Man gives controversial domain name to Beck after proving a point.
Isaac Eiland-Hall just won a highly publicized case against Glenn Beck over the domain name glennbeckrapedandmurderedayounggirlin1990.com. As soon as he won, he did something surprising: he offered the domain name to Beck for free.
In a letter (pdf) to Beck, Eiland-Hall explained that he has met his objectives with the domain name and web site, and points out to Beck that bringing the case made things worse for Beck.
It bears observing that by bringing the WIPO complaint, you took what was merely one small critique meme, in a sea of internet memes, and turned it into a super-meme. Then, in pressing forward (by not withdrawing the complaint and instead filing additional briefs), you turned the super-meme into an object lesson in First Amendment principles.”
In explaining his reason for voluntarily handing over the domain, Eiland-Hall wrote:
“…I want to demonstrate to you that I had my lawyer fight this battle only to help preserve the First Amendment. Now that it is safe, at least from you (for the time being), I have no more use for the actual scrap of digital real estate you sought…
Brilliant.
A true American.
Fanny,
A true American? please We have lost what it means to be an American. And we have certainly lost our moral compass. If you or anyone thinks that freedom of speech means the ability to create controversy or aqbuse or misues the freedom by creating fallacies specificaly to hurt or harm others then
Sing on Fat lady because indeed it is all over
Scott,
Exactly. This is an abuse of what the First Amendment is really about. Would our founding fathers support these actions and memes in general? Absolutely not.
Scott, you’re right about America losing it’s moral compass – although not in the manner on which you think. This case, whilst not particularly pleasant in name did actually make a very good point about freedom of speech and the importance of satire and public critique.
If you think this domain was about hurting and attacking someone then I fear you’ve misunderstood the point of it. It was to illustrate the deeply manipulative tactics of Beck and to use his methods as a case in point against him. The raping and murdering bits aren’t nice, for sure, but they are appropriately referential and based in meme history to be justified.
Sad part is, it’ll probably get taken down now.
“”If you or anyone thinks that freedom of speech means the ability to create controversy or aqbuse or misues the freedom by creating fallacies specificaly to hurt or harm others then “”
Funny. For that is the same way GB seems to interpet it.
Scott, Soundly:
The founding fathers might not have supported these actions, but they WOULD have supported his right to do them. There’s a huge difference that you both seem to be missing out on.
Specifically toward Scott: It sounds like he registered it jokingly, not as a serious act. That being said, Glenn Beck is the one in the business of creating fallacies specifically to hurt and harm others, and has been called out on it so often that it isn’t even funny anymore; the fact that he would even attempt a backlash at somebody for doing the same (purportedly) to him is reckless, immoral, and hypocritical.
to Iaman
“It sounds like he registered it jokingly” Great joke … It gave domainers a black eye and set the industry back years and perhaps millions of lost revenues not to mention lost respect that industry pros have spent years trying to build
This was the media that he was playing the big joke on! Last I checked we are in the information age and he who has the podium will always win when it comes to reaching the masses with a message.
Please no more jokes, neither I nor honest dedicated domain professionals can take any more of this type of what you consider humor.
Here is my free speech moment. The guy is a pompous ass and idiot.
And no I am not defending Glenn Beck nor do I listen to his program. This post and my initial post is aimed directly at the damage tthis idiot has done to our industry with his little stunt.
Scott, Isaac isn’t a domainer. I don’t think any press around this had to do with people who register domains for profit. In fact, it actually got some of those IT purists who hate domainers to say “hey, people are attacking legitimate uses of domains. that’s not right”
“the damage this idiot has done to our industry with his little stunt.”
By legitimately using a domain name and winning a case against an over-reaching claimant?
Keep an eye on domain names that go into and out of nameservers at smartechcorp.net for a while.
We now return to our regularly scheduled shill bidding at SnapNames…
“Would our founding fathers support these actions and memes in general? Absolutely not”
You should probably read up on those founding fathers. Start with Ben Franklin, and poor old Titan Leeds.
Berryhill,
You made me laugh out loud with your
last line. “The regularly scheduled
Bidding” deal makes the Hall/Beck match
seem like a playground scuffle.
thanks again,
Ed – Michigan
Scott,
Freedom of speech most certainly means the freedom to create controversy with unpopular ideas, tasteless jokes, ridicule, derision, mockery, profanity and best of all… satire!
The day it will all be over is the day when people don’t get that.
I’m not sure how he won, considering an accusation like “Glenn Beck Raped and killed a girl in 1990” is actually not covered by the first amendment, as an accusation that the man actually admitted was false is what is called LIBEL.
Defamation of character is not a proper use of the First Amendment, and if Beck wants to continue the trial to a higher court I am certain he has rights that should be upheld.
Schenck v. United States also provides the clearest evidence as to why certain instance of invocation of the first amendment are not valid. Great americans do not go around accusing people they don’t like of rape and murder, regardless of how strongly they might disagree with them.
@scott alliy
I truly thought your quote:
“We have lost what it means to be an American. And we have certainly lost our moral compass. If you or anyone thinks that freedom of speech means the ability to create controversy or abuse or misues the freedom by creating fallacies specificaly to hurt or harm others then.. sing on Fat Lady…” was a sarcastic remark you made referring to what Glenn Beck does for a living.
Lo and behold, you were referring instead to the guy who bought the tasteless domain for the sole purpose of pointing out Glenn Beck’s “baiting” and false, manipulated and inflammatory remarks he makes every day for LOTS OF MONEY.
The Fat Lady has indeed sung, and her name is Rush Limbaugh. Glenn Beck is her little sister playing the fiddle.
First Amendment rights work both ways…
Hi! I stumbled across this page because I have several Google alerts set up to… well… find pages like this page. 😉
Just wanted to say a couple of things: Anyone who thinks that anyone is actually accusing Beck of anything is getting their information second-hand from others doing the exact same thing. Please, check out the site and see for yourself: http://gb1990.com/ or http://DidGlennBeckRapeAndMurderAYoungGirlIn1990.com/ and you’ll see that your misconceptions are, in fact, misconceptions. You don’t have to like it, but you should at least realize that what you apparently think it going on, isn’t.
Also, in regard to comments about making domainers look bad, I’d just like to point out that I haven’t made a single cent from this entire process; and, in fact, have put up my own money (as a broke college student!) for the registration, hosting, and legal costs. I don’t have ads. I don’t sell promotional products. I don’t do any of that. I don’t register domains to put ads on them – fair enough if others do, although I wish people would only register domains and use them for what I would consider legitimate purposes (gunking up Google results doesn’t count in my book, but fair play to the people making a living doing that, I’m not *saying* you’re heartless bastards, merely *implying* it. (I kid, I kid)).
Andrew regarding your comment
Scott, Isaac isn’t a domainer. I don’t think any press around this had to do with people who register domains for profit. In fact, it actually got some of those IT purists who hate domainers to say “hey, people are attacking legitimate uses of domains. that’s not right”
It is absolutely not true to believe that this person has not caused confusion about and bought shame to domaining and domainers via his actions.
There are perhaps thousands of articles written about this ridiculous non-necessary incident perpetrated by the individual who apparently feels he has done great justice when it comes to protecting American Free speech
Here is just one that clearly illustrates that domains and not websites was the focus of this persons activity
http://www.thewhir.com/web-hosting-news/102109_Glenn_Beck_Accuses_Nasty_Domain_Of_Misleading_Visitors
In this one article alone there were 10 references to domain and only 5 to website.
It is no secret that many people and Internet users are not tech savvy enough to distinguish between the two.
I am sure thare are thousands of other articles to reference as a result of this incident many of which do not experss the opinion that is apparently the norm of many commentors to this article.
This person may have won the war but certainly lost the battle IMO.
I stand by my statement that this person has caused damage to domainers and the domain name industry by engaging in their stunt.
It’s about time someone stood up to preserve the law.
@John S
If Mr. Beck believes that’s libel, or what Mr. Eiland-Hall did breaks any applicable law, then that’s up to him to show how.
ha ha this is silly
why he not given the name at first
For those of you claiming that his domain name doesn’t fall under free speech protection, try actually reading the judgment in which the panel very specifically illustrates that the domain name, as listed, is very much a form of protected speech. I love when people make claims toward the constitutional legality of something that directly contradicts the legal judgment that said otherwise. Fantastic.
Scott Alliy: If I managed to cause “damage” to domainers, that’s something I have to say I don’t care much about.
I’m not a domainer, and you guys were not on my mind.
The world doesn’t revolve around you.
I stood up for free speech and protected political satire, and won.
If you’d like to know more, all of the legal documents are available at gb1990.net/legal – and I’ve posted news on gb1990.com.
-Isaac Eiland-Hall
Umm yeah…sounds like the guy is a narcissist…and no, I’m not talking about Beck.
“Professional Domainer” – another word for squatters. Like Bernie Madoff is a Ponzonian Professional.
“Domainers” are upset at Mr. Hall. Mr. Hall isn’t a domain hijacker and mercenary.
Danny, you nailed it!
I was going to point out Ben Franklin and other examples of how the media, of which the internet is now part, has been a tried and true traditional means of staging political argument through satire.
So this satire had the word ‘rape” in it.
I’m sure that sends some of our more tightly wound citizens off their “morally correct” rockers. But people it’s about free speech, not “polite” speech.
I used to be a Rush “ditto head”. I voted for Reagan and both Bushes. ( I apologize for that last one)
And I will tell you that Glenn Beck is a blathering idiot. But hey he has every right in the world to make an ass out of himself. And he takes full advantage.
Beck was mad because someone made a domain name that wasn’t true? Beck says crazy untrue things on a daily basis. Hypocrisy at its finest.
Using free speech to spout divisive nonsense and distortion is something Glen Beck does everyday. I may not agree with it but I’ll defend his right to do so to the death.
It’s surprising that the irony of this whole debate is missed by everybody.
Sean and Crazies nailed it. I wasn’t going to comment on this, because it seemed so ridiculous. Here’s the logic and my Dub-A labeled verbosity:
@ Scott A and John S.
I don’t think you guys are getting it.
Would you apply your same principles about untruths and subjective opinions by Glenn Beck if he made his idiotic comments into domains?
http://obamaisasocialist.com/g2447.png ???
Anyway, here’s my opinion of the best example of the right for anyone to make “insinuations” and “half-truths” to intentionally rouse their listener base to believe a “false premise”.
Check the link below. The facts are fully explained about one of the most famous lawsuits for libel ever filed, and the outcome surprised many “moral” people:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hustler_Magazine_v._Falwell
Summary of Case: Christian extremist Jerry Falwell was featured in a Hustler magazine satirical ad that said Falwell slept with his mother. Falwell sued Hustler in Lower Court and won damages. However, Larry Flynt (publisher of Hustler) appealed the case to the Supreme Court.
Larry Flynt suffered beyond comprehension because of this case, (he was shot and paralyzed by a sniper as he walked to the courthouse), but he eventually WON his case, and set a “free speech” precedent championing the Constitution’s First Amendment.
Tasteless as Flynt’s magazine article was, it wasn’t BELIEVABLE by a “normally intelligent” person. No damages were proven based on potential Christians “abandoning” Falwell after hearing of the Hustler article. There were no “substantiating news reports” alleging that Falwell slept with his mother, nor any economic association between Flynt and a “competitor” to Falwell.
Each case is different, depending on the factors behind the reason why someone makes a potentially defamatory comment about a public entity.
If you truly are concerned about “false” statements made by domain owners that hurt the domain industry, why don’t you read ALL the comments by every poster above and see if you can find a more damaging and unproven statement that hurts the domain industry.
NOTE: I’m not an attorney, don’t take this as legal advice.