A Virginia court has just made a very dangerous ruling which puts online commentators that use usernames or Anonymous instead of their real names, at risk of having their real names exposed. This also puts website owners at risk of being forced to betray users' trust.
Yelp is a website where people can leave reviews of businesses they have used, either positive or negative so others may see the quality of service those specific businesses offer and a Virginia court has just ruled that Yelp must comply in providing a business, Hadeed Carpet Cleaning, with the names of their Anonymous users that wrote negative opinions and claimed Hadeed Carpet Cleaning conducted unfair business practices and deceptive advertising.
In an opinion that partially agrees with the majority opinion and partially dissents, the senior judge makes the point that his dissent stems from Mr. Hadeed not provided any proof that the online critics were not his customers, jut suspicions.
Via Washington Times:
Senior Judge James W. Haley Jr. stated in a separate opinion that agreed in part and dissented in part with the majority that Mr. Hadeed had not proved that the reviewers were not customers — he only suspected they were not.
“A business subject to critical commentary should not be permitted to force the disclosure of the identity of anonymous commentators simply by alleging that those commentators may not be customers because they cannot identify them in their database,” the judge said, adding that Mr. Hadeed’s complaints were likely a “self-serving argument.”
This has ramifications for more than just those commenting, but for every website owner, forum owner, blog and any online entity that allows has a comment section or posts Anonymous emails they receive, where if other courts mimic this ruling those website owners can be forced to betray their users' trust.
Susan Duclos owns/writes Wake up America
Well, compared to Canada right now at least
As I sit at my desk here in my office in Montreal on a very cold winter afternoon, I dream of warm exotic destinations. Destinations like… Iceland?
Yup, it’s about 20°c warmer right now in Reykjavik and I’m quite jealous. Then again, I’ll be back there soon enough and I can’t wait!
“I love cold weather.”
~Seth Rogen
Shut up Seth. :)
Now that we have that out of the way…
I’m excited to announce my next Photography Workshop in Iceland in June 2014!
Dates: June 27h – July 4th, 2014
Jokulsarlon beach where awesome ice formations wash up on the black sand
For all the details please visit my Iceland Photo Workshop page where you can read up on all the cool — not freezing cold — info about the workshop. Once again I’ll be teaming up with my buddy Colby Brown on this week long adventure to the land of fire and ice.
The Iceland workshops sell out quite fast as a rule so if you’re interested in joining us please let me know if you have any specific questions.
Iceland is a photographer’s dream come true and during June and July we are blessed with amazing amounts of daylight. Since Iceland is so close to the Arctic Circle we get to experience the midnight sun around the time of the summer solstice. This makes for some exceptional photo opportunities and a very cool life experience.
Colby and I always have a great time with our groups as we help them discover the best pats of western and southern Iceland. Here’s what some have had to say:
I recently had the pleasure of attending a photography workshop with Ken Kaminesky. While I wasn’t sure exactly what to expect, I quickly learned that Ken is a consummate professional. His knowledge of photography was really demonstrated by some of the challenges we faced on our venture in Iceland. For anyone that has not been to Iceland, it is a very diverse landscape offering many wonderful photographic opportunities, but it takes a professional to navigate to some of the more diverse areas and to understand how to make the most of an area. While working with Ken I had a fantastic time; Ken is not only a professional, but has a great sense of humor and understands how to relate with people. Overall I would honestly say that my venture with Ken was more than rewarding, I made a friend for a lifetime, came back with fantastic pictures and experienced memories that will last forever. I would highly recommend anyone to join Ken’s team on his next adventure!
Gullfoss at Sunrise ©Stephen Flournoy
I was lucky enough to be one of the participants of the Iceland photo workshop that was organized by Ken Kaminesky and Colby Brown in June 2013. The workshop was simply fantastic and exceeded all my expectations. The workshop was well organized and photo locations were carefully picked. I was quite impressed the way Ken and Colby handled the challenging weather conditions and made necessary modifications to the schedule on the fly so that we did not miss any of the planned sites. Their familiarity with the locations and their knowledge of photographic composition and technique are top grade and they willingly share their knowledge and experience. The photo workshop provided an optimal balance of individual freedom and personalized instructions.
In addition to being great tour leaders, both Ken and Colby are very kind individuals and genuinely nice guys with great sense of humor. I enjoyed every minute of the workshop.
Overall, this was a wonderful experience and I cannot wait to join these two extraordinary photographers on their upcoming workshops.
~Mehmet Goral, MD, PhD
Mini Ice Formations at Jokulsarlon ©Mehmet Goral
I’m humbled and very appreciative of these kind words. It takes a lot of hard work and planning to make these tours and workshops a success and I’m thrilled to see the excitement and wonder on people’s faces when I’m able to share some of the most beautiful places on Earth with them. So, thank you Stephen , Mehmet and everyone else who has joined me in the past on tours and workshops. I’ll have more photo tours to announce soon and they are gonna be, you guessed it… Awesome!
“Feeling gratitude and not expressing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.”
~William Arthur Ward
Some behind the scenes images from last year’s Iceland workshops
Hope to see you in Iceland in June!
Iceland Photo Workshop Sign-Up Page
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