Revenge Pornster Craig Brittain Issues DMCA Notices Demanding Google Delist Entire Websites, Including Wikipedia

Copyright

from the Craig-has-apparently-been-stockpiling-stupid dept

Former revenge porn site operator/lawyer impersonator Craig Brittain is once again engaged in some DMCA abuse. A couple of years ago, Brittain issued bogus DMCA notices in hopes of whitewashing his past. Along with posts at Popehat, Vice, Huffington Post, Ars Technica, and Reddit, Brittain asked Google to delist the FTC’s press release about its settlement with Brittain over his revenge porn misdeeds.

It didn’t work, obviously. A new set of stories highlighting Brittain’s sordid past swiftly filled up any gaps in the revenge porn purveyor’s vanity Google searches.

Popehat reports Brittain has apparently learned nothing from his last Streisanding. Brittain is once again issuing bogus takedown notices — this time on behalf of his alt-right ride-sharing pipe dream, Dryvyng. (Pronounced “dryheaving.”)

Here’s a bit more background on that particular “business venture” from Ken White:

More recently, Craig has embarked on two simultaneous paths: the path of a social critic and aspiring pseudo-journalist seeking investors to back his anarcho-capitalist critique of society, and aspiring CEO of Uber competitor “Dryvyng,” a business devoted to the proposition that if you’d like a ride you ought to order one from a pathological revenge porn extortionist with a searing hatred of women and humanity in general. Craigbo has sought to raise capital for Dryvyng through disturbed and bigoted tirades at venture capitalists. Perhaps prolonged exposure to MRA rhetoric led him to believe that negging was a viable strategy for developing startup capital. Conclusion: nah, bro. Nah.

It’s this “company” that Craig has issued the DMCA notices for. Apparently, he’s none too thrilled at the lack of positive press for his hypothetical ride-sharing startup and has once again asked Google to delist all sorts of things he has no business asking to be delisted. Dean Jones of Shooting the Messenger is the person who originally discovered a handful of notices sent by “Dryvyng,” all of which feature petulant commentary not normally found in legal paperwork.

Here’s Brittain’s attempt to nuke a Business Insider story about threats he made to VCs who turned down his offer to throw their money down a hole.

Business Insider is fake news and the “investor” was actually a paid internet troll. Internet trolls (who have no money to invest) deserve to get cussed out. Please remove this libelous, slanderous article about my company immediately.

Here’s the note accompanying his request for the delisting of a Fusion story about Dryvyng:

Fake, slanderous, libelous article defaming me and my company and abusing copyrighted material. Fusion is a fake news website run by left-wing social justice warriors with the aim of defaming conservatives and libertarians.

Brittain doubled up on both of those requests by sending two more notices demanding the entire sites be delisted. But it really doesn’t get any better/sadder than this one, targeting a Wikipedia article:

Slanderous, libelous and deliberately misleading Wikipedia entry designed to defame and libel me and my company. Please permanently remove this page (and all of Wikipedia itself, which is a left-wing hive for slander and libel) from Google.

In this case, the DMCA notice targets nothing about Dryvyng, but instead the site’s article about Brittain’s revenge porn site.

In every case, the accusation is internet libelslander, which can’t be touched by DMCA notices. The reason is in the name of the notice itself: Digital Millennium COPYRIGHT Act. But when you’re angry at the internet, any fill-in-the-blank form will do. Even if Brittain had used the proper paperwork, Google would be under no obligation to delist the alleged slander, thanks to Section 230 of the CDA.

It’s no surprise Brittain’s attempt to pass himself off as David Blade, Esq. went so badly. He obviously has zero legal acumen. If you’re going to beclown yourself with bogus notices, at least try to do so somewhat competently. Sure, the outcome won’t change, but at least you won’t look like even more of an idiot than you already do.

Filed Under: censorship, craig brittain, dmca, revenge porn, takedowns