Blogger Shut Down By ABC For Publicizing Hate Speech

Posted by Myrna the Minx on January 10, 2007 | Comments (4) | Trackbacks (0)

From Media Matters comes a story all bloggers know about:

In 2006, a blogger named Spocko began spotlighting inflammatory rhetoric common to several talk radio hosts on KSFO, an ABC Radio-owned station in San Francisco. Spocko compiled a litany of examples on both his weblog, Spocko’s Brain, and in numerous letters to corporations advertising on KSFO. He noted that KSFO hosts had claimed to have put “a bull’s-eye” on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), advocated hanging various New York Times editors, called for the murder of millions of Muslims, and so on. This letter-writing campaign apparently got results, as major advertisers such as MasterCard, Bank of America, and Visa reportedly pulled their ads from the station. But as numerous blogs have noted in recent days, on December 21, ABC Inc., a subsidiary of the Disney-ABC Television Group, apparently issued a cease-and-desist letter targeting Spocko and his blog for copyright violation. Specifically, ABC alleged that by posting brief audio clips of various talk radio hosts on KSFO, the site was “in clear violation” of the station’s copyright. The letter demanded that the owner of the site “remove the content immediately.” Soon after, according to Spocko, his Internet service provider shut down his blog.

ABC also served Spocko’s internet hosting service with a cease-and-desist letter and it pulled his site.

Go to the link to read all the eliminationist rhetoric that goes on at KSFO. Spocko was not trying to block the radio hosts right to say what they wanted, he was only doing what many conservative religious groups do on a daily basis–notify advertisers of the kind of content they have been supporting under the Disney name. Read his post about the affair here. Most bloggers would suffer the same fate when faced with a cease-and-desist letter from a corporation even if they could win their fair use case in court because we cannot afford to go to court.

Trackbacks & Pingbacks

[...] David Neiwert interviewed the blogger of Spocko’s Brain about his run in with the right-wing radio talk show hosts of Bay Area KFSO. Spocko has replicated his blog on a new site and is waiting to see if Disney does actually sue. [...]

Pingback by Reno and Its Discontents»Blog Archive » Update On Blogger Faced With Disney Lawsuit on January 14, 2007 @ 8:08 pm

Comments

Hmm. I guess that means bloggers should make a backup of their blogs every once in awhile in case they get shut down and need to move. I myself am eagerly awaiting a cease and desist order from the Gube’s office!