Back in November Second Life's beloved web mogul, Cristiano Midnight, had a run-in with infamy in the form of Michael Crook. Crook's accomplishments include Denying the holocaust, Disowning the troops, and
posting fake sex ads on Craigslist only to publish the private info and photos of those who replied. This time Crook targeted Cristiano in one of his campaigns ... squashing freedom of speech.

Crook sent Cristiano's Snapzilla a DMCA takedown notice targeting a photo of himself appearing on Fox News. He sent the same notice to Cristiano's service provider demanding the removal of this image. But Snapzilla wasn't the only target. Crook went after any blog or news site that dared feature his image including Boing Boing, and 10zenmonkeys. As pointed out by Boing Boing, use of this image falls under Fair Use rules. Even more compelling, it was Fox News who owned the rights to the image, not Michael Crook.

But here is the problem, and it's a problem that exposes a fatal flaw in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ... a flaw that was exploited by Michael Crook. You see, service providers are liable for copyright violations on their servers. But even legislators could see how difficult it would be to monitor the massive volume of user content coming and going on every server every day. Any such legal expectation would be too costly to enforce and would spell the end of the content hosting industry in the United States.

To help protect service providers, legislators included the Online Copyright Infringement Limitation Act with the bill, sometimes called the Safe Harbor act. Simply put, the safe harbor act exempts service providers from liability provided they promptly block or remove any alleged copyright violations as soon as they are notified. "Alleged" is where it all falls apart.

A service provider who receives a DMCA takedown notice is met with a not-so-difficult choice. If they stand their ground and question the validity of the copyright violation claim, they face the possibility of considerable legal expenses and may find themselves in violation of copyright laws if the claim turns out to be valid. On the other hand, If they simply delete the alleged violation immediately ... just in case ... Well, then nothing happens. They are in the clear and the whole problem goes away.

It's not hard to imagine which choice most service providers go for, including the host for Snapzilla. Cristiano was required to remove the image of Michael Crook without a chance to give his side of the story. Without any sort of due process. Its a trick anybody can do. If you don't like something on the web? Send their provider an official DMCA takedown notice and they will likely remove it just to be on the safe side.

But this story has a happy ending!

Earlier this week Cristiano Midnight received a message from Michael Crook officially withdrawing his DMCA notice. A lot of blogs and sites got the same mea culpa, actually. It turns out that 10ZenMonkeys author, Jeff Diehl with the help of the Electronic Frontier Foundation stood their ground. They sued Crook and apparently Crook got spanked to the point where he decided to settle. The details of the settlement are not yet public but Crook insists that he "did not get off light."

Cristiano restored the photo of Crook.

Michael Crook does not (to the best of my knowledge) play Second Life. And yet something about him feels so familiar. It's as if I have seen him around SL for years. He is smart and sometimes funny, but he has a profoundly bitter message of venom to spread. He calculates every word to maximize his own exposure by way of inciting hate and anger.

When it comes to crossing legal lines he is very cautious, venturing out only as far as he believes people will not be willing to spend the time and money to challenge him in court. But he was wrong and I think he may have been doomed from the very start. Every segment of the population has a Jeff Diehl of their very own who will have the resources and/or the gumption to stand up against bullies and take them to the mat, even if it means financial losses. It's just a matter of time before they are provoked into action.

I also think every segment of the population has a Michael Crook, who is inevitably doomed.