<nettime> aaaaarg lawsuit digest (x3: mod squad, dockray, dockray [via lovink])

[nettime's_shadow_cabinetworkers <nettime@kein.org>]

     (1) nettime's mod squad: statement on the aaaaarg lawsuit

     (2) Sean Dockray: statement from gofundme.com

     (3) Geert Lovink: aaaaarg in danger (w/ SD's statement on Facebook)

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(1) nettime's mod squad: statement on the aaaaarg lawsuit
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Dear nettimers --

As the 'world's most world list,' as someone in Austin once put it,
nettime has seen more than its share of crowd-funding appeals. It's a
delicate problem, because many of those efforts were deserving; but we
wanted to make sure the list didn't devolve into a generic channel for
appeals.

But the lawsuit against Aaaaarg's Sean Dockray and Marcell Mars is a
serious exception. This conflict cuts directly to many of the basic
issues that have animated nettime for the last twenty years.

Lots of 'shadow libraries' have come and gone, but only a few have
been as durable or subtle as Aaaaarg. In the process, it moved out of
the shadows to become something new. Describing Aaaaarg is hard: it
seems to invite every kind of metaphor only to defeat them just as
quickly. But whatever it is, it's provided access to political,
aesthetic, and theoretical thinking to those who need it most -- maybe
because they lack institutional affiliation or maybe because it's the
middle of the night, it doesn't matter. We say 'thinking' because
Aaaaarg is symmetrical, as much about 'uploading' ideas as
'downloading' texts.

We've seen many times how destructive even a frivolous legal process
can be -- for example, in the ludicrous persecution of Steve Kurtz.
But we've also seen how potent a networked mobilization can be -- as
it was in the hilarious counterattack that etoy mounted against Etoys.

The attack on Aaaaarg is a farce that threatens to become a tragedy.
That's why we're bending a few of our long-standing rules -- against
crowd-funding appeals and, indeed, against using our moderator role as
a soapbox -- by not just forwarding but strongly this fund-raising
drive.

Aaaaarg's $5000 goal is absurdly modest. It will certainly more money
as this moves forward. Please think of a few practical steps you can
take to amplify this effort: by donating, obviously, but also by
spreading the word (and following up), and by thinking about else you
can contribute -- in-kind resources, expertise, connections, or
something new.

     -- the mod squad
        (Doma, Felix, and Ted)

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(2) Sean Dockray: statement from gofundme.com
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< https://www.gofundme.com/aaaaarg >

This campaign raises money for the legal defense fund for Sean Dockray
(the initiator of the online library AAAARG.ORG) and Marcell Mars (who
registered the latest domain, aaaaarg.fail).

They are being sued for $500,000 by a publisher in Quebec.

There is no way to know in advance what the total legal fees will be,
but the cost for each person to "appear" (which is basically filing a
form with the court so that there is not a default judgment against you)
is $182. The costs for the lawyer (initial consultation, research,
filing paperwork, talking to other lawyers) is already more than $1,000.

According to the link The Well-Structured, Frivolous Lawsuit is Awesome,
the defense of a simple lawsuit costs $12,000, with 25% of the costs
coming during the first 6 weeks. So the goal of this campaign is $5,000,
which will be enough to get the defense up and running and past the
initial hearing.

If you can't donate anything - but you want to help, consider writing a
statement in support of AAAARG and send it to
seandotpatrickdotdockrayatgmaildotcom. In it, you could include the
following:

     * who are you? where do you live? do you have a position or
     institutional affiliation?

     * have you used the library as a research tool? how has it
     affected or enabled your research? have the collections and
     discussions been useful?  cross-referencing & full-text
     searching? has it supported other research activity IRL?

     * have you added your own writing to it? have you discovered
     new things through the library? have you bought books that
     you found there? do you use it to have digital access to
     books you already own?

If possible, please write your letter in a document and attach it to the
email. It can be addressed to the Superior Court of Quebec.

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(3) Geert Lovink: aaaaarg in danger (w/ SD's statement on Facebook)
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From: Geert Lovink <geert@xs4all.nl>
Subject: aaaaarg in danger
Date: Sat, 9 Jan 2016 09:00:06 +0100

On January 6 aaaaarg founder Sean Druckrey wrote the following on his
Facebook page:

"HELP! As a few of you know, I am being sued (along with Marcell Mars)
for $500,000 for a book that was on AAAARG. The simple act of
"appearing" so that there is not an automatic judgment against us costs
each defendant $182. Legal fees are already starting to add up. In my
private conversations I can tell that there is a lot of potential
support out there and I just need to ask, so this is my first ask...
There are two big ways that you (or someone you know) could help:

1. The really big one: setting up a legal defense fund. I have no
experience with this, and am generally bad at fundraising. I also have
very little time to do it effectively because of the usual things, but
especially because of this lawsuit. If someone could manage this it
would be huge. I am hoping fees don't go above $5,000, but there's no
real way of telling.

2. Writers, researchers, artists, etc. If you have depended on AAAARG
for your research or found it a useful place to put your own work or
used it for discussion groups, we could use written statements that say
as much. Basically it is portrayed in the lawsuit as having no value or
purpose other than piracy. (If you can write one, or ask someone you
know to write one, then send it to me at
sean.patrick.dockray@gmail.com.)

A little later he added:

"The GoFundMe campaign link is finally working: http://gofundme.com/aaaaarg. 
There is also more information on the page about how you can send letters of 
support. Thanks everyone who commented, shared, messaged, read, etc about this 
thread

(https://www.facebook.com/sean.dockray/posts/10153718139506236?pnref=story) 

and especially to Arthur P Threes for setting up the campaign!"

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