Aaron Kelly Law: Takedown Request.
Just over a week ago Tumblr support forwarded me a letter they had received from the Kelly Law Firm, dated 20th February 2012. The full text of the letter is below, but in summary it was a take-down request, asking Tumblr to remove this account.
I immediately responded to Tumblr support, asking them to review the content (as does Aaron Kelly in the letter) and inform me of any breach of their Terms and Conditions. I also mentioned it was my intention to publish this letter unless they informed me that would breach their terms. So I left it a week, to see if they had any intention to act on the take-down request, or alternatively to allow them time to respond to me, neither of which has happened.
I am happy to see Tumblr have not caved to this rather pathetic attempt to silence me. Not because the closing of this account would have any detrimental impact on my efforts to expose Sarah (quite the opposite), but rather because it would be a travesty of justice if one of the biggest players in the world of Social Media, the very world that Sarah misuses so cruelly, were to shy away from this very important dialog.
Sarah has used “legal threats” to silence people before. Real lawyers, real letterheads, but forged by her. I do not know, nor care if this letter is legitimate, because the argument it contains is weak bullshit. A few points deserve response:
The user associated with that account has been using Tumblr’s service to wage a vicious and prolonged campaign of defamation against our client.
Vicious and prolonged? Let me school you on vicious and prolonged Mr Aaron Kelly. Vicious is to tell someone you were raped and tortured, left for dead. Vicious is faking police documentation to prove this lie, and weeping as you present this evidence. Prolonged is to spend more than 12 months lying to someone for pure entertainment.
Among other things, the account holder accuses our client of being a “sociopath,” being an identity thief, and other defamatory allegations. The account holder has also permitted a misogynistic posting by a commenter referring to our client as a “cunt.”
Yes, I do “accuse” Sarah of being a sociopath. I base this on her behavior, her lack of compassion, empathy, remorse and conscience. There is plenty of online information about Sociopaths, their symptoms, behavioral traits etc. I’m sure Sarah likes to think shes special and unique, but the truth is she fits a very standard profile of a Sociopath. As for Identity thief, without doubt, she used, and has admitted to using photos of other people both to misrepresent her own image, and also admitted to using fake identities to deceive me and others. Someone called her a cunt - problem? Fuck look at the behavior of this woman. Labeling her a sociopath is probably generous, perhaps that comment was more accurate. You call her client Mr Kelly, and we will call her whatever the fuck we choose.
Finally I could not help noticing the slightly average grammar in several areas of your letter. Now I’m sure this blog is full of spelling errors, bad grammar and other bullshit, but then - I am not the one preparing legal documents…
To Tumblr’s Legal Department:
We represent Sarah Jauregui in the above matter. This letter is to request that you take voluntary action to remove the content which appears at the following URL:
The user associated with that account has been using Tumblr’s service to wage a vicious and prolonged campaign of defamation against our client. We are asking for the removal of the entire account, because the account has been used solely to target our client, rather than simply discussing our client in a single post.
Among other things, the account holder accuses our client of being a “sociopath,” being an identity thief, and other defamatory allegations. The account holder has also permitted a misogynistic posting by a commenter referring to our client as a “cunt.”
We acknowledge that Tumblr is not liable for these postings because of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, which gives you immunity for most third party postings. However, we are requesting that you review the material on the account that is the subject of this complaint, and voluntarily remove if you find, as we sure you will, that it violates your Content Policy.
Specifically, your Content Policy states that if you “have reason to believe that a particular statement is defamatory,” giving a court order as an example, but implicitly not the only possible evidence of defamation that one can provide, you will give a user 72 hours to respond or suspend the account.
We believe that was can easily satisfy you that your user has defamed our client. Your user has alleged that our client is a “sociopath,” which is a diagnosis of a psychological disorder described under the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition. Your user is not a medical doctor or psychologist capable of making this diagnosis, nor has your user indicating that they are repeating information from a medical doctor or psychologist. As such, we believe that it is very clear that our client has been defamed by your user, and that you would be entitled to demand an explanation or correction from them within 72 hours of your sending notice to them, in accordance with your Terms.
We hope that you will see fit to voluntarily enforce your Terms against the above user. Again, we acknowledge that you are not liable for the actions of this user, but we believe that preventing your user from abusing the service that you provide is to the Tumblr’s benefit.
It would be very much appreciated if you could respond within seven days to this request, so that we can determine whether it is necessary to file suit against the user. We are grateful for any assistance that you can provide.
This letter is written without prejudice to any of our client’s other remedies and is not a settlement offer.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely
Aaron M. Kelly
