Techdirt was started in 1997 by Mike Masnick and grew into a blog that analyzes and offers insight into news stories about changes in government policy, technology, and legal issues that affect companies' ability to innovate and grow. The blog averages 1.5 million visitors per month, with over 65,000 posts and more than 1.4 million comments.

Dr. Shiva Ayyadurai has proclaimed himself to be the inventor of email and has filed a $15 million defamation lawsuit against the Techdirt website and its founder Mick Masnick for expressing doubts as to his claim. Ayyadurai is being represented by Charles Harder, a Beverly Hills attorney who became famous by filing multiple lawsuits against the Gawker blog site ("the source for daily Manhattan media news and gossip") that eventually forced that company into bankruptcy. Ayyadurai contends that a series of posts on Techdirt are libelous because the posts call Ayyadurai the "fake email inventor" and a "fraudster" and states his claims to have invented email are "bogus."

Ayyadurai maintains a website called The Inventor of Email and that describes his involvement with early email systems. According to the website, Ayyadurai had a goal of building a simple communication system that everyone could use to quickly and reliably send and receive digital messages. He designed his system based on a thorough analysis of the paper-based mail systems used in organizations around the world in the mid-1970s. He identified that the essential features of these systems included functions corresponding to "Inbox," "Outbox," "Drafts," "Memo", "To:", "From:", "Date:", "Subject:", "Body:", "Cc:", "Bcc:", "Attachments," "Folders," "Compose," "Forward," "Reply," "Address Book," "Groups," "Return Receipt," and "Sorting." He provided these capabilities in a software program with an interface so simple that users needed no expertise in computer systems to use it efficiently to "Send" and "Receive" mail electronically. He claims that it is these features that make his program "email" and that distinguish his program from prior electronic communications systems.

Harder, on behalf of Ayyadurai, sent a letter to Diaspora, a social networking platform, demanding that certain posts supportive of Techdirt be removed. The letter claims that these posts are defamatory, violate Diaspora's terms of service, and "constitute harassment and intentional infliction of emotional distress."

On the other hand, historians point out that email began long before 1978. For example, there was a messaging system called MAILBOX at MIT in 1965. Ray Tomlinson is frequently credited with inventing the modern concept of email for the Internet in 1972. By 1975, there were things such as email folders (invented by Larry Roberts) and some other basic email apps. These early email programs were basic and elementary but by 1978 they had essentially all the features that Ayyadurai claims to have invented.

Ed Klaris, a long-time media lawyer in New York, says "This is a classic scientific debate, which is a cornerstone of the First Amendment, second only to political debate. Theories of who invented something as basic as email software code need to be free and open and not constrained by claims of libel."

Mounting a defense against this lawsuit may prove very costly and time-consuming for Masnick and his small company. Says Masnick: "In our view, this is not a fight about who invented email. This is a fight about whether or not our legal system will silence independent publications for publishing opinions that public figures do not like. And here's the thing: this fight could very well be the end of Techdirt, even if we are completely on the right side of the law."

Critical Thinking Questions

Visit the Techdirt blog site athttps://www.techdirt.com/and read several of its postings over a period of a few weeks. Do you think that Techdirt is an important independent media resource worth protecting or should it be subject to strong scrutiny and pressure to shut down? Explain your answer.

Visit the Inventor of Email's website athttp://www.inventorofemail.com/. View the video there and read several of the postings found there. Do you think that Ayyadurai presents a strong and convincing argument that he invented email? Why or why not?

What measures might Masnick take to defend himself and his organization in this defamation lawsuit? What measures might Ayyadurai and his attorney take to strengthen his case against Masnick? Is demanding that social media sites take down posts supporting Masnick a winning strategy? Why or why not?