of this motion violate that duty. In addition, the filing of this case in the United States where almost every creditor is located in the United Kingdom brings disrepute to the Bankruptcy Courts of the United States as they are being used as a haven for a party attempting to escape justice where it was formed and where it did business. Mr. Brewer seeks to use the designation of St. Stephen as a charity to somehow suggest that his conduct does not bear scrutiny. In fact, just the opposite should be true, any attempt by an alleged charity to escape or defer its obligations should be subject to the utmost in candor and disclosure so that no question of impropriety exists. Here, just the opposite is demonstrated by Mr. Brewer’s conduct, and he and his firm must bear responsibility for these actions and make amends to this Court, the Trustee and most significantly the bankruptcy process so that creditors, especially those in a situation like this who are looking at the system from outside U.S. borders, can see that parties who would attempt to subvert the law to escape their responsibilities will be punished.
15. Accordingly, the Trustee requests that the Court grant the Trustee’s motion, enter sanctions consistent with the foregoing and grant such other relief as is just.
Some of the sanctions include compensation (5 figure sums), and compulsory retraining in legal ethics. The piece de resistance is the inclusion of a post from Dave Walkers blog as part of the evidence in the case.
http://spckssg.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/motion-for-sanctions/ has the full text of the legal proceedings against Brewer and SSG
http://spckssg.wordpress.com/2008/09/10/the-significance-of-the-motion-for-sanctions-against-mark-brewer/ has Matt Wardmans excellent summary and commentary on this.
Incredible stuff. I'm in and out of meetings, otherwise I'd post more.
The legal motion concludes (emphasis mine):
14. At best, as this Court has already found, Mr. Brewer’s conduct was in bad faith. The Trustee submits as set forth herein that such bad faith also amounts to a fraud on the Court. At worst, his conduct violates § 157 of Title 18 and possibly other statutes. As an attorney and a law firm, Mr. Brewer and Brewer & Pritchard owe a duty of candor and honesty to this Court and to the bankruptcy process. The acts that are the subject of this motion violate that duty. In addition, the filing of this case in the United States where almost every creditor is located in the United Kingdom brings disrepute to the Bankruptcy Courts of the United States as they are being used as a haven for a party attempting to escape justice where it was formed and where it did business. Mr. Brewer seeks to use the designation of St. Stephen as a charity to somehow suggest that his conduct does not bear scrutiny. In fact, just the opposite should be true, any attempt by an alleged charity to escape or defer its obligations should be subject to the utmost in candor and disclosure so that no question of impropriety exists. Here, just the opposite is demonstrated by Mr. Brewer’s conduct, and he and his firm must bear responsibility for these actions and make amends to this Court, the Trustee and most significantly the bankruptcy process so that creditors, especially those in a situation like this who are looking at the system from outside U.S. borders, can see that parties who would attempt to subvert the law to escape their responsibilities will be punished.
15. Accordingly, the Trustee requests that the Court grant the Trustee’s motion, enter sanctions consistent with the foregoing and grant such other relief as is just.
Some of the sanctions include compensation (5 figure sums), and compulsory retraining in legal ethics. The piece de resistance is the inclusion of a post from Dave Walkers blog as part of the evidence in the case.
Saturday, September 06, 2008
More on the SSG 'bankruptcy'; Dave Walker/SPCK roundup
The Wardman Wire has a round up of this weeks main developments in the ongoing SPCK saga. Without repeating all of it, lets just remind ourselves that Dave Walker would be posting this....
...but because Dave has been sent a 'Cease and Desist' letter by Mark Brewer, threatening him with libel if he posts any more about the SPCK story, you're reading this on my blog, instead of his. As a legitimate news story, it should be getting reported on the Church Times blog as well, but since Dave authors this, we effectively have press censorship by the back door. Even though the bankruptcy application was thrown out earlier this week, and the date for preliminary hearings for the 30 former SPCK employees has also just been set (Sept 18th), there again doesn't seem to be any reporting in the Church Times this week. I'm disappointed.
Other developments at the Wardman Wire link, and on the SPCK/SSG blog, including:
- meeting in London on Sept 10th for those in the area with an interest, more details here.
- more digging around the apparent non-payment of pension contributions, which have gone out of people's wages, but not appeared anywhere else.
- Matt W is compiling a list of bloggers keeping an ongoing eye on the spck saga, if you're one of those, then let him know via this page.
You can also follow things via the 'We support Dave Walker' Facebook group, inching ever closer to 500 supporters, and the SPCK bookshops Facebook group.
The Bookseller reports on the application for Bankruptcy by SSG in the Southern Division of the Texas Court in Houston. They have been in contact with Randy Williams, the Trustee in Bankruptcy :
“The Chapter 7 bankruptcy filed by Christian bookseller St Stephen the Great was dismissed because the case was filed “in bad faith”, according to a court official.
Courtroom minutes show that the case was dismissed “with prejudice” during a hearing at Houston Bankruptcy Court last Thursday.The ruling has a number of restrictions on it, including a set period when Mark and Phil Brewer, who run the chain, cannot submit another bankruptcy filing in the US. Randy W Williams, trustee for the Chapter 7 case, told The Bookseller that “the motion to dismiss was granted with prejudice and the judge found that the filing of the case was in bad faith”.
“Bad faith means in this case that it was done for a wrong or improper purpose,” he said.
In June, Williams filed a motion to dismiss it, claiming “on its face, there is nothing to liquidate and nothing available to fund an investigation in the UK”.
The brothers told suppliers in June that SSG had filed for protection from creditors under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code. The court later converted this to Chapter 7, leaving the retailer in liquidation.Mark Brewer told The Bookseller last week that he did not have enough money to file for bankruptcy in the United Kingdom. He was unavailable for comment this week.”
...but because Dave has been sent a 'Cease and Desist' letter by Mark Brewer, threatening him with libel if he posts any more about the SPCK story, you're reading this on my blog, instead of his. As a legitimate news story, it should be getting reported on the Church Times blog as well, but since Dave authors this, we effectively have press censorship by the back door. Even though the bankruptcy application was thrown out earlier this week, and the date for preliminary hearings for the 30 former SPCK employees has also just been set (Sept 18th), there again doesn't seem to be any reporting in the Church Times this week. I'm disappointed.
Other developments at the Wardman Wire link, and on the SPCK/SSG blog, including:
- meeting in London on Sept 10th for those in the area with an interest, more details here.
- more digging around the apparent non-payment of pension contributions, which have gone out of people's wages, but not appeared anywhere else.
- Matt W is compiling a list of bloggers keeping an ongoing eye on the spck saga, if you're one of those, then let him know via this page.
You can also follow things via the 'We support Dave Walker' Facebook group, inching ever closer to 500 supporters, and the SPCK bookshops Facebook group.
Monday, September 01, 2008
'We Support Dave Walker' Facebook group - updated.
I've just revised the front page of the 'We Support Dave Walker' facebook group, which now reads:
On 22nd July cartoonist Dave Walker was issued with a 'cease and
desist' notice from SSG, giving him just a few hours to remove all posts
about SPCK/SSG from his Cartoon Church blog, or face libel action. Dave
complied with the request, but many bloggers are concerned that he has been
put under undue pressure.
2 other bloggers were issued with 'Cease and Desist' notices: one on the same day as Dave (Phil Grooms SSG/SPCK blog), another the day after for republishing some of Dave's posts (Sam Norton). Both have disputed the claims in the letters, and have not taken down any blog posts.
So far, the threatened response from SSG has not materialised. In the meantime, the attempt to censor blogging has resulted in even more scrutiny upon SSG, and those who run it.
This Facebook group will remain up until the Cease and Desist letter to Dave Walker has been retracted by Mark Brewer, and all the SPCK posts restored to his blog.
Daily updates and links posted at http://spckssg.wordpress.com/ and http://friendfeed.com/rooms/dave-walker-spck, and weekly roundups at Matt Wardman (http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/) , and David Keen (http://davidkeen.blogspot.com/) will continue.
For those interested in the wider issues around the former SPCK bookshops, the ongoing industrial action against the Society of St. Stephen the Great by former SPCK employees, work to salvage individual shops, non-payment of suppliers etc. please visit/join the SPCK Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6124687292 .
There will probably be some overlap between that group and this one for the time being.
Most recent news (Aug 29th) is that SSG's attempt to be declared bankrupt in the USA has been throw out 'with prejudice'. This is one of the episodes they didn't want Dave W and others blogging about - not surprising!!
For more details see http://spckssg.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/reflections-on-a-campaign-so-far-and-ssg-not-bankrupt/ and the links there.
I had hoped to have closed the group down by now, but I guess J Mark Brewer has been too busy with legal business in the US to send Dave a retraction letter. I'm slightly embarassed that the membership has overtaken Dave W's original 'group for those who mourn the tragic demise of SPCK bookshops'! I'm hoping that things like the Durham petition, ongoing industrial action etc. will be discussed at the SPCK group rather than the DW group, but it's quite hard to control 478 people!
Instead of my own reflections on where we've got to, read Matt Wardmans summary here, which pretty much says it all. Apart from the Cease and Desist letters themselves, online scrutiny of the management of SPCK is now much stronger than it was 7 weeks ago, with a whole host of people now interested (Matt Wills is the latest (now corrected from 'Mark Wills'!)). This is exactly the opposite of what the Cease and Desist letters were supposed to achieve. It has also created a stronger sense of support for those involved - Matt Wardman writes:
One title of the Holy Spirit is 'paraclete', which in my limited understanding means 'advocate' or 'one who stands alongside'. Without making divine claims for any of this, if we've been able to stand alongside those who are victims of injustice or bullying, then that's good.
On 22nd July cartoonist Dave Walker was issued with a 'cease and
desist' notice from SSG, giving him just a few hours to remove all posts
about SPCK/SSG from his Cartoon Church blog, or face libel action. Dave
complied with the request, but many bloggers are concerned that he has been
put under undue pressure.
2 other bloggers were issued with 'Cease and Desist' notices: one on the same day as Dave (Phil Grooms SSG/SPCK blog), another the day after for republishing some of Dave's posts (Sam Norton). Both have disputed the claims in the letters, and have not taken down any blog posts.
So far, the threatened response from SSG has not materialised. In the meantime, the attempt to censor blogging has resulted in even more scrutiny upon SSG, and those who run it.
This Facebook group will remain up until the Cease and Desist letter to Dave Walker has been retracted by Mark Brewer, and all the SPCK posts restored to his blog.
Daily updates and links posted at http://spckssg.wordpress.com/ and http://friendfeed.com/rooms/dave-walker-spck, and weekly roundups at Matt Wardman (http://www.mattwardman.com/blog/) , and David Keen (http://davidkeen.blogspot.com/) will continue.
For those interested in the wider issues around the former SPCK bookshops, the ongoing industrial action against the Society of St. Stephen the Great by former SPCK employees, work to salvage individual shops, non-payment of suppliers etc. please visit/join the SPCK Facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=6124687292 .
There will probably be some overlap between that group and this one for the time being.
Most recent news (Aug 29th) is that SSG's attempt to be declared bankrupt in the USA has been throw out 'with prejudice'. This is one of the episodes they didn't want Dave W and others blogging about - not surprising!!
For more details see http://spckssg.wordpress.com/2008/08/29/reflections-on-a-campaign-so-far-and-ssg-not-bankrupt/ and the links there.
I had hoped to have closed the group down by now, but I guess J Mark Brewer has been too busy with legal business in the US to send Dave a retraction letter. I'm slightly embarassed that the membership has overtaken Dave W's original 'group for those who mourn the tragic demise of SPCK bookshops'! I'm hoping that things like the Durham petition, ongoing industrial action etc. will be discussed at the SPCK group rather than the DW group, but it's quite hard to control 478 people!
Instead of my own reflections on where we've got to, read Matt Wardmans summary here, which pretty much says it all. Apart from the Cease and Desist letters themselves, online scrutiny of the management of SPCK is now much stronger than it was 7 weeks ago, with a whole host of people now interested (Matt Wills is the latest (now corrected from 'Mark Wills'!)). This is exactly the opposite of what the Cease and Desist letters were supposed to achieve. It has also created a stronger sense of support for those involved - Matt Wardman writes:
I would stress the positive balance this has provided to the
staff who have and are undergoing the tribulation caused by the brewers, I know
that many of them really have found this to be a positive boost to their morale
and also have found it to be a focus of strength that has even enabled some of
them to begin undertaking more positive and stronger action on their own behalf
some of which we might come to know about later.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
Discussions in other places
Madpriest had a gentle dig at a former Somerset vicar who talked about powers of evil in Portishead in a parish magazine article, drawing heavily on Tolkien. Just to spoil people's fun, I posted a comment reminding folk that Jesus recognised powers of evil as well, and that's now turned into a whole new debate over at MP's place. Is evil a 'power', or are there just very nasty people?
Bishop Alan is blogging from the Willow Creek leadership conference - I'll be really interested to see if he does a 'compare and contrast' post with Lambeth - with pithy summaries of the various speakers. There are video-based versions of the conference in the UK in October: we took a small group last year and found it very helpful.
SPCK have issued a statement, which Phil Groom has posted in full. One of the many matters debated in the last few weeks was the role of SPCK in entrusting SSG with the retail arm of its business, which was losing money rapidly and was unsustainable as it stood. It's worth reading the entire statement, here's the last couple of paragraphs:
We have been greatly upset by what has happened. We have been actively trying to do something about it, and are engaged in legal activity on a number of fronts about which it is not currently possible to say much. This and working with other interested parties and individuals has taken up a great deal of Simon Kingston’s time over the last year and continues to do so.
The Trustee body continue to have the shops as an item at every meeting, and spend a deal of time discussing what is best to do. A great deal has gone on (and continues today) which is not public knowledge. It is simply not true that we have ignored the situation. And with legal issues outstanding, we simply cannot wade in with public pronouncements. Indeed, some public comments (including, frankly, one or two contributions to the various blogs) serve to make matters worse rather than better.
SPCK and its trustees are truly saddened by the situation. We made a decision in good faith, and it has not turned out well. We are really sorry at the turn of events. But breast-beating makes nothing better. We are doing what we can on a continuing basis, and this may take another year or more before it has run its course.
The next few weeks will see two of the former SPCK shops in formal re-launches under new ownership. Let us all hope that other sites also find happier times once more.
Simon Kingston, SPCK General Secretary and Chief Executive Officer The Rt Revd Michael Perham, Bishop of Gloucester, Chairman of the SPCK Governing Body 12 August 2008
Phil's blog is the place to discuss this, and judging by the penultimate paragraph, we are in for the long haul here. Please pray for Simon Kingston and everyone else involved in this, for a resolution that is good, fair, and ideally that doesn't require lawyers to sort out the fine print because people are able to deal constructively with one another.
Finally Matt Wardman has a few Olympics links - personally I'm just enjoying the sport, but it's useful to be reminded of what else is going on here. And Johann Hari reflects on the decision not to publish the novel 'The Jewel of Medina', about the child bride of Mohammed, and what it says about our ability to have critical dialogue about Islam. The book may, like the Da Vinci Code, be a pile of cobblers, but now it's been pulled, everyone will want to have a copy if it ever finally comes out. Sounds familiar.
Bishop Alan is blogging from the Willow Creek leadership conference - I'll be really interested to see if he does a 'compare and contrast' post with Lambeth - with pithy summaries of the various speakers. There are video-based versions of the conference in the UK in October: we took a small group last year and found it very helpful.
SPCK have issued a statement, which Phil Groom has posted in full. One of the many matters debated in the last few weeks was the role of SPCK in entrusting SSG with the retail arm of its business, which was losing money rapidly and was unsustainable as it stood. It's worth reading the entire statement, here's the last couple of paragraphs:
We have been greatly upset by what has happened. We have been actively trying to do something about it, and are engaged in legal activity on a number of fronts about which it is not currently possible to say much. This and working with other interested parties and individuals has taken up a great deal of Simon Kingston’s time over the last year and continues to do so.
The Trustee body continue to have the shops as an item at every meeting, and spend a deal of time discussing what is best to do. A great deal has gone on (and continues today) which is not public knowledge. It is simply not true that we have ignored the situation. And with legal issues outstanding, we simply cannot wade in with public pronouncements. Indeed, some public comments (including, frankly, one or two contributions to the various blogs) serve to make matters worse rather than better.
SPCK and its trustees are truly saddened by the situation. We made a decision in good faith, and it has not turned out well. We are really sorry at the turn of events. But breast-beating makes nothing better. We are doing what we can on a continuing basis, and this may take another year or more before it has run its course.
The next few weeks will see two of the former SPCK shops in formal re-launches under new ownership. Let us all hope that other sites also find happier times once more.
Simon Kingston, SPCK General Secretary and Chief Executive Officer The Rt Revd Michael Perham, Bishop of Gloucester, Chairman of the SPCK Governing Body 12 August 2008
Phil's blog is the place to discuss this, and judging by the penultimate paragraph, we are in for the long haul here. Please pray for Simon Kingston and everyone else involved in this, for a resolution that is good, fair, and ideally that doesn't require lawyers to sort out the fine print because people are able to deal constructively with one another.
Finally Matt Wardman has a few Olympics links - personally I'm just enjoying the sport, but it's useful to be reminded of what else is going on here. And Johann Hari reflects on the decision not to publish the novel 'The Jewel of Medina', about the child bride of Mohammed, and what it says about our ability to have critical dialogue about Islam. The book may, like the Da Vinci Code, be a pile of cobblers, but now it's been pulled, everyone will want to have a copy if it ever finally comes out. Sounds familiar.
Saturday, August 09, 2008
Spck, St. Stephen the Great, Dave Walker etc. Roundup
Matt Wardman has posted a good roundup today of where things are at, and added yet more bloggers and sites which are carrying the story. I'm thrilled to see that the Facebook group has cleared 400: it was 425 members when I looked just now.
Meanwhile Bishop Alan has emerged from Lambeth to blog on the Private Eye report, and Phil Brewer, one of the SSG management team, has been locked out of his own shop in Sheffield for not paying the rent. Wonder if anyone's told the landlord he's filing for bankruptcy?
No sooner do I try to quieten down on this than lots of new articles turn up. That last link is to quiet a heated debate on the role of the original SPCK trustees in all of this (also here). I must admit that I was quite surprised to discover on the Charity Commission website that the original Society of St. Stephen the Great had only turned over £28,728, with most of this being donations from J. Mark Brewer. That's less than half of our parish turnover, and I can't imagine us being asked to run a chain of national bookstores.
It's also being noted that search terms like Brewer and Pritchard, J. Mark Brewer, Society of St. Stephen the Great and the like on Google are increasingly turning up stories related to the silencing of the SPCK bloggers and the poor handling of the business and its staff. And I guess the longer this goes on, the more that will happen. It would be incredibly embarassing if the top Google search for 'bplaw' (the shorthand for Brewer & Pritchard Law) turned up here, or even worse here.
Meanwhile Bishop Alan has emerged from Lambeth to blog on the Private Eye report, and Phil Brewer, one of the SSG management team, has been locked out of his own shop in Sheffield for not paying the rent. Wonder if anyone's told the landlord he's filing for bankruptcy?
No sooner do I try to quieten down on this than lots of new articles turn up. That last link is to quiet a heated debate on the role of the original SPCK trustees in all of this (also here). I must admit that I was quite surprised to discover on the Charity Commission website that the original Society of St. Stephen the Great had only turned over £28,728, with most of this being donations from J. Mark Brewer. That's less than half of our parish turnover, and I can't imagine us being asked to run a chain of national bookstores.
It's also being noted that search terms like Brewer and Pritchard, J. Mark Brewer, Society of St. Stephen the Great and the like on Google are increasingly turning up stories related to the silencing of the SPCK bloggers and the poor handling of the business and its staff. And I guess the longer this goes on, the more that will happen. It would be incredibly embarassing if the top Google search for 'bplaw' (the shorthand for Brewer & Pritchard Law) turned up here, or even worse here.
Thursday, August 07, 2008
The Dave Walker Campaign: Where Next?
It seems a long time since July 22nd, the day Dave Walker took down the 75 SPCK posts from his blog under the threat of libel proceedings from Mark Brewer. And where have we got to?
- Over 75 bloggers covering the story, including several blogs set up purely to repost some of the Cartoon Church posts.
- The other 2 recipients of Cease and Desist letters, Phil Groom and Rev. Sam Norton, both refusing to be silenced, and publishing their correspondence.
- As well as being salvaged by various bloggers, the entire 75 Dave Walker posts have been republished by Matt Wardman, along with an introduction to the whole business, and a few other useful clippings - available as a free download here. From what I gather it's been downloaded well over 400 times. For a shorter introduction, Phil Grooms account of the last couple of weeks, and what went before, is well worth a read.
- Loads more attention on SPCK, the Society of St. Stephen the Great, and Mark Brewer in particular. The irony of someone threatening legal proceedings when they're facing an employment tribunal in one country, and a dispute over flawed bankruptcy proceedings in another is, well, probably lost on the man at the centre of all this.
- A mass of support for Dave Walker, Phil and Sam, which has possibly deterred SSG from issuing any more 'cease and desist' letters for fear that they'll be plastered all over the internet.
- The attempted silencing of bloggers starting to become a media story in itself.
Dave Walker has now gone on a well-earned break after cartooning at Lambeth, so now seems as good a time as any to take stock.
My original aim in all of this was to help create enough support for Dave Walker that the libel threat would be withdrawn, and he'd be able to restore all the SPCK posts. There's going to be nothing new on that front for a few weeks, but I'm sure the support has given Phil and Sam the encouragement to stand up to SSG's attempts to silence them.
What we've also done is create a network of bloggers, and a Facebook group of around 400, who are on the side of the bloggers in this. Even if things go quiet for a bit, there are a lot of folk who will find out - and find out very quickly - if anything else important happens. It's a group which includes libel lawyers, bishops, prominent bloggers, and journalists for the national UK media. There is also a lot more research now on the internet should any media outlet want to dig more into the SPCK/SSG story.
The main challenges from here on in:
- Mark Brewer retracting his C&D letters.
- Ongoing coverage of the SPCK story in the UK, and the bankruptcy proceedings in the USA.
- Keep nudging the mainstream media, and outlets like Christian Bookseller, so that they don't get spooked by legal bluster, but continue to do their job as journalists, which is to seek out and report the truth.
I've been posting pretty much daily on this since July 22nd, and I'm one of dozens of bloggers who, to be honest, hadn't followed the SPCK story very closely until Mark Brewer tried to censor it. During that time I've had probably over 1,000 visitors looking into the Dave Walker saga, and other blogs have had many more.
But now it's time to let the SPCK/SSG blog do the job it was created for, which is to carry on the coverage of this story, though I'll be posting on anything important as and when it crops up. There's also a SPCK Facebook group which is more focused on the events at the bookstores. And for a daily list of new links, Richard Peat's friendfeed page on Dave Walker is a great starting point.
So it will be back to blogging as usual from next week. Hopefully.
- Over 75 bloggers covering the story, including several blogs set up purely to repost some of the Cartoon Church posts.
- The other 2 recipients of Cease and Desist letters, Phil Groom and Rev. Sam Norton, both refusing to be silenced, and publishing their correspondence.
- As well as being salvaged by various bloggers, the entire 75 Dave Walker posts have been republished by Matt Wardman, along with an introduction to the whole business, and a few other useful clippings - available as a free download here. From what I gather it's been downloaded well over 400 times. For a shorter introduction, Phil Grooms account of the last couple of weeks, and what went before, is well worth a read.
- Loads more attention on SPCK, the Society of St. Stephen the Great, and Mark Brewer in particular. The irony of someone threatening legal proceedings when they're facing an employment tribunal in one country, and a dispute over flawed bankruptcy proceedings in another is, well, probably lost on the man at the centre of all this.
- A mass of support for Dave Walker, Phil and Sam, which has possibly deterred SSG from issuing any more 'cease and desist' letters for fear that they'll be plastered all over the internet.
- The attempted silencing of bloggers starting to become a media story in itself.
Dave Walker has now gone on a well-earned break after cartooning at Lambeth, so now seems as good a time as any to take stock.
My original aim in all of this was to help create enough support for Dave Walker that the libel threat would be withdrawn, and he'd be able to restore all the SPCK posts. There's going to be nothing new on that front for a few weeks, but I'm sure the support has given Phil and Sam the encouragement to stand up to SSG's attempts to silence them.
What we've also done is create a network of bloggers, and a Facebook group of around 400, who are on the side of the bloggers in this. Even if things go quiet for a bit, there are a lot of folk who will find out - and find out very quickly - if anything else important happens. It's a group which includes libel lawyers, bishops, prominent bloggers, and journalists for the national UK media. There is also a lot more research now on the internet should any media outlet want to dig more into the SPCK/SSG story.
The main challenges from here on in:
- Mark Brewer retracting his C&D letters.
- Ongoing coverage of the SPCK story in the UK, and the bankruptcy proceedings in the USA.
- Keep nudging the mainstream media, and outlets like Christian Bookseller, so that they don't get spooked by legal bluster, but continue to do their job as journalists, which is to seek out and report the truth.
I've been posting pretty much daily on this since July 22nd, and I'm one of dozens of bloggers who, to be honest, hadn't followed the SPCK story very closely until Mark Brewer tried to censor it. During that time I've had probably over 1,000 visitors looking into the Dave Walker saga, and other blogs have had many more.
But now it's time to let the SPCK/SSG blog do the job it was created for, which is to carry on the coverage of this story, though I'll be posting on anything important as and when it crops up. There's also a SPCK Facebook group which is more focused on the events at the bookstores. And for a daily list of new links, Richard Peat's friendfeed page on Dave Walker is a great starting point.
So it will be back to blogging as usual from next week. Hopefully.
Wednesday, August 06, 2008
Letter to the Church Times
I've just sent this to the Church Times, hopefully it's in time for publication on Friday, though I guess there'll be plenty of Lambeth stuff they're trying to squeeze in too:
Dear Church Times,
I notice with great concern that your cartoonist (and Lambeth cartoonist-in-residence), Dave Walker, has had to remove 75 postings from his blog concerning the recent history of SPCK bookshops. Since their handover to new owners, the Society of St. Stephen the Great (SSG), there have been a number of troubling developments at SPCK. 30 former employees are currently pursuing union action against SSG, whilst at the same time it is filing for bankruptcy in Texas, in a court thousands of miles away from most of its creditors. Your report of 25th July notes that the legitimacy of the SSG bankruptcy claim has been seriously questioned.
There seems to be a concerted attempt to silence online comment about the whole business. Another blogger following the SPCK story, Phil Groom, was threatened with libel proceedings if he did not 'cease and desist' his reporting, as was an Essex vicar who republished some of Dave Walkers reporting on his own blog. Yet there seems to be nothing libellous in either Mr. Groom or Mr. Walkers coverage, and the timing - with court proceedings pending in both the UK and US - is highly suspicious. Mr. Grooms correspondence even demanded that he shut down a site dedicated to raising funds for former SPCK employees.
The Church Times has done its readers a great service in reporting on developments at SPCK so far, and I do hope this will continue. Good journalism is about bringing the truth to light, however uncomfortable it is for certain parties.
Yours sincerely
Rev. David Keen.
Update, Sat 9th Aug: Nope, not published. So if you edit a parish magazine, it's all yours.
Dear Church Times,
I notice with great concern that your cartoonist (and Lambeth cartoonist-in-residence), Dave Walker, has had to remove 75 postings from his blog concerning the recent history of SPCK bookshops. Since their handover to new owners, the Society of St. Stephen the Great (SSG), there have been a number of troubling developments at SPCK. 30 former employees are currently pursuing union action against SSG, whilst at the same time it is filing for bankruptcy in Texas, in a court thousands of miles away from most of its creditors. Your report of 25th July notes that the legitimacy of the SSG bankruptcy claim has been seriously questioned.
There seems to be a concerted attempt to silence online comment about the whole business. Another blogger following the SPCK story, Phil Groom, was threatened with libel proceedings if he did not 'cease and desist' his reporting, as was an Essex vicar who republished some of Dave Walkers reporting on his own blog. Yet there seems to be nothing libellous in either Mr. Groom or Mr. Walkers coverage, and the timing - with court proceedings pending in both the UK and US - is highly suspicious. Mr. Grooms correspondence even demanded that he shut down a site dedicated to raising funds for former SPCK employees.
The Church Times has done its readers a great service in reporting on developments at SPCK so far, and I do hope this will continue. Good journalism is about bringing the truth to light, however uncomfortable it is for certain parties.
Yours sincerely
Rev. David Keen.
Update, Sat 9th Aug: Nope, not published. So if you edit a parish magazine, it's all yours.
Tuesday, August 05, 2008
Monday, August 04, 2008
Dave Walker, SSG, SPCK Update (part 2) Monday 4th August
Key posts and developments today on the attempted silencing of the SPCK blogs:
On the SPCK/SSG blog there are two: Mark Bennett has compiled a list of Mark Brewers public statements about SPCK (which I linked to earlier), and Phelim Macintyre has blogged about a planned meeting in September between former SPCK suppliers and staff. Yesterday Phil Groom posted an article he'd written for magazine Christian Marketplace, which was pulled from the magazine at the last minute. The editor of Christian Marketplace, Clem Jackson, was copied in on Phil Grooms 'Cease and Desist letter'. As SPCKwatch reports:
Today the new copy of Christian Marketplace arrived. All that is reported on the SSG saga is the funeral of Steve Jeynes. There is no mention of the bankruptcy case or 30 industrial tribunials that SSG are facing. As we now know from Phil's site Clem Jackson, editor of Christian Marketplace, recieved the same threat as Phil did. Hopefully this silence is only temporary on their part. But as soon as we know the outcome of the bankruptcy hearing be sure us Bloggers will report it.
It's not an easy position to be in, and I notice that despite journalists belonging to the Facebook group supporting Dave Walker, none of them have done a piece on the story yet. Some comments are starting to appear asking why the media haven't picked up on this yet. I guess a global gathering of bishops was probably occupying them.
Matt Wardman has posted on Cease and Desist letters, arguing that because Phil Grooms C&D was copied to a third party (Clem Jackson - see above), the allegations in it about Phil's site were effectively sent to a member of the British media, and thus might be considered libellous and defamatory in their own right. Ooops.
Sam Norton has posted an open letter to Mark Brewer from a former employee, citing a dreadful story about the treatment of a former SPCK employee.
Several other sites blogging today, but thought I'd try to organise (for my own sanity as much as anything) who's covering the Dave Walker/SPCK/SSG affair, and from what angle.
1. The Evidence:
3. Analysis and General Digging Around.
On the SPCK/SSG blog there are two: Mark Bennett has compiled a list of Mark Brewers public statements about SPCK (which I linked to earlier), and Phelim Macintyre has blogged about a planned meeting in September between former SPCK suppliers and staff. Yesterday Phil Groom posted an article he'd written for magazine Christian Marketplace, which was pulled from the magazine at the last minute. The editor of Christian Marketplace, Clem Jackson, was copied in on Phil Grooms 'Cease and Desist letter'. As SPCKwatch reports:
Today the new copy of Christian Marketplace arrived. All that is reported on the SSG saga is the funeral of Steve Jeynes. There is no mention of the bankruptcy case or 30 industrial tribunials that SSG are facing. As we now know from Phil's site Clem Jackson, editor of Christian Marketplace, recieved the same threat as Phil did. Hopefully this silence is only temporary on their part. But as soon as we know the outcome of the bankruptcy hearing be sure us Bloggers will report it.
It's not an easy position to be in, and I notice that despite journalists belonging to the Facebook group supporting Dave Walker, none of them have done a piece on the story yet. Some comments are starting to appear asking why the media haven't picked up on this yet. I guess a global gathering of bishops was probably occupying them.
Matt Wardman has posted on Cease and Desist letters, arguing that because Phil Grooms C&D was copied to a third party (Clem Jackson - see above), the allegations in it about Phil's site were effectively sent to a member of the British media, and thus might be considered libellous and defamatory in their own right. Ooops.
Sam Norton has posted an open letter to Mark Brewer from a former employee, citing a dreadful story about the treatment of a former SPCK employee.
Several other sites blogging today, but thought I'd try to organise (for my own sanity as much as anything) who's covering the Dave Walker/SPCK/SSG affair, and from what angle.
1. The Evidence:
- Dave Walker's empty 'Mark Brewer' post on the Cartoon Blog.
- Dave's 75 posts on SPCK, collated into a pdf by Matt Wardman, also available on a blog near you. Reviewed here.
- Phil Grooms 'Cease and Desist' letter from Mark Brewer, covering 5 blogs, 2 of which weren't even run by Phil. In 3 parts: here, here and here.
- Sam Nortons Cease and Desist letter, and other correspondence with Mark Brewer.
- Unicorn Tree Books: a website Phil Groom was asked to close down, even though he has nothing to do with it. By sheer coincidence (not), the site has done detailed reporting on the sacking of staff and other alleged mismanagement of the Lincoln SPCK shop.
- Matt Wardman - daily updates, analysis of law, civil liberties etc.
- SPCK/SSG - Phil Grooms site, dedicated to the ongoing SPCK story and support of former staff and suppliers.
- Dave Walker Friendfeed page: regularly updated links to stories around Dave Walker, SPCK, SSG etc. First port of call to see what's been newly blogged.
- We Support Dave Walker Facebook site. 376 members at last count. Some good links in the 'Wall Posts' there.
- and this one, mainly linking to other sites.
3. Analysis and General Digging Around.
- SPCKwatch: relatively new site, but some good stuff - recent analysis on whether the SPCK chain was 'thriving' as SSG claimed.
- Ministry of Truth: some great in depth analysis of the Mark Brewer letters, and the business dealings of SSG.
- Bizarrely Rev. Dr Christian Troll: and good for a chuckle too.
4. Regular Comment
- Elizaphanian (Sam Norton)
- Metacatholic (Doug Chaplin)
- Maggi Dawn
- Madpriest (once you've waded through all the bizarre pics of Rowan Williams)
- Exigency in Specie (Richard Peat)
- Asingleblog
- squiggle jones
- Ship of fools 'SPCK bookshops' discussion
5. Cartoons
- ASBO Jesus (nos 519-521, plus comments)
- Rosary Studio
- Lingamish (did some hippos for Matt W)
There are lots of other sites which have linked to this story - a full list is hosted by Matt Wardmans and it's up to 76 now, and if you spot other links, or blog on it yourself, please leave a comment there. Just spotted include Ben Gallagher (good post, nice cartoon) and Long Withdrawing Roar .
If I've missed anything off this list, please let me know. I look forward to the day when Dave's Cartoon Blog is back in section 2, where it belongs.Saturday, August 02, 2008
Dave Walker Daily Saturday 2nd August
Cross-post from The Wardman Wire, which is one of several sites hitting problems this morning. Here's why)
Another one has broken cover. Phil Grooms SPCK/SSG blog has made public his full 'Cease and Desist' from Mark Brewer, with a post here noting that, of the 5 websites Phil was asked to take down, 2 of which are nothing to do with him!
Early today Phil posted the rest of Mark Brewer's letter, noting that it was difficult to respond to it given that Brewer himself had banned Phil from contacting him. (What follows is a summary, go to Phil's site for the whole thing. Mark Brewers words are in italics, Phil's in red. )
For the record, Phil denies the following claims:
1. Running a website dedicated to the destruction of Brewers personal reputation (the sites are dedicated to SPCK bookshops).
2. 'Succesfully blocking my efforts to get my and SSG's side of the story out': Phil has invited Mark Brewers input on several occasions, and at no point has he attacked 'my wife, my daught and my religion', as Brewer claims.
3. Holding Mark Brewer up to ridicule, and using 'vile and defamatory words'. No, says Phil: Madpriest and others (see the end of this post) might sail close to the wind on that, but Phil isn't.
4. Interfering with SSG's strategy to salvage SPCK. Phil responds: "My impression was that you’d filed for bankruptcy, Mark, and peremptorily dismissed most of your staff. I have to confess that I didn’t recognise that as a strategy to “salvage what remains of the business”… why didn’t you tell us that’s what you were trying to do? I think most people got the impression you were asset-stripping or something similar."
5. I'll just quote Mark Brewer for this bit:
I therefore am going to say this as clearly as I can: I am a private individual and I value my privacy. I am not a public figure such that you have the right to drag my name and my family’s names through the mire. I do not consent to you contacting me about your alleged enquiries. I do not consent and object to you maintaining websites about me, SSG, SSGCT, ENC Management, my brother, my wife, or my daughter. I do not consent to you posting blogs on the internet. I do not consent to you defaming me to any other party or person by “sharing” your false allegations.
No contact? No websites about SPCK (which is what the SSG demand would entail)? No blogs on the internet? It's hard to avoid the suspicion that Brewer just wants Phil to keep quiet and say nothing.
Phil concludes:
Finally, for now, please note that I’m not interested in defaming you or in making “false allegations”. I am interested in finding the truth, however, and that forces me to ask why you wanted Dave Walker’s ‘Save the SPCK’ pages taken down? Was there something there that you wanted hidden? Why did you demand that Sam Norton take down those he reposted? Why do you want the pages referred to in my previous posts taken down? The reasons you’ve given don’t really seem bear scrutiny, do they?
And here is what whiffs about the whole business. When a faltering business faces industrial tribunals in the UK, files for bankruptcy several thousand miles away, and and the same time tries to completely silence the two main reporters on its actions... Well, you can work the rest out, can't you?
The SPCK Chronicles
Now that the entire Dave Walker Chronicles of SPCK are available in 1 volume, its possible to examine whether they merit a 'Cease and Desist' order for possible libel. Exigency in Specie has a good summary of the whole thing, and notes:
When you read the posts, Dave spent a good deal of time trying to moderate those reactions in order to thoughtfully report events that he believed should be of concern to a wider audience. As a relatively high profile site he primarily acted as a central resource for collecting together information from the geographically diverse chain. Care in what was written was uppermost, even when emotions grew - you can easily find points where he calls for cool heads, and where he removed comments that he himself deemed were close to the line. Certainly an approach from Mark Brewer asking for specific points to be removed would I’m sure have been met with much less of an explosion of anger in the blogsphere than the cease and desist attempt to close down the whole story has produced
Who's Blogging
Sam Norton continues to get plenty of support - here are the comments on his own C&D. I had trouble opening his site this morning, along with those of several other commenters on this story, but the link to the comments should work.
Mark B at Way Out West is an early link on the DW story that we missed. And it has a cartoon. The Walsingham Girl is an Orthodox Christian in the UK who is 'appalled' by Dave Walkers treatment.
Meanwhile Kouya Chronicle has blogged in support of the C&D 3, revmusings is also Dave Walker, as is Anne's blog. One Blog One Lord wants Dave to be President, and Philip Bartholemew makes the perceptive comment:
J Mark Brewer, who runs the organisation that owns the bookshops (and who is now seeking bankruptcy proceedings in Houston), believes he and his company should be immune from criticism because both are private: in fact, as Unity points out, Brewer is a subject of public controversy and so in US eyes is a “limited purpose public figure”. This is just one feature of US libel law that we could do with in the UK, where people who choose to involve themselves in public affairs can all too often suppress critical discussion and discourage investigation by waving lawyers around
Tim Abbott has a round up, and on the ground Thoughts and More Thoughts has been to see Chester SPCK, and links to reports from the local paper on the staff sackings. Wonder if any of the media people swarming around Dave Walker at the moment know what's going on?
The 'We Support Dave Walker' Facebook group is up to nearly 350, which hopefully England can surpass today at Edgbaston.
Finally for light relief, Rev. Dr. Christian Troll has no doubt that J. Mark Brewer is a man after his own heart. Don't read this with any food in your mouth, it will end up on your keyboard.
(DK note: some time in the next few days we'll update the list of people blogging on this story at The Wardman Wire - my rough guesswork is that it's now over 100. 64 links are posted, but new ones are appearing all the time.)
Another one has broken cover. Phil Grooms SPCK/SSG blog has made public his full 'Cease and Desist' from Mark Brewer, with a post here noting that, of the 5 websites Phil was asked to take down, 2 of which are nothing to do with him!
Early today Phil posted the rest of Mark Brewer's letter, noting that it was difficult to respond to it given that Brewer himself had banned Phil from contacting him. (What follows is a summary, go to Phil's site for the whole thing. Mark Brewers words are in italics, Phil's in red. )
For the record, Phil denies the following claims:
1. Running a website dedicated to the destruction of Brewers personal reputation (the sites are dedicated to SPCK bookshops).
2. 'Succesfully blocking my efforts to get my and SSG's side of the story out': Phil has invited Mark Brewers input on several occasions, and at no point has he attacked 'my wife, my daught and my religion', as Brewer claims.
3. Holding Mark Brewer up to ridicule, and using 'vile and defamatory words'. No, says Phil: Madpriest and others (see the end of this post) might sail close to the wind on that, but Phil isn't.
4. Interfering with SSG's strategy to salvage SPCK. Phil responds: "My impression was that you’d filed for bankruptcy, Mark, and peremptorily dismissed most of your staff. I have to confess that I didn’t recognise that as a strategy to “salvage what remains of the business”… why didn’t you tell us that’s what you were trying to do? I think most people got the impression you were asset-stripping or something similar."
5. I'll just quote Mark Brewer for this bit:
I therefore am going to say this as clearly as I can: I am a private individual and I value my privacy. I am not a public figure such that you have the right to drag my name and my family’s names through the mire. I do not consent to you contacting me about your alleged enquiries. I do not consent and object to you maintaining websites about me, SSG, SSGCT, ENC Management, my brother, my wife, or my daughter. I do not consent to you posting blogs on the internet. I do not consent to you defaming me to any other party or person by “sharing” your false allegations.
No contact? No websites about SPCK (which is what the SSG demand would entail)? No blogs on the internet? It's hard to avoid the suspicion that Brewer just wants Phil to keep quiet and say nothing.
Phil concludes:
Finally, for now, please note that I’m not interested in defaming you or in making “false allegations”. I am interested in finding the truth, however, and that forces me to ask why you wanted Dave Walker’s ‘Save the SPCK’ pages taken down? Was there something there that you wanted hidden? Why did you demand that Sam Norton take down those he reposted? Why do you want the pages referred to in my previous posts taken down? The reasons you’ve given don’t really seem bear scrutiny, do they?
And here is what whiffs about the whole business. When a faltering business faces industrial tribunals in the UK, files for bankruptcy several thousand miles away, and and the same time tries to completely silence the two main reporters on its actions... Well, you can work the rest out, can't you?
The SPCK Chronicles
Now that the entire Dave Walker Chronicles of SPCK are available in 1 volume, its possible to examine whether they merit a 'Cease and Desist' order for possible libel. Exigency in Specie has a good summary of the whole thing, and notes:
When you read the posts, Dave spent a good deal of time trying to moderate those reactions in order to thoughtfully report events that he believed should be of concern to a wider audience. As a relatively high profile site he primarily acted as a central resource for collecting together information from the geographically diverse chain. Care in what was written was uppermost, even when emotions grew - you can easily find points where he calls for cool heads, and where he removed comments that he himself deemed were close to the line. Certainly an approach from Mark Brewer asking for specific points to be removed would I’m sure have been met with much less of an explosion of anger in the blogsphere than the cease and desist attempt to close down the whole story has produced
Who's Blogging
Sam Norton continues to get plenty of support - here are the comments on his own C&D. I had trouble opening his site this morning, along with those of several other commenters on this story, but the link to the comments should work.
Mark B at Way Out West is an early link on the DW story that we missed. And it has a cartoon. The Walsingham Girl is an Orthodox Christian in the UK who is 'appalled' by Dave Walkers treatment.
Meanwhile Kouya Chronicle has blogged in support of the C&D 3, revmusings is also Dave Walker, as is Anne's blog. One Blog One Lord wants Dave to be President, and Philip Bartholemew makes the perceptive comment:
J Mark Brewer, who runs the organisation that owns the bookshops (and who is now seeking bankruptcy proceedings in Houston), believes he and his company should be immune from criticism because both are private: in fact, as Unity points out, Brewer is a subject of public controversy and so in US eyes is a “limited purpose public figure”. This is just one feature of US libel law that we could do with in the UK, where people who choose to involve themselves in public affairs can all too often suppress critical discussion and discourage investigation by waving lawyers around
Tim Abbott has a round up, and on the ground Thoughts and More Thoughts has been to see Chester SPCK, and links to reports from the local paper on the staff sackings. Wonder if any of the media people swarming around Dave Walker at the moment know what's going on?
The 'We Support Dave Walker' Facebook group is up to nearly 350, which hopefully England can surpass today at Edgbaston.
Finally for light relief, Rev. Dr. Christian Troll has no doubt that J. Mark Brewer is a man after his own heart. Don't read this with any food in your mouth, it will end up on your keyboard.
(DK note: some time in the next few days we'll update the list of people blogging on this story at The Wardman Wire - my rough guesswork is that it's now over 100. 64 links are posted, but new ones are appearing all the time.)
All 75 Dave Walker Posts
(If you're new to the Dave Walker saga, go here for a quick intro)
Hooray for the internet, and for Matt Wardman who has collected the entire Dave Walker 'Chronicles of SPCK' onto a single pdf file. Matt is convinced, as are the rest of us, that there is nothing here meriting legal action. Rather, it is a fair reporting of the SPCK story. (note: I had a spot of bother opening this link early this morning, but maybe my laptop just needs a coffee or something).
Phil Groom has this morning published his full letter from Mark Brewer, with a point by point denial of everything it accuses him of. He was asked to take down 5 websites, 2 of which are nothing to do with him, and one of which is a tag collection, on the same day as Dave Walker.
So, the 2 main reporters on SPCK are both told to keep quiet or else whilst at the same time SSG faces industrial tribunals in the UK, and files for bankrupty in Texas. Yet the silencing demands don't point to anything specific that is libellous, they just call for every bit of the story - which includes newspaper reports already in the public domain, and the tragic death of Steve Jeynes, a former SPCK bookshop manager - to be removed.
This is so fishy it's practically a trawler. No wonder the Charity Commission are looking into it.
Incidentally, of the 5 blogs Phil Groom has been asked to remove, one is run by not by Phil, but by a bookshop owner in Lincoln and has nothing to do with Phil. Unicorn Tree Books are highly miffed that Mark Brewer has instructed someone else to take down their site. Coincidentally, there's some detailed reporting of SPCK there as well. Must be coincidence, must be.......
It strikes me that if this is some kind of advert for 'Brewer and Pritchard' and their legal skills, it's not going very well - botched Cease and Desists, a disputed bankruptcy claim (see the link above), and large scale ignorance of UK employment law, like how you make people redundant, and what rights people have to pension payments. But don't worry, their website assures you that Brewer & Pritchard, P.C. has not agreed to represent you or render legal advice to you by virtue of your having visited this website: well thank goodness for that.
Meanwhile, for some light relief, Rev. Dr. Christian Troll at GAFCON is supporting Mark Brewer in his own special way. Very funny.
Hooray for the internet, and for Matt Wardman who has collected the entire Dave Walker 'Chronicles of SPCK' onto a single pdf file. Matt is convinced, as are the rest of us, that there is nothing here meriting legal action. Rather, it is a fair reporting of the SPCK story. (note: I had a spot of bother opening this link early this morning, but maybe my laptop just needs a coffee or something).
Phil Groom has this morning published his full letter from Mark Brewer, with a point by point denial of everything it accuses him of. He was asked to take down 5 websites, 2 of which are nothing to do with him, and one of which is a tag collection, on the same day as Dave Walker.
So, the 2 main reporters on SPCK are both told to keep quiet or else whilst at the same time SSG faces industrial tribunals in the UK, and files for bankrupty in Texas. Yet the silencing demands don't point to anything specific that is libellous, they just call for every bit of the story - which includes newspaper reports already in the public domain, and the tragic death of Steve Jeynes, a former SPCK bookshop manager - to be removed.
This is so fishy it's practically a trawler. No wonder the Charity Commission are looking into it.
Incidentally, of the 5 blogs Phil Groom has been asked to remove, one is run by not by Phil, but by a bookshop owner in Lincoln and has nothing to do with Phil. Unicorn Tree Books are highly miffed that Mark Brewer has instructed someone else to take down their site. Coincidentally, there's some detailed reporting of SPCK there as well. Must be coincidence, must be.......
It strikes me that if this is some kind of advert for 'Brewer and Pritchard' and their legal skills, it's not going very well - botched Cease and Desists, a disputed bankruptcy claim (see the link above), and large scale ignorance of UK employment law, like how you make people redundant, and what rights people have to pension payments. But don't worry, their website assures you that Brewer & Pritchard, P.C. has not agreed to represent you or render legal advice to you by virtue of your having visited this website: well thank goodness for that.
Meanwhile, for some light relief, Rev. Dr. Christian Troll at GAFCON is supporting Mark Brewer in his own special way. Very funny.
Friday, August 01, 2008
Dave Walker, SPCK, SSG Daily Update, Friday 1st August.
Big update today, as lots going on, and this will probably be out of date already by the time you read it! This is all moving very fast now….. If you are new to this story there is an excellent summary here.
Dave Walker was not alone. Two other bloggers who have gone public with their Cease and Desists from Mark Brewer. Elizaphanian (Sam Norton), and Phil Groom. More on Phil in a minute.
Sam Norton, who posted his yesterday, has had support from all over the place:
Maggi Dawn quotes some advice from a 'legal eagle' friend
"The letter itself is basically a threat to bring legal action, so the only cost involved is paying a lawyer to draft it. It's therefore very easy for a large organisation to impose their will over someone whom they know is unlikely to be able to afford legal representation. It can make little difference how strong their case actually is."
Squiggle Jones, And Jesus Wept and Philips Tree House all log their support, with the latter questioning Mark Brewers assertion that he is merely a private citizen. The Journey Home is both Dave Walker and Sam Norton, and so is his wife. Get your head round that one. Jonathan Evens seems to be trying the same trick. Perhaps this is psychological warfare?
Metacatholic questions several of the Brewer clams, querying whether a unilateral declaration of ‘this is confidential’ holds any water, and noting how little real evidence is given to substantiate the allegations against Sam.
he writes: Indeed, his letters as quoted by Sam, like many of his past statements, seem to bear such a complex and tenuous relationship to reality that it would be difficult to describe them as truthful without placing an inappropriate burden on the semantic resources of the English language. I think I know what he's trying to say....
By far the most substantial response, outside of the dozens of comments on Sams blog, has come from Unity at Ministry of Truth, with virtually a clause-by-clause dissection of the SSG communiqué.
There are all sorts of point in dispute: whether Mark Brewer is just a ‘private citizen’, whether any of the comments are defamatory or just fair comment on a company which faces bankruptcy in one country and an industrial tribunal in another. The fine print debate is on how well Mr Brewer knows his legal stuff, and the moral seems to be: if you’re running out of legs to stand on, don’t use what you’ve got left to kick people.
Come in No. 3
A third order to cease and desist (or face libel charges) has been sent to Phil Groom, who runs the SPCK/SSG blog . Like Dave Walker, Phil has been logging the SPCK story in recent months, including staff layoffs, industrial action against new owners SSG, and some rather fruity exchanges with Mark Brewer himself.
Phil is, like C. Montgomery Burns, incandescent with rage that his own C&D notice demands that he take down a site devoted purely to raising funds for former SPCK staff.
Here’s what he says
Mark Brewer says, “Remove this page. Immediately.”
Which page, you ask? Well five pages, actually, specified in an email he sent on July 21st whilst I was on holiday. I’ll probably tell you about the others later, if somebody else doesn’t beat me to it. But it’s his demand that I remove the fifth one on his list of supposedly offensive pages that really has me riled:
5. http://www.christianbookshops.org.uk/spckdonate.htm (Support SPCK’s Booksellers, and the Phil Groom administered “fund”)
And if I don’t remove it?
If you do not do so; i.e., remove your websites by noon GMT July 22, 2008, I will seek an injunction against you, your colleagues, associates and companies. I also will take legal action against each of you for damages for libel. In that event, I will also subpoena all records relating to the persons whom you have allowed to post defamatory material on your website in order to add them as defendants.
Mark Brewer
Phil then comments: So it’s not just me he’s gonna get, dear people: it’s you, if you’ve posted “defamatory material” on my website. As well as my “colleagues, associates and companies”. That’s a lot of people he’s threatening. But since, to the best of my knowledge, no one has posted any “defamatory material” on my website — on any of my websites, for that matter — I wouldn’t get too stressed if I were you. And the deadline’s been and gone, of course…
A friend commented on a remarkable coincidence: the date of that deadline is the same day that Randy W Williams issued his motion to dismiss SSG’S file for liquidation.
But I am now so very, very angry. How dare Mr Brewer target the very page that I set up to raise funds to support the people whose livelihoods have been destroyed by this fiasco??
Watch Phils blog today, I'm sure there'll be more.
A couple of other links: the Ship of Fools discussion thread has sprung into life again since Sam's posting.
And finally….. Tall Skinny Kiwi has a thoughtful post on blogs and legal action, and some ground rules for bloggers who don’t want to be firestarters.
It will be interesting to see what appears in todays Church Times, and there’s a prize to anyone who can work out the 4 other sites Phil Groom is supposed to shut down. It will also be interesting to see who gets involved in this post-Lambeth; there are people there following this closely, but who are giving their full attention (quite rightly) to the Lambeth Conference at the moment. Next week, more of them may have a view.
Dave Walker was not alone. Two other bloggers who have gone public with their Cease and Desists from Mark Brewer. Elizaphanian (Sam Norton), and Phil Groom. More on Phil in a minute.
Sam Norton, who posted his yesterday, has had support from all over the place:
Maggi Dawn quotes some advice from a 'legal eagle' friend
"The letter itself is basically a threat to bring legal action, so the only cost involved is paying a lawyer to draft it. It's therefore very easy for a large organisation to impose their will over someone whom they know is unlikely to be able to afford legal representation. It can make little difference how strong their case actually is."
Squiggle Jones, And Jesus Wept and Philips Tree House all log their support, with the latter questioning Mark Brewers assertion that he is merely a private citizen. The Journey Home is both Dave Walker and Sam Norton, and so is his wife. Get your head round that one. Jonathan Evens seems to be trying the same trick. Perhaps this is psychological warfare?
Metacatholic questions several of the Brewer clams, querying whether a unilateral declaration of ‘this is confidential’ holds any water, and noting how little real evidence is given to substantiate the allegations against Sam.
he writes: Indeed, his letters as quoted by Sam, like many of his past statements, seem to bear such a complex and tenuous relationship to reality that it would be difficult to describe them as truthful without placing an inappropriate burden on the semantic resources of the English language. I think I know what he's trying to say....
By far the most substantial response, outside of the dozens of comments on Sams blog, has come from Unity at Ministry of Truth, with virtually a clause-by-clause dissection of the SSG communiqué.
There are all sorts of point in dispute: whether Mark Brewer is just a ‘private citizen’, whether any of the comments are defamatory or just fair comment on a company which faces bankruptcy in one country and an industrial tribunal in another. The fine print debate is on how well Mr Brewer knows his legal stuff, and the moral seems to be: if you’re running out of legs to stand on, don’t use what you’ve got left to kick people.
Come in No. 3
A third order to cease and desist (or face libel charges) has been sent to Phil Groom, who runs the SPCK/SSG blog . Like Dave Walker, Phil has been logging the SPCK story in recent months, including staff layoffs, industrial action against new owners SSG, and some rather fruity exchanges with Mark Brewer himself.
Phil is, like C. Montgomery Burns, incandescent with rage that his own C&D notice demands that he take down a site devoted purely to raising funds for former SPCK staff.
Here’s what he says
Mark Brewer says, “Remove this page. Immediately.”
Which page, you ask? Well five pages, actually, specified in an email he sent on July 21st whilst I was on holiday. I’ll probably tell you about the others later, if somebody else doesn’t beat me to it. But it’s his demand that I remove the fifth one on his list of supposedly offensive pages that really has me riled:
5. http://www.christianbookshops.org.uk/spckdonate.htm (Support SPCK’s Booksellers, and the Phil Groom administered “fund”)
And if I don’t remove it?
If you do not do so; i.e., remove your websites by noon GMT July 22, 2008, I will seek an injunction against you, your colleagues, associates and companies. I also will take legal action against each of you for damages for libel. In that event, I will also subpoena all records relating to the persons whom you have allowed to post defamatory material on your website in order to add them as defendants.
Mark Brewer
Phil then comments: So it’s not just me he’s gonna get, dear people: it’s you, if you’ve posted “defamatory material” on my website. As well as my “colleagues, associates and companies”. That’s a lot of people he’s threatening. But since, to the best of my knowledge, no one has posted any “defamatory material” on my website — on any of my websites, for that matter — I wouldn’t get too stressed if I were you. And the deadline’s been and gone, of course…
A friend commented on a remarkable coincidence: the date of that deadline is the same day that Randy W Williams issued his motion to dismiss SSG’S file for liquidation.
But I am now so very, very angry. How dare Mr Brewer target the very page that I set up to raise funds to support the people whose livelihoods have been destroyed by this fiasco??
Watch Phils blog today, I'm sure there'll be more.
A couple of other links: the Ship of Fools discussion thread has sprung into life again since Sam's posting.
And finally….. Tall Skinny Kiwi has a thoughtful post on blogs and legal action, and some ground rules for bloggers who don’t want to be firestarters.
It will be interesting to see what appears in todays Church Times, and there’s a prize to anyone who can work out the 4 other sites Phil Groom is supposed to shut down. It will also be interesting to see who gets involved in this post-Lambeth; there are people there following this closely, but who are giving their full attention (quite rightly) to the Lambeth Conference at the moment. Next week, more of them may have a view.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Dave Walker meets Barbara Streisand
If you're trying to keep up with the blogosphere fallout from attempts to keep Dave Walker quiet on the story of SPCK, whilst the owners (the Society of St. Stephen the Great, or SSG) pursued bankruptcy in a US court several thousand miles away from most of their major creditors, here's a running collection of links. Todays main business seems to be dissecting the legal arguments in the SSG correspondence with Elizaphanian, who was issued with the same order as Dave after republishing some of the deleted posts (see the comments on his post yesterday). There is a now big fat article on Ministry of Truth which really is worth a read if you want to know whether the arguments stand up.
Meanwhile Phil Groom has posted part of his own C&D order, specifically the bit where he's ordered to take down a website dedicated to fundraising for people made redundant from SPCK.
Phil comments:
But I am now so very, very angry. How dare Mr Brewer target the very page that I set up to raise funds to support the people whose livelihoods have been destroyed by this fiasco??
My only interest in this situation throughout has been to support these people, and (although hopes for this faded some time ago) to try and salvage something from the ruin that SSG has made of the former SPCK bookshops. Why? Because as Dave Walker kept reminding us, “It’s fun to shop at the SPCK”.
Meanwhile after a spate of 'I am Dave Walker' solidarity posts, some are now appearing for Sam Norton too. Sam has published a helpful 'SSG/SPCK for beginners' post today. My hit counter tells me there's been 100+ new people a day coming here to find out what all the fuss is about. For info, my summary is here, Matt Wardmans is here.
The Streisand effect is a phenomenon on the Internet where an attempt to censor or remove a piece of information backfires, causing the information to be widely publicized. Examples are attempts to censor a photograph, a file, or even a whole website, especially by means of cease-and-desist letters. Instead of being suppressed, the information sometimes quickly receives extensive publicity, often being widely mirrored across the Internet, or distributed on file-sharing networks (from Wikepedia 'Streisand Effect')
Meanwhile Phil Groom has posted part of his own C&D order, specifically the bit where he's ordered to take down a website dedicated to fundraising for people made redundant from SPCK.
Phil comments:
But I am now so very, very angry. How dare Mr Brewer target the very page that I set up to raise funds to support the people whose livelihoods have been destroyed by this fiasco??
My only interest in this situation throughout has been to support these people, and (although hopes for this faded some time ago) to try and salvage something from the ruin that SSG has made of the former SPCK bookshops. Why? Because as Dave Walker kept reminding us, “It’s fun to shop at the SPCK”.
Meanwhile after a spate of 'I am Dave Walker' solidarity posts, some are now appearing for Sam Norton too. Sam has published a helpful 'SSG/SPCK for beginners' post today. My hit counter tells me there's been 100+ new people a day coming here to find out what all the fuss is about. For info, my summary is here, Matt Wardmans is here.
The Streisand effect is a phenomenon on the Internet where an attempt to censor or remove a piece of information backfires, causing the information to be widely publicized. Examples are attempts to censor a photograph, a file, or even a whole website, especially by means of cease-and-desist letters. Instead of being suppressed, the information sometimes quickly receives extensive publicity, often being widely mirrored across the Internet, or distributed on file-sharing networks (from Wikepedia 'Streisand Effect')
Support the Lambeth 1: Dave Walker/SSG/SPCK update, Thursday 31st July
I'll be posting in more detail later today (hopefully) - big meeting this morning which I need to prepare for. In the meantime, a nice quote from the Facebook group set up to support Dave:
Dave you have supported all SPCK/SSG, staff on your website, and now its our turn to stand by you mate, and were here standing right beside you
If you're new to this story and want to know why we're supporting cartoonist Dave Walker, try this link.
If you want to know who's posting about this, Matt Wardman has updated his list. 64 and counting.
Todays debate will probably be over cease and desist orders, following Sam Nortons posts yesterday. A small army of commenters are queuing up to query the consistency of the communications he's had from SSG. Tall Skinny Kiwi is reflecting on a different case, but has some good reflections on how to handle potentially slanderous comments on blogs. (HT BigBulkyAnglican)
I read on one blog last night that there were meetings happening at some of the remaining SPCK bookshops today, but can't remember which one. Drat.
Finally, Deep Thought is blogging on this, but also has an interesting post on some new research on the Ipod generation, which is well worth a look if you're into that sort of thing. In a normal week that would be my main post today....
Finally, finally, Jesus words about 'if you brother sins against you, go to him and show him his fault', keep bubbling up in my head. My instinct would be to talk all this stuff through, but then I think that if I made contact with SSG through Mark Brewers published email address at his law firm, he would then have my email address, and might use it to send me the kind of note that Dave and Sam have had. So it's a bit of a catch-22. Ideally we'd settle this over a pint, as Shrek suggests.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Dave Walker, SSG, SPCK update: Breaking News
Elizaphanian, who republished some of Dave Walkers SPCK posts on his blog, and recieved a Cease and Desist note for his troubles, has published the notice, and related correspondence, on his blog today.
One key reason he gives is that the matter is in the public interest, which 900+ extra hits on this blog, and a 200-a-day spike in Matt Wardmans traffic since he started coverage, demonstrate. Both the SPCK story, and the silencing of one of its main narrators, are matters of public interest, going wider than SPCK itself to free speech and its place on the internet. I don't like people using websites to abuse people anonymously, and Dave has consistently, carefully and fairly reported the SPCK case. It's impossible to interpret what he's done as a personal attack on anyone. Dave doesn't do personal attacks, he does irony and humour.
One line in the C&D quotes remarks about 'incompetence' and 'injustice' as defamatory. I would have thought bankruptcy could be interpreted as evidence of financial incompetence, and an ongoing union action on unfair dismissal is evidence of an injustice committed. These are not personal attacks, they are fair descriptions of the situation as it stands.
This is what Sam Norton has written in reply, which I think is entirely fair.
I believe that my blog contains only material which is either true or "fair comment" upon truthful matters.
If there are particular aspects of the material published on my blog which you believe to be neither true nor fair comment I am prepared to look again at specific items.
Please be aware that I consider the making public of this correspondence to be in the public interest, and that I shall share, via my blog and other media, both your original "cease and desist" request, and any subsequent correspondence.
I would assure you that I have no personal malice towards you in this regard. My concern is that an innocent man (Mr David Walker) has been victimised by your actions. Should you be willing at any point in the future to make a public apology to him, leading to him reinstating his blogposts concerning SPCK, then I shall certainly cease and desist any further writings on this affair.
It's a courageous thing to do, well done Sam. If you think this is in the public interest, you might want to copy and repost bits of it on your blogs too. And if you didn't, then you wouldn't be reading this, would you? ;-)
One key reason he gives is that the matter is in the public interest, which 900+ extra hits on this blog, and a 200-a-day spike in Matt Wardmans traffic since he started coverage, demonstrate. Both the SPCK story, and the silencing of one of its main narrators, are matters of public interest, going wider than SPCK itself to free speech and its place on the internet. I don't like people using websites to abuse people anonymously, and Dave has consistently, carefully and fairly reported the SPCK case. It's impossible to interpret what he's done as a personal attack on anyone. Dave doesn't do personal attacks, he does irony and humour.
One line in the C&D quotes remarks about 'incompetence' and 'injustice' as defamatory. I would have thought bankruptcy could be interpreted as evidence of financial incompetence, and an ongoing union action on unfair dismissal is evidence of an injustice committed. These are not personal attacks, they are fair descriptions of the situation as it stands.
This is what Sam Norton has written in reply, which I think is entirely fair.
I believe that my blog contains only material which is either true or "fair comment" upon truthful matters.
If there are particular aspects of the material published on my blog which you believe to be neither true nor fair comment I am prepared to look again at specific items.
Please be aware that I consider the making public of this correspondence to be in the public interest, and that I shall share, via my blog and other media, both your original "cease and desist" request, and any subsequent correspondence.
I would assure you that I have no personal malice towards you in this regard. My concern is that an innocent man (Mr David Walker) has been victimised by your actions. Should you be willing at any point in the future to make a public apology to him, leading to him reinstating his blogposts concerning SPCK, then I shall certainly cease and desist any further writings on this affair.
It's a courageous thing to do, well done Sam. If you think this is in the public interest, you might want to copy and repost bits of it on your blogs too. And if you didn't, then you wouldn't be reading this, would you? ;-)
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