Community contribution

Dear DeleteMe, I am so fucking tired of the online censorship industry and companies like DeleteMe pretending that sending an intimidating legal notice is the same thing as having a legitimate legal argument. The business model deserves serious scrutiny. Companies charge people to remove information from the internet, then send demands to websites and platforms hoping somebody will comply rather than challenge them. When those demands are legally defective, unsupported by evidence, or absurdly overbroad, the entire exercise starts looking less like privacy protection and more like an attempt to sell people the illusion of control over other people's speech. And let's be clear: protecting genuinely private information is one thing. Attempting to erase lawful criticism, public records, and reporting about public officials is something entirely different. What kind of half-assed legal review produces a demand to remove an entire article about a sitting judge without adequately identifying the protected information, establishing that the cited federal statute applies, or explaining why constitutionally protected commentary should disappear? That is not persuasive legal advocacy. That is a demand looking desperately for a legal justification. Apparently, the hope is that publishers will see an official-sounding statute, references to federal agencies, and a deadline, then panic and start deleting. Wrong fucking publisher. LucyCraig.blog is SELF-HOSTED. We do not answer to a social media platform's moderation department. There is no convenient corporate abuse-report button that automatically overrides our editorial judgment. We will not be intimidated into removing lawful reporting. We will not confuse an allegation of illegality with proof of illegality. And we will not accept the outrageous proposition that someone holding public office can simply purchase immunity from public criticism. Public officials are subject to public scrutiny. Their professional conduct, public decisions, official records, and use of government authority are legitimate subjects of reporting and debate. That does not mean private security information is fair game. It means judicial privacy laws are not a magic wand for making unfavorable journalism disappear. As for the purported DeleteMe demand submitted on behalf of Judge Phaedra F. Perry-Bond: we reject the demand for wholesale removal as submitted. We demand that the sender substantiate its authority, identify the precise legal basis for its request, and withdraw its unsupported demand. If the judge personally authorized it, we are also requesting a direct explanation and apology. We have provided a 72-hour response period. If the demand persists, our legal counsel may evaluate litigation and other remedies against any responsible parties, including DeleteMe and, if legally warranted and supported by evidence, those who authorized the demand. We are not claiming that sending a defective notice automatically constitutes bad faith or creates a cause of action. We are saying that unsupported demands to suppress lawful reporting will be challenged. And to the entire industry built around making embarrassing but lawful information disappear: WE ARE SICK AND FUCKING TIRED OF PEOPLE TREATING THE FIRST AMENDMENT LIKE AN INCONVENIENT TECHNICALITY. You do not own our reporting. You do not dictate our editorial policies. You do not get to erase public records because your client dislikes what they reveal. If something is factually wrong, show us the evidence. If something genuinely violates an applicable privacy law, identify it precisely. If you have a valid court order, produce it. Otherwise, spare us the legal theater, the intimidating language, and the ridiculous assumption that we're too stupid to read the statutes you cite. YOUR LEGAL NOTICE IS NOT OUR EDITORIAL POLICY. YOUR CLIENT'S REPUTATION IS NOT OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO MANAGE. AND LAWFUL PUBLIC-INTEREST JOURNALISM IS NOT FOR SALE. — LucyCraig.blog Editorial Administration The article in question remains and will not be modified, ever: https://lucycraig.blog/article/judge-phaedra-f-perry-bond P.S. we are fully transparent here. We publish our errors, our decisions, our privacy policy, our moderation policy (any legal stays, no spam), and importantly, we will publish demands made to our admins. Our policy is straight forward, the answer to speech we do not like, like a horrifically stupid legal demand, is more speech, not less. We will be doing a records demand for contracts, communications, emails, and actions taken by, between the State of New York officials, court officials, and public officials with DeleteMe as a company. It is illegal for state officials to censor others, a sitting judge should know that.