The Political Weblog Movement

MessageSpace cannot be trusted with your personal data

9th Feb 2012

Posted by Tim Ireland in Consume!

No comments

I’ve recently had cause to submit a subject access request to the advertising network MessageSpace. After spending weeks dodging the issue, Jag Singh finally issued a cursory response, but ultimately refused to disclose the data he had earlier acknowledged I was due under the Data Protection Act. Jag Singh also failed to disclose paperwork involving my ex-directory home address and how he came by this sensitive information.

When first confronted about the source of this address, which was not readily accessible by any legitimate means, Jag Singh claimed that he “forgot” how he came by it.

When compelled by law to produce any and all paperwork that included that same address, Jag Singh claimed that it had been “thrown away”.

So please be advised that you would do well to avoid sharing any personal data with MessageSpace, because if you find yourself on the wrong side of Jag Singh or anyone involved in the offshore company that operates out of his open-plan office (see: Global and General Nominees, the contraceptive device used by gossip bloggers Paul Staines and Harry Cole), then there is a very good chance that those personal details will be handled inappropriately, if not used against you in a needlessly intimidating manner.

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[Psst! Click here to see Paul Staines complaining about someone handling his personal details inappropriately.]

News of the World: a wake-up call for certain Conservatives

15th Jul 2011

Posted by Tim Ireland in Old Media

2 comments

Some people in politics can be really funny about evidence… Westminster/media groupies especially so. It is not unknown for some ‘commentators’ to be so far into the role of propagandist that they will accuse personal/political enemies of criminality on nothing more than hearsay while refusing to even acknowledge solid evidence against those they support personally/politically.

(I’m sure I don’t need to name names, but I will say that, no, some apologies will never satisfy… but only while they remain half-hearted and self-serving because you’ve still got your head up your arse, you great big lumbering dipshit.)

That said, I would like to make it clear that the following is only an indicator of guilt, but it is a strong one that follows an emerging pattern; News of the World stories that claim/imply that ‘friends’ or ‘pals’ are the source of a story, when in fact the source of the story is intercepted/illicitly-accessed messages from mobile phones.

The item about Prince William that led to the conviction of Clive Goodman and Glenn Mulcaire was just such a story, and the mistake Goodman made was to print something that could only have come from illicit interception of phone messages.

Many other such stories had earlier escaped attention because of a lingering doubt about ‘friends’ and the widely-recognised need to protect sources. On this point, I refer to the words of Gordon Brown:

“… News International who took the freedom of the press as a licence for abuse, who cynically manipulated our support of that vital freedom as their justification, and who then callously used the defence of a free press as the banner under which they marched in step, as I say, with members of the criminal underworld.” – Gordon Brown, 12 July 2011

Basically, if the newspaper claimed or implied that the source was a friend/pal and there was potentially more than one source, all the newspaper had to do was refuse to name the source, and the target was left with nowhere to go. In other words; a blatant abuse of freedom of the press to disguise criminal activity conducted by newspaper staff.

The repeated success of this defensive rampart appears to have led to a situation in the News of the World newsroom especially where confidence was so high that ‘journalists’ would make overt reference to phone calls and text messages in articles resulting from illicitly-sourced leads. This article about Danielle Jones is a stark example, and this Liz Hurley item is typical of the celebrity articles I’ve seen that appear to follow this pattern.

(Psst! A WHOPPER of a celebrity example will follow later today. Think big. No, bigger. OK, now multiply that by three.)

So, with all of that in mind, I hope that this is the moment that some especially pigheaded Tories finally start to come around on this to the point of admitting that they didn’t just get it a little bit wrong because they weren’t aware of recent evidence, but that they got it very, very wrong because they wilfully turned a blind eye to available evidence and didn’t bother looking for further evidence:

News of the World James Major exclusive, 27 November 2005

That challenge may seem odd to the casual reader, but there are some people in this world who are so tribal that even when innocent victims are involved, they won’t come fully on board until one of their own is involved.

I mean, FFS, all of this stuff is just sitting in there in the British Newspaper Library, just waiting to be found, and even now there’s only me and maybe two or three newspapers showing an interest in the material. Where are all these Conservative bloggers who brag about leading the way every chance they get? Instead of asking where the evidence is, perhaps now some of these Tories might finally be convinced to start looking at it… or start looking for it.

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[Note - As with other items recently published on Bloggerheads, this article does not appear in the database of NotW articles recently released by the Telegraph. This is the first time this article has seen the light of day since it was originally published by News of the World in November 2005. This story results from original research I conducted into the friendship between Andy Coulson and Andy Hayman and associated 'hacking' issues, and if you would like to fund more independent research into this story and others like it, please open your virtual wallet and click here.]

John Elmes and why you can’t trust Times Higher Education

14th Jun 2011

Posted by Tim Ireland in Consume!

1 comment

Recently, staff at Times Higher Education surprised a lot of their readers and supporters by seeking to promote themselves in blogs with the name ‘bloggerheads’, and acting both arrogantly and dishonestly when it was pointed out to them that someone (namely, me) had already been using the name for 10 years:

Ann Mroz: patronising, unpleasant and dishonest
The Times Higher Education correspondence
THE tank on my lawn (and how/when it got there)

John Elmes claimed that editors senior to him came up with the ‘bloggerheads’ name for his “round-up of the scholarly web”. Editors senior to Elmes then claimed it was the work of editors junior to them.

Me, I dare to assume that because it was John’s baby, he at least had some say in naming it. He certainly sought to retain the use of ‘bloggerheads’ in a thoroughly unreasonable fashion; it was Elmes who initially asked me if I had “copyrighted” the name (i.e. before I was passed on to senior editors who asked if I had trademarked the name) and it was Elmes who, at a peak in our dispute, took to naming the feature ‘The Bloggerheads’.

That said, the arrogance and dishonesty I encountered went right to the top; Editor Ann Mroz initially pretended that I had no rights under law because I had not trademarked the name, and then changed her position when I called her bluff. The Deputy Editor (Phil Baty) claimed that Times Higher Education were not aware of my site before using the name ‘bloggerheads’, but my site tracking says otherwise, and a week after I confronted their lawyer with this finding, no-one at Times Higher Education has offered any kind of answer to this.

While I am pleased that THE have finally removed all references to ‘bloggerheads’ from their site, I am greatly disappointed by their refusal to investigate/explain this discrepancy, their general dishonesty, and their apparent last-ditch effort to pass the following off as a condition of that removal:

“I must ask you to please remove your blog post header describing our editor as “dishonest” and the picture of our employee from your website immediately.”

I was even more disappointed to later discover that no explanation or apology of any kind was in the offing (especially after I had produced evidence suggesting that it was not quite the innocent mistake Times Higher Education had made it out to be).

I was, however, entirely unsurprised to see that the new name Elmes/THE had chosen was entirely lacking in invention; John Elmes’ round-up of the scholarly web is now named… ‘THE Scholarly Web’:

John Elmes: genius

(slow hand clap)

Unlike certain MPs, I am not sniffy about those who have been educated at university, but I reserve the right to point and laugh when it is clear that such an education has been wasted.

To close, for those who have some degree of faith in Times Higher Education, it is my sad duty to inform you that the magazine is staffed by the type of people who do not admit to mistakes, and instead seek to erase them, while bullying anyone who dares to make a noise about it; i.e. in one very important respect, they are no better than your average tabloid. I am sure that media-watchers especially understand what this means about taking anything THE claim at face value; they will know what a veneer of perfection usually hides.

Regrettable, but there it is. There is no getting away from the fact that Times Higher Education were entirely dishonest in their dealings with me, and then sought to erase their mistake rather than admit to any of that. They certainly don’t have any intention of acknowledging their error in print. How can you trust anything they commit to print if that’s their attitude?

THE tank on my lawn (and how/when it got there)

3rd Jun 2011

Posted by Tim Ireland in Consume!

11 comments

The following is a copy of a letter I have just sent to the lawyer that Times Higher Education referred me to earlier this afternoon. I did not hear from this gentleman before close of business today, so I did what I normally do in these situations… I continued to dig around in an effort to find out just what the hell these people were playing at.

The letter will reveal what I found about an hour ago. Monday may reveal if it is of any significance of not.

Until then, I leave you with this…

Dear Mr [lawyer's name snipped],

I think it only fair to warn you that I have just isolated the Service Provider for Times Higher Education (THE) in my site tracking, and have found evidence that contradicts their claim not to have known about my site before May 13 (i.e. when I first emailed them, taking issue with their use of my name).

We were not aware of your blog and I assure you that there is no attempt to hi-jack.
(Phil Baty, May 13, via email)

As you can see here, their first mention of the name on their site (as an upcoming feature) was on May 5:

“Starting next week, Bloggerheads – what the blogs are saying”
http://www.freezepage.com/1307137423LHYVOYNNTI

This, BTW, makes it clear that the feature was originally meant to be a blog about blogs from the beginning, which is something Baty et al later tried to downplay/deny (a lot), but I digress.

My point is that I am detecting a visit from before May 13. From before May 5, even.

This is an important issue, as I still have every right to be upset about how THE reacted after the fact if they had merely blundered in initially without looking, but it strikes me as a strong indication of bad faith if THE were indeed aware of my site before using the Bloggerheads name. In fact, it might be taken by some as an indication of outright dishonesty.

I shan’t tell you the exact date/details just yet. Why not have their IT people have a peek at the relevant http records first, and find out what this reveals from their end? This simple investigation should take a few minutes and may reveal someone from a different department, or perhaps even a different office in the same building accessing my site, which would leave us mainly with the reaction after the fact to deal with. Of course, I’d probably have to take your/their word for some of what they say they have found, but right now I have the added insurance of withheld details (i.e. not only the date) so in the unlikely event that THE are foolish enough to pull a fast one, there is a good chance that any fiction will be found out, if you’ll pardon my alliteration.

By the way, this is an open letter, and it has been published on my site (minus your name/details, as you’ve shown no sign of requiring exposure so far). I hope that does not strike you as too confrontational, but the fact of the matter is that THE parked a tank on my lawn and tried to claim ownership of my humble board with a nail in it.

So, please, I beg of you; don’t be moaning about my board with a nail in it until you get that bloody tank off my lawn and repair the damage to my grass.

Cheers

The Tim Ireland
www.bloggerheads.com

The Times Higher Education correspondence

3rd Jun 2011

Posted by Tim Ireland in Consume!

27 comments

(Psst! If you are new to this issue, please read this first.)

The following is the guts of my correspondence with staff from Times Higher Education after they tried to claim ownership of the name ‘bloggerheads’, the name I created in 2001 (see screen capture below).

John Elmes and 'THE BLOGGERHEADS'

The correspondence clearly shows that their argument switches from a question of copyright to one of trade mark, and that they begin to seriously stonewall from the moment I called the latter bluff and registered the name as a trade mark. These key points have been highlighted (by me) in bold.

The overall exchange has been edited for brevity, and one individual email has been subject to a minor edit to remove details that should remain private for personal security reasons. As usual, any such edits (and/or corrections of minor typos etc.) are marked [like so]. The exchange up until the point they accuse me of bad manners is complete and unedited so you might make a judgement about my manners for yourself.

I’d like to think I showed considerable restraint when they offered to re-label it ‘THE Bloggerheads’. I made the mistake of assuming good faith, and I was confident the issue would make itself apparent almost immediately. I was wrong, obviously. John Elmes made a particular point of switching his use of the name to ‘The Bloggerheads’ at a key point in this dispute.

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From: Tim Ireland
To: john.elmes@tsleducation.com
Date: Fri, May 13, 2011 at 11:38 AM
Subject: ‘bloggerheads’

Please consider a [using] new name. This one’s taken.

Cheers

Tim

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From: John.Elmes@tsleducation.com
To: Tim Ireland
Date: Fri, May 13, 2011 at 3:08 PM
Subject: ‘bloggerheads’

Dear Tim,

Thanks for your email, I appreciate your concern.

I just wanted to know if you had any copyright to the name. I only ask because my column is a small addition to a specialist higher education magazine, and the subject areas tend to differ drastically from yours.

I was having a look around the net and found this:

http://www.abeano.com/bloggerheads-new-for-2011-transparent-dummy-mag-tropical-waste/

It seems as though we aren’t the only ones to have utilised the expression ‘Bloggerheads’.

Kind regards,

John

John Elmes
Editorial Assistant
Times Higher Education
26 Red Lion Square
London WC1R 4HQ
Tel: +44 (0)203 194 3315
www.timeshighereducation.co.uk

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From: Tim Ireland
To: John.Elmes@tsleducation.com
Date: Fri, May 13, 2011 at 3:27 PM
Subject: ‘bloggerheads’

I raise the issue as a matter of manners. I am aware that others have shown poor manners, thanks.

Will you consider using your own, unique name?

T

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From: John.Elmes@tsleducation.com
To: Tim Ireland
Date: Fri, May 13, 2011 at 4:55 PM
Subject: ‘bloggerheads’

Dear Tim,

I will raise it with my editors, but their view (they are the ones that came up with the name) was your site is distinctive enough to my column to remove any conflict. It is certainly different in terms of aesthetics, font and motivation, so we believe it won’t be an issue

Best,

John

John Elmes
Editorial Assistant
Times Higher Education
26 Red Lion Square
London WC1R 4HQ
Tel: +44 (0)203 194 3315
www.timeshighereducation.co.uk

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From: Tim Ireland
To: John.Elmes@tsleducation.com
Sent: 13 May 2011 15:27
Subject: Re: ‘bloggerheads’

Please advise your editors that if you intend to promote yourself through Twitter, any hashtag you use will be the same as my username. We will most definitely intersect in a way that is an issue for me, and I will ask you again if you (or your editors) will seriously consider using a unique name of your/their own invention instead of hijacking the one I have been using since 2001.

T

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From: Phil.Baty@tsleducation.com
To: Tim Ireland
Date: Tue, May 17, 2011 at 3:44 PM
Subject: FW: ‘bloggerheads’

Dear Tim,

Thanks for your emails to John Elmes.

We were not aware of your blog and I assure you that there is no attempt to hi-jack.

Times Higher Education (THE) is a specialist higher education magazine, and our “bloggerheads” is dedicated entirely to scholarly/higher education policy debates on line, covering blogs and social media. It is quite clearly distinct from your blog, with a clearly separate audience.

It is clearly labeled with the strap: “A weekly round up of the best on the scholarly web”.

We have no intention to promote this column on Twitter using the “bloggerheads” hashtag.

As a courtesy to you, we have also added the THE logo to the name, which is now: “THE BloggerHeads”

Kind regards,

Phil Baty

Deputy Editor, Times Higher Education
Editor, Times Higher Education World University Rankings
26 Red Lion Square
London WC1R 4HQ
Tel: 0203 194 3298

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/THEWorldUniRank
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TimesHigherEd

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From: Tim Ireland
To: Phil.Baty@tsleducation.com
Date: Tue, May 17, 2011 at 4:07 PM
Subject: FW: ‘bloggerheads’

Thank you for that at least. I would prefer there is no room for confusion, and I reserve the right to protect the name ‘bloggerheads’ should it become an issue. I really would prefer that you consider changing the name to a unique name of your own invention, though, and think it would be wisest in the long run.

Tim

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From: Tim Ireland
To: Phil.Baty@tsleducation.com
Cc: Ann.Mroz@tsleducation.com
Date: Tue, May 31, 2011 at 7:26 PM
Subject: FW: ‘bloggerheads’

Phil, despite your assurances, the predictable has happened and users in Twitter are referring to you as ‘bloggerheads’ and not ‘THEbloggerheads’ as promised. I also note that you continue to bill yourself as ‘bloggerheads’ on your site, and this is turning up in the top ten for searches for my website, crowding out other web presence[s] in my name:

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?storycode=416093

I once again request that you create your own unique name instead of using the name I have been using for over 10 years.

(Please don’t embarrass yourself by citing others’ use of the name; this use emerged in the middle of a campaign of harassment, and I fully intend to take the issue up with this other web user, as soon as I am able.)

Bloggerheads is a unique name of my own invention. You have no business using it. I ask you again to stop using it.

Instead, try inventing your own name. Like I did.

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From: Ann.Mroz@tsleducation.com
To: Tim Ireland
Cc: Phil.Baty@tsleducation.com
Date: Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 9:12 AM
Subject: FW: ‘bloggerheads’

Dear Mr Ireland

Please forward me your trademarking documentation and I’m sure we will be happy to comply.

Kind regards

Ann

Ann Mroz
Editor
Times Higher Education
26 Red Lion Square
London WC1R 4HQ
Tel: 0203 194 3326

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/

Follow THE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/timeshighered
Follow Ann Mroz on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AnnMroz

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From: Tim Ireland
To: “Mroz, Ann”
Cc: “Baty, Phil”
Date: Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 9:31 AM
Subject: FW: ‘bloggerheads’

Why not say what you mean? You are happy to trade off a name that I invented if I cannot defend myself with costly legal muscle, and you care nothing for the inconvenience it will cause or the lack of respect it shows.

I can easily prove that I created the name and have been using it on the web for 10 years. That has until recently been good enough for others and it should be good enough for you… unless of course, you are the type of organisation that likes to stamp on the little guy.

Even the New York Times had the good sense to modify their use of the name to ‘bloggINGheads’. They understand that marketing yourself on the web requires some sensitivity to others inhabiting the relevant community.

I will ask you one more time to show me a modicum of respect and engage your mind(s) just long enough to come up with a unique name of your own invention.

Please, show me the respect I am due. You would not like it if someone seized control of your name.

Tim Ireland

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From: Ann.Mroz@tsleducation.com
To: Tim Ireland
Cc: Phil.Baty@tsleducation.com
Date: Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 9:33 AM
Subject: FW: ‘bloggerheads’

Dear Mr Ireland

No, I would not like it if someone seized control of our name which is why I took the trouble to protect it by legal means.

I always show respect to people who are polite.

Kind regards

Ann

Ann Mroz
Editor
Times Higher Education
26 Red Lion Square
London WC1R 4HQ
Tel: 0203 194 3326

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/

Follow THE on Twitter: http://twitter.com/timeshighered
Follow Ann Mroz on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AnnMroz

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From: Tim Ireland
To: Ann.Mroz@tsleducation.com
Cc: Phil.Baty@tsleducation.com
Date: Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 9:37 AM
Subject: FW: ‘bloggerheads’

Please do not pretend that everyone is in a position to defend themselves in this way, and please do not insult me further by calling my manners into question after the way you have treated me.

Do you intend to continue using the unique name that I created, despite my very clear objections?

T

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From: Tim Ireland
To: Ann.Mroz@tsleducation.com
Cc: Phil.Baty@tsleducation.com
Date: Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 9:52 AM
Subject: FW: ‘bloggerheads’

Allow me to explain the situation to you:

I will repeat that I have been subjected to an extended campaign of harassment, targeting myself and my family, causing great distress and considerable financial difficulty. I have never had cause to invest in a trade mark before, as for many years previous to this, simple respect within the web community was enough. I am certainly not in a strong position to rush out and do it now.

You risk compelling me to undertake this expense, and I do not think I am giving anything away by revealing that you may be able to swoop in an register it in your own name, despite your knowledge of my moral claim to it.

Neither move casts you in a good light, and I fully intend to make this dispute public if you refuse to be reasonable. I would remind you that you are seeking a brand to promote yourself in the blogging community, not distance yourself from it by charging in with a steamroller.

I will ask again: Do you intend to continue using the unique name that I created, despite my very clear objections?

T

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From: Phil.Baty@tsleducation.com
To: Tim Ireland
Cc: Ann.Mroz@tsleducation.com
Date: Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 10:19 AM
Subject: FW: ‘bloggerheads’

Tim,

We adopted the name “Bloggerheads” for a small column on page 24 of our magazine, without any awareness of your blog.

We note that the name is not protected by you, and is indeed used by others on the Internet.

We note that the content of the THE column is entirely unrelated to your blog – we look exclusively at social media on higher education issues, a very narrow field.

Our distinct content is clearly marked in a sub-heading to the column: “A weekly round-up of the best on the scholarly web”.

When you alerted us to your blog, as a courtesy, we immediately agreed to re-design the column masthead and change the name of the column to “THE Bloggerheads”, incorporating our protected brand “THE” (Times Higher Education”), to make the clear differences even more explicit.

The website now displays the column as “THE Bloggerheads”: http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/story.asp?sectioncode=26&storycode=416254&c=1

We have also agreed, again purely as a courtesy, that we will only promote the column as “THE Bloggerheads” on Twitter and other social media.

We have been courteous and considerate throughout, and have made these clear concessions as a matter of good will, without any obligation on our part at all.

We feel these concessions are quite sufficient and entirely reasonable.

I trust that in the event that you decide to make this “dispute” public, you will reproduce this response in full.

Thank you for your correspondence,

Phil Baty

Deputy Editor, Times Higher Education
Editor, Times Higher Education World University Rankings
26 Red Lion Square
London WC1R 4HQ
Tel: 0203 194 3298

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/THEWorldUniRank
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TimesHigherEd

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And, as you will note, that is exactly what I have done. I have reproduced their response in full. In fact the full exchange above is entirely unedited, and I am really pissed off about being compelled to have to take it to this step because it necessitates a public acknowledgement of specific difficulty my stalker has caused me. Normally, this is something to be avoided with people engaging in this type of harassment, as it tends to encourage them.

Unfortunately, to protect my sole source of income, a site I have invested 10 years of my life in, the point must be made publicly that both Ann Mroz and Phil Baty were made aware of the issues surrounding an immediate investment in a trade mark registration.

Back to the correspondence:

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From: Tim Ireland
To: Phil.Baty@tsleducation.com
Cc: Ann.Mroz@tsleducation.com
Date: Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 10:41 AM
Subject: FW: ‘bloggerheads’

How am I back talking to you now, Phil? Is it because you were the person who claimed to have invented the name, thereby causing this dispute?

I have already explained that I was in no position to protect myself from the small number of two-bit operations who also sought to capitalise on my name. I have been in contact with these other parties since you sought to capitalise on my name yourself and use their hijacking as an excuse. Please don’t embarrass yourself further by using these people as cover (or by excusing your ‘mere’ use of it in the back pages of your magazine). You already admit that you chose to use the name to promote your web initiative without first determining if someone else in the web community was using the name (a simple search in Google would have alerted you to my blog and the various other web presences in my name using this same name) so you cannot now defend its continued use by pretending that you were always aware of this.

I am bloggerheads. It is my creation, I use the name to blog about blogging, and I have done so for 10 years.

Specialised arena or not, you seek to blog about blogging, and despite your assurances/concessions, people are already using my name to refer to your web round-up.

Oh, and we are most certainly in dispute, despite what your scare quotes might imply, and I would welcome the opportunity to air this matter in full, as well as your earlier correspondence and the arrogance it reveals:

I trust that in the event that you decide to make this “dispute” public, you will reproduce this response in full.

Despite your tangential defence about what may appear in page 24 of your magazine, you are using my name, you are using it on the web as well as in print, you did not even have enough regard for the web community to check if someone was using the name ‘bloggerheads’ before committing to it, and you have been stubborn, evasive and unreasonable since I called you on it.

I have repeatedly stated that I would much prefer it if you created your own name. This challenge appears to be beyond you, or perhaps you are the type of person who refuses to back down even when they know they have made a mistake.

I will ask you again:

Do you intend to continue using the unique name that I created, despite my very clear objections?

T

-

From: Tim Ireland
To: Phil.Baty@tsleducation.com
Cc: Ann.Mroz@tsleducation.com
Date: Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 10:56 AM
Subject: FW: ‘bloggerheads’

I might also add this [snipped for security reasons]

In short, you compel me to commit to considerable expense and inconvenience at a time of great difficulty.

I would really rather that you were reasonable about the matter. Why not use a name of your own invention? Where is the problem here? Have you foolishly invested money in use of the name without doing so much as a Google search for any other instances of it? Is that why you compel me to commit to considerable expense and inconvenience? Or are you merely being stubborn because of the arrogance this suggests?

T

-

It was at this stage I considered the only way to end the matter without wasting days/weeks of my time was to meet the trade mark challenge. We had a lonnnng discussion about it in this house. We couldn’t really afford the expense, but Bloggerheads was a vital source of income. How could we not protect this asset from someone who was so obviously hostile in their seizure of it?

After the trade mark registration process was completed and relevant documentation secured, I called their bluff:

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From: Tim Ireland
To: Phil.Baty@tsleducation.com
Cc: Ann.Mroz@tsleducation.com
Date: Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 12:28 PM
Subject: FW: ‘bloggerheads’

Congratulations. You have compelled me to undergo the expense or registering my unique name as a trademark at a time when we can ill-afford it.

Now, are you going to be so difficult that you continue to use the name in the ~6 months it will take to process the application, or are you going to finally decide to play-act at being reasonable now you’ve put us through this major inconvenience?

Tim

-

From: Tim Ireland
To: Phil.Baty@tsleducation.com
Cc: Ann.Mroz@tsleducation.com
Date: Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 1:09 PM
Subject: FW: ‘bloggerheads’

Well? I’ve called your bluff. What’s your response?

T

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From: Tim Ireland
To: Phil.Baty@tsleducation.com
Cc: Ann.Mroz@tsleducation.com
Date: Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 1:27 PM
Subject: FW: ‘bloggerheads’

To be clear; I expect a response this afternoon.

Putting aside the patronising way you dismiss my moral claim to this name, you gave me the impression that if the name was protected as a trade mark you would comply with my wishes. I have today begun the registration process, and now you refuse to budge from your existing position, even though you appear to have NO CLUE about the circumstances in which the name came to be used in your magazine and on your website. You can’t even name the sub-editor you imply presented the name as an original piece of work.

Did you mean what you said about trade mark, or was it merely a bluff? I have cause to be upset with you either way, but I will be especially upset if it is the latter, after I explained my circumstances to you.

Do you intend to continue using the unique name that I created, despite my very clear objections?

Tim

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From: Phil.Baty@tsleducation.com
To: Tim Ireland
Cc: Ann.Mroz@tsleducation.com
Date: Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 2:18 PM
Subject: FW: ‘bloggerheads’

Dear Tim,

Can you please direct all further correspondence (and phone calls) on this matter to our Information Assurance Officer, Arshid Bashir.

He is on arshid.bashir@tsleducation.com
Or 020 3194 3384

Thank you.

Phil Baty

Deputy Editor, Times Higher Education
Editor, Times Higher Education World University Rankings
26 Red Lion Square
London WC1R 4HQ
Tel: 0203 194 3298

http://www.timeshighereducation.co.uk/

Twitter: http://twitter.com/THEWorldUniRank
Twitter: http://twitter.com/TimesHigherEd

-

After offering a summary of the issue that was complete bollocks, Arshid Bashir refused to engage on the matter of trade mark (and tort, as raised in the email that followed his summary):

-
Bashir, Arshid Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 4:36 PM
To: Tim Ireland

Dear Mr Ireland,

If I can first of all very briefly introduce myself: I am responsible for independently assuring to the TSL board that all functions and activities comply with all legal and regularity requirements and obligations.

Looking at your concerns expressed over the exchange of emails, can I suggest that we limit ourselves to the core issue and not become embroiled or distracted by side-issues or assumptions and conjecture.

If I can summarise your position:

1. It is your contention that you have prior rights on the title ‘Bloggerheads’ which you have used on your website for a number of years, but which had not been registered as a trademark.

2. And, although an accommodation was mutually and informally agreed a few weeks back by prefixing our use of the word ‘Bloggerheads’ with the word ‘THE’, you have subsequently became dissatisfied based on search engines results ranking our content too highly, relative to yours.

3. You are also unhappy we may use ‘Bloggerheads’ as a Twitter hashtag as this is your Twitter user name. We have clarified this is not our intent.

Whilst I can appreciate your views on ‘ownership’ of this word and subsequent discontent that your web presence may have been impacted; it is clear that TSL is not, and has not been in breach of any trademarks or any other proprietary rights.

I am sorry that our position may not be one that you would like, however TSL has neither sought nor would wish to seek to undermine the rights of others. In my opinion I also think it is highly unlikely that consumers or visitors to our respective content would confuse either web site with the other and therefore unlikely to be detrimental to you or us.

Can I also advise you that all future communication from within TSL will be by myself.

Yours sincerely

Arshid Bashir

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From: Tim Ireland
To: Arshid.Bashir@tsleducation.com
Cc: Ann.Mroz@tsleducation.com, Phil.Baty@tsleducation.com
Date: Wed, Jun 1, 2011 at 4:50 PM
Subject: FW: ‘bloggerheads’

Your summary of my position is rife with assumption and conjecture, but happily I do not have to explain myself any further to protect my rights.

I have now approached an experienced intellectual property lawyer and I have been informed that it appears that the THE is committing the tort of “passing off” in respect of “Bloggerheads” and that it appears you would not have a sensible defence to a claim. I have a substantial and prior trading reputation in respect of my expertise of blogging and web-related matters that pre-dates your entire website by many years.

Accordingly, please remove the references to “Bloggerheads” from your site immediately.

Tim Ireland
www.bloggerheads.com

PS – Both the Editor and Deputy Editor have been CCed, because it was they who (a) gave me the false impression that I needed a registered trade mark to protect my rights, and (b) gave me the false impression that they would cooperate were such a trade mark registered. With all due respect, this matter has been needlessly complicated by these organ grinders playing lawyer, and I have every right to inform them of their error and expect an apology to go with their immediate cooperation.

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Arshid Bashir answered this challenge… by refusing to address it in any way. In a phone call (that I recorded) I asked Bashir if he had a response to the tort issue. He replied; “we do not have to answer every email you send us”. I pressed him further, and he responded; “I do not think it would be productive for us to debate the matter”. Then he hung up on me.

Arshid Bashir now refuses to answer my emails or take my calls. Any attempt to reach Ann Mroz, Phil Baty or John Elmes results in my being referred to Arshid Bashir (who now refuses to answer my emails or take my calls).

I think it’s safe to interpret not only the copyright and trade mark challenges as a bluff, but the ‘concessions’ also. Here I will remind you that the ‘concession’ of referring to themselves as ‘THE Bloggerheads’ (i.e. T.H.E. Bloggerheads) quickly changed to their use of the name as ‘The Bloggerheads’ (i.e. the one, only and original accept-no-substitutes bloggerheads) at a peak moment in this dispute.

As for some of what they claim in mitigation, most of it is laughable and contradictory in places (e.g. senior editors blamed an un-named junior editor for the decision to use the name, the junior editor I spoke to blamed senior editors), plus it clearly paints a picture where the matter is mainly insignificant from their point of view. If this were the case, then it would be an insignificant matter for them to stop using my name.

However, they refuse to stop using my name, and I think this correspondence includes several instances revealing bad faith on their part. Key to this was the stark bluff from Ann Mroz that she would respect my rights if I went through with the trade mark paperwork.

After compelling me to reinforce my ownership with trade mark, they now appear to be waiting for me to engage lawyers, at further expense they know I will have difficulty meeting.

(Instead of using a rude word here, I will let you choose your own, but I ask that you not repeat it under comments. Let’s not do these people any favours.)

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UPDATE (2pm) – Times Higher Education have just emailed to say that they “can confirm we have decided to change the name of our column in THE”. Unfortunately, they offer very little detail beyond this apart from some apparent conditions (!) so I have responded to the relevant requests, and will let you know of any outcome in due course.

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UPDATE (damn near 5pm) – Times Higher Education have ignored my response to their conditions/requests, and have instead referred me to their lawyer, who has not yet been in touch. It looks like they mean to leave me hanging all weekend. Charming.

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UPDATE (11:45pm) – Their lawyer might not have managed to make contact today, but Times Higher Education have late this afternoon removed from sight every page on their site that used the title ‘bloggerheads’. So we’re on our way to a resolution at last.

By the way, you may note in this correspondence that THE claimed to have been unaware of Bloggerheads before May 13 (i.e. when I first emailed them, taking issue with their use of my name). About an hour ago, I looked into my site tracking data and detected a visit from before May 13:

Bloggerheads – THE tank on my lawn (and how/when it got there)

I’m a guy who likes to be positive right down to my blood cells, so I am hoping this is not the indication of bad faith it appears to be.

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Ann Mroz: patronising, unpleasant and dishonest

1st Jun 2011

Posted by Tim Ireland in Consume!

19 comments

[MINI-UPDATE (03 Jun) - THE object to my use of the word 'dishonest' in this headline. I stand by my use of the word, but as a courtesy, I have placed this prominent and immediate link to the relevant correspondence so readers might better judge for themselves.]

Regulars of Bloggerheads will be aware that my family and I been through some difficult times recently. During the rolling crisis, several two-bit operations have sought to hijack the ‘bloggerheads’ name that I created, but my priority has been those attempting to associate this unique name (and mine) with paedophilia, stalking and what have you.

Recently, I complained to staff at the magazine Times Higher Education about their use of ‘bloggerheads’ – a unique name that I created to title my blog about blogs – to title a web round-up feature (i.e. their blog about blogs). I repeatedly made it clear that I wanted them to come up with their own name, especially when they clearly planned to use it to blog about other weblogs. They pretended there was no room for confusion, offered to put ‘the’ in front of it as a “concession” and left it at that. Almost immediately references to their magazine started turning up in Twitter and Google in searches for my unique name.

I complained again. They gave me the very clear impression that, were the name protected as a trade mark, they would immediately comply with my wishes.

Several times I pointed out to them that I had a significant and demonstrable moral claim to the name dating back many years, but they dismissed this notion in the most patronising way possible. I also pointed out that if they seek to market themselves on the via web/blogs, then there are far better ways of going about it than hijacking an existing name, which is one good reason why the expense of a trade mark has never been necessary before now in the decade I have been using the name ‘bloggerheads’.

I also pointed out that I was busy battling an ongoing campaign of harassment, and their position compelled me to spend money we could ill-afford at the moment, but they stood firm on their position (along with the ridiculous implication that they had searched the trade mark database but not Google when they decided on using this name as their own).

Ultimately, Times Higher Education Editor Ann Mroz left me with no choice but to trade mark the name so I might call their bluff and take further steps to protect it from recent misuse and/or appropriation by their organisation and others.

But now I have begun the trade mark registration process, they have changed their position, and plan to continue using the name as they have before!

That’s a class act, all the way. After compelling me to trade mark the name, now they’re going to compel me to await the completion of the registration process (and then, presumably, take them to court) before they will be in any way reasonable about this.

Their Deputy Editor can’t even name the sub-editor they claim ‘invented’ the word, but Times Higher Education staff are unwilling to admit that they made a mistake by using this unique name without first researching it. They even have the audacity to minimise the significance of its use from their point of view (e.g. it’s ‘only’ on page 24 of their magazine), but surely if it’s no big deal to them and a bloody big deal to me, then that’s even more reason for them to back off and do what they should have done in the first place; come up with a unique name of their own invention.

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[Other, smaller, organisations who have recently sought to appropriate this name have also been contacted about this matter today. I am hoping that they will be more reasonable. I certainly can't see how they can top this response from Times Higher Education. I realise THE are in the education sector, but surely they've grown out of playground games by now.]

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UPDATE – Check the comments for a contribution by ‘Malcolm Kent’. It was submitted using false details, and is an obvious sock-puppet.

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OpenTech talk (extract): #Outpost

21st May 2011

Posted by Tim Ireland in The Political Weblog Movement

3 comments

The following is an extract from a talk I have just given at OpenTech. I’ll put some audio and vision of the complete talk together shortly. The tag for discussion on twitter is #outpost.

… Some MPs get up to a lot of questionable stuff that simply isn’t recorded or reported anywhere. In fact, a significant information vacuum exists around many serving members of Parliament.

In the current Parliament there are 650 MPs, many of them are not adequately covered in the Information Universe, and some of them are actually sources of poor if not entirely false information.

I propose that a group of like-minded publishers research, evaluate and then selectively populate this information vacuum using a series of purpose-built MP-specific websites – or “space stations” – supported by a loosely networked group of independent publishers, in small teams of two or more.

I further propose that we use as a foundation for each project a bi-monthly report on that MP’s expenses; data that is available through the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority website, but not widely or reliably visible in the Information Universe. These screen captures display how this published expenses data is invisible to search engines; a search for one MP by name on the one site that IS partly indexable only turns up single passing mention, and no expenses data.

It would be foolish to expect anything but a handful of visitors to most sites of this type, but once you publish this particular data and make it more visible, the website only really needs an audience of one person to be of any relevance; the MP themselves.

There will be no need to chase or capture a constant audience by populating the sites with churnalism and/or mere opinion, but they can easily expand into some occasional fact-checking about what is reported about or published by that MP; crucially, only when there is a need. In this way, the demands of the individual sites are kept to a minimum, and speciality skills (writing, analysis, research, data crunching) can be shared across the network according to demand.

And, ultimately, you will be competing for relevance for a single name, not a series of names or a party name or politics generally. For most backbenchers, the only time you are likely to be crowded out of the top ten is when your adopted MP is finally getting some mainstream coverage. Here, we see The Nadine Dorries Project displaced to 8th place by all of the fuss about her latest poorly disguised campaign on behalf of religious fundamentalists. Normally it ticks along in third place, just as it is doing in Yahoo today.

Also, over time, because each publishing body attracts traffic specific to a single MP, people with an interest in this MP will eventually begin to feed it new information based on their own experiences, research etc., and this process remains entirely sustainable long before you approach anything like some of the sillier visitor claims that people have been throwing around. So long as that site is accumulating sufficient relevance to command high search results for that MP’s name and associated queries, starting with expenses, it is playing a valuable role, and requires minimum upkeep.

That said, if you do plan to confront your own MP with anything of substance, please be warned that it can lead to a situation where you are effectively cut off from local politics as a result, and not in a position where you can lobby your MP. The project I describe shouldn’t cost any money, but this can be a hell of a price to pay. I’m not just talking about myself here; the organisers of a certain hustings at Flit-ick were accused by Dorries of being part of a conspiracy against her, and she refused to engage with their group as a result.

For this reason I think potential participants should seriously consider targeting an MP other than their own, even if it does leads to cries of “they’re not even a CONSTITUENT!’

On that note, I would wish to remind you good people that taking on liars is not for the faint-hearted. You often get lied about as a result. You may even get smeared as a stalker. I Am Not A Lawyer, but I can tell you from experience that the law does not regard scrutinising an MP to be stalking or even harassment. However, you will appreciate having team-mates and a wider support network should this false accusation or any other be used against you in response to valid and fair scrutiny.

Also, if you have any interest in media watching at all, you will have noticed by now that MPs with an agenda often serve as hot spots for bullshit, as they are often the origin of lies, if not the source of ill-informed opinions used to sell or perpetuate them.

This information vacuum is a largely unexplored and poorly exploited region on the frontier, it is in the public interest that we have someone manning it, and it has a glorious sweet spot for those in the know; a place where many small publishers can have a significant impact on politics with very little effort, without surrendering their independence, and without falling into the old pattern of surrendering to gas giants and the passing garbage they attract.

In my opinion, pursuit of a mass audience is a fallacy, a false ideal for bloggers that discourages many talented publishers from fulfilling their true potential. If you are reaching any of your target audience, you shouldn’t have to worry about your audience size any more than boys should worry about penis size, PLUS I have just given you a short manual on knowing how to use it.

There it is. That’s my thought. It’s for you to determine how relevant it is.

If you’d like to chat about it on Twitter in coming days, the call to action from this talk will be live on my blog shortly and the tag for discussion is #outpost.

I look forward to manning the frontier with you. Thanks for your time.

Related link: Dave Cross – Watching the Press – Notes

Jeremy Hunt approves of all sorts of odd things

21st Mar 2011

Posted by Tim Ireland in Anne Milton

5 comments

CCC11-02 – Jeremy Hunt rhymes with something

The latest edition of Conservative Change Channel is (finally) out and it includes two special moments from Jeremy Hunt (recorded just prior to the 2010 General Election):

1. The first is classic Hunt. He once again brushes right over the significance of two local Conservative activists who smeared an opponent as a paedophile, as if it’s of no significance. The look on his face at the time was ‘yeah, so what… get to the point’. He has repeatedly dismissed the importance of this smear campaign and repeatedly endorsed the MP (Anne Milton) who turned a blind eye to this campaign and involved herself personally in a further smear campaign against me. Hunt’s wife once gasped in shock when hearing about it, and Hunt shushed her loudly right there in the street, lest she make the fatal mistake of expressing any kind of alarm about it.

(I often wonder what he told her after making his excuses and hurrying off, as he so often does. I doubt it was the truth.)

2. Jeremy Hunt rather rashly weasels his way out of his practice of deleting past entries from his weblog and Twitter feed by claiming he is accountable after all… but only because of measures that corrupt liars like Iain Dale and Nadine Dorries describe as ‘stalking’ (when their mates are not doing the same or worse to people they don’t like).

So over the coming days and weeks – knowing that I have the blessing of the Minister of Teh Internets – I am going to encourage others to hold their MP to account via a weblog, starting with some simple tasks you will find surprisingly manageable and effective. I even have a plan for sharing the load on some of the more specialised/work-intensive tasks (e.g. journalism, research, data analysis, etc.). I will also be making recommendations* designed to minimise the risks I’ve exposed myself to, and you certainly won’t find yourself standing alone if some scumbag fights back with lies or smears.

I ran a similar (and successful) campaign for people to blog on behalf of MPs in 2005, but we have a much busier online village now, with better tech at our disposal, and this effort is going to be a lot less forgiving; we have a whole new gang of liars in charge, and they’ve been making all sorts of promises about transparency that they probably never expected they’d have to live up to.

(*On this note; you do NOT have to be a constituent of any given MP to take part. In fact, it’s probably better if you’re not; I found myself cut off from democracy at a local level because I dared to scrutinise my MP, and I’d hate to see that happen to someone else. Take your time. Choose your target. I’ll be on deck with Lesson One shortly.)

Iain Dale tells lies shock

17th Dec 2010

Posted by Tim Ireland in The Political Weblog Movement

4 comments

I’m too time-pressed to write a proper farewell to Iain Dale and his particular ‘style’ of blogging (allowing your site to be used as a platform for anonymous attacks on your critics and rivals then screaming ‘personal attack’ when confronted about it) but he’s now claiming in Twitter that he never blamed me in any way for his failure to secure a seat as an MP.

Technically, I’m violating the Chatham House Rule here, but as his mate Phil Hendren is busy publicly pushing his interpretation of what Iain Dale said privately, I don’t see I have much choice.

This is what Iain Dale said:

“I didn’t apply for several parliamentary nominations in the wider Guildford area because I was convinced Tim would turn up at them and ruin my chances (Woking being the main one, I remember). You may think that is preposterous, but when you are feeling stalked or harassed, that’s how you think.” – Iain Dale

Today, Iain Dale first claimed I was ‘making it up’ and/or imagining that he said anything like this, then later had his mate do the back-pedalling for him, which allows him to put it about as a misinterpretation of what he said while not admitting (oops) that he had actually blamed me, at least in part, for his wider failure to secure a seat.

Well, now you can read what he said and decide for yourself.

He’s talking absolute bollocks about “feeling stalked or harassed”, by the way. He retreated to this position after falsely claiming that I actually stalked/harassed him (months later he deleted this from his site without retracting it). You may also note that rather than host even this watered-down claim himself, he instead burdens the BBC with it as he describes it as “effectively stalking”.

Currently he defends this as opinion when he knows it is being passed off as fact by people who are actually harassing me.

The guy who has been watching my house and blogging details about where I live uses Iain Dale’s claims that I stalk him to justify his actions.

I’ll repeat that bit:

The guy who has been watching my house and blogging details about where I live uses Iain Dale’s claims that I stalk him to justify his actions.

I have been targeted. My family has been targeted. And yet Dale claims the moral high ground and describes my objecting to his role in it as putting him “through hell”. Pardon my French, but he’s a cloaca.

Unlike Iain, I have responded to what I claim to be harassment with an actual attempt to report the matter to police and have the individual(s) concerned prosecuted. A police investigation is in progress. Iain Dale refuses to cooperate with this investigation (just as he refused to cooperate with those that preceded it; a major reason for the calls he puts about as ‘proof’ of my stalking him), even so far as refusing to provide a simple incident number for the single complaint to police he claims to have made (that went nowhere, if it ever happened at all). Instead of offering this simple scrap of data, Iain tells me to “go to hell”. Also, he wants to be the only person active in the original matter who does not want to supply a statement; instead he wants police to call him so he can tell his side of the story on the fly, like he’s some kind of VIP.

[Sidebar: note the similarity between the position of Dale here and the position of Nadine Dorries; Dale has repeatedly put it about publicly and privately that I am guilty of stalking him, Dorries claims I was under investigation for stalking her at one stage, but neither can produce a crime reference number that would accompany any investigation and/or subsequent prosecution... or even an incident number to show that they ever made a complaint.]

Now, while I would certainly campaign against this proven liar, I have never stalked or harassed Iain Dale by the legal or even the popularly-accepted definitions of these words, and especially not in the manner he describes/implies in this email (i.e. as if I am likely to follow him around and linger outside his house, work etc.)

And to show you how I know that even his claim that he is/was “feeling stalked or harassed” is bollocks:

All of Iain’s decisions in this respect were made well in advance of the May 2010 election, which should be obvious. Yet in the relevant email, Iain Dale cites an event during that election as his primary justification for thinking this way long before the election.

(Dale often uses this ‘time machine’ technique; he once claimed he didn’t intervene when I was being smeared as a paedophile because of the way I reacted after he promised to intervene and didn’t, then lied about it.)

As you’ve probably guessed, in the relevant email he references the Flitwick meeting that I was invited to by participating constituents in Mid Bedfordshire where Dorries accused me of stalking her.

Dorries plays a similar ‘time machine’ game now. She claimed at that event that I was under police investigation for stalking her. This claim was entirely untrue. Now she has others doing her dirty work for her (Dorries uses Harry Cole in the same way Iain Dale uses Phil Hendren) and putting it about that my presence at that event somehow proves what she claimed happened before that event.

Also, in this same email, Dale holds the contradictory positions that (a) Dorries’ claims justify his position, but (b) he does not want to talk about them in detail because they are irrelevant to his position:

“I am not going to involve myself in the Nadine stuff beyond saying this, as it is irrelevant so far as I can see to the situation between me and Tim.” – Iain Dale

Iain Dale is either an outright liar or as delusional as he makes me out to be. All I have ever done is confront him with due criticism. Typically, he has responded to this criticism with lies and/or smears, or had others do this dirty work for him. This instance is no different.

Iain Dale also claims today, not for the first time, that I have repeatedly lied about him. He once even sent me an absurd legal threat that accused me of libel. Because it contained no specifics (as genuine concerns of libel do) his cut-price lawyer was challenged to identify just one single instance of libel on my site. He failed to do so. Meanwhile, I could then and can now easily establish that Iain Dale not only libelled Tom Watson, but libelled me in the process.

Iain Dale is a liar; a precious, malicious, vindictive and deliberate liar who knowingly uses damaging lies against political enemies (both real and perceived); his claims that I (almost… maybe… allegedly… ‘effectively’…) stalked him are nothing more than a smear campaign designed to discredit me while excusing his repeated failure to account for his disgraceful conduct.

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UPDATE – Upon ‘retirement’, Iain Dale stated that the time to stop doing stuff is when you stop enjoying it. Despite his claims to the contrary, Dale knows exactly who is targeting me and how, and how his outbursts egg this person on. And yet, despite his inability to substantiate his (recently watered down) claims, he won’t stop doing it. Excuse me for suspecting that he is enjoying it.

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RELATED: Richard Bartholomew – Why Iain Dale Should Stop Accusing Tim Ireland of Stalking

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UPDATE (10:20pm) – Iain Dale, mostly through his hostile little mate Phil Hendren, is telling anyone who will listen that I am a liar and that he hasn’t refused to cooperate with a police investigation as I have said. As usual, the devil is in the detail that Dale hates so much:

1. In any harassment case, a tremendous burden is on the victim to gather evidence before passing it to police. Dale/Hendren would have you think that because it is me asking for the evidence that Dale’s refusal doesn’t amount to a refusal to cooperate with a police/criminal investigation, before going on to claim/imply that he never refused in the first place.

2. Iain Dale damn well did refuse to cooperate in the police investigation of April 2009, but while denying this ever happened, he uses the calls I made to him seeking his statement when it happened as his primary ammunition to publicly claim I am a stalker. That’s really taking the piss. Dale has never once sought to account for his actions on that weekend, but apparently I am to be branded a stalker (and stalked by a stalker calling me a stalker) based on nothing more than his partial account and his untested assertions.

3. Earlier this year, I had good reason to believe police were not taking my complaint seriously because of the counter accusations made by the person targeting myself and my family; the bulk of these resulted from (false) claims by Iain Dale, who refused to even discuss much of the detail privately, never mind provide a public statement. Instead, he made a counter-offer; he wanted me to provide police with a phone number so they could call him. This was at the stage when I wished to present an ordered summary of evidence to get a case going. Dale offering his phone number in these circumstances was beyond inadequate; it was an insult to the intelligence. What was I supposed to do; leave a big gap, say “call Iain Dale for the rest” and hope for the best? Dale has not offered cooperation by any stretch of the imagination.

4. Now I’m being badgered by his mate Hendren, who is claiming I “repeatedly lied about Iain Dale refusing to cooperate with a police investigation” and trying to put me on the spot with the question; why won’t I let the police call Iain Dale so he can help me? Well, the investigation is underway and my needs have changed; it is no longer a matter of getting past counter-accusations by the person targeting me. While a statement would still be appreciated and useful, currently it is mainly a matter of trying to connect somewhere between 3-6 police forces so there is a complete picture of what is going on (not least because recent advice released by the CPS makes clear that the wider picture needs to be taken into account in the particularly tricky realm of cyber harassment). What I need to help this along is the reference numbers that police live by; anything less risks wasting their time or putting them off, and if Dale cannot provide the incident/reference number that he would have been given if he had made a complaint (as he claims to) then I am not going to complicate matters by insisting that they chase him for it. Who the bloody hell does he think he is? Dale has not only refused to provide this number, he has refused to acknowledge receipt of emails requesting it. No doubt he is hoping I will repeat the mistake of trying to call him so he can wave this about as if it proves there’s substance to this smear campaign of his. If Dale is seriously claiming that he wants to cooperate at this time, then the cooperation I need at this time amounts to him providing a reference number that he should already have to hand.

5. Ditto Nadine Dorries, who once offered to ask police for incident/crime reference numbers she would already have to hand if she were telling anything near the truth about complaints she claimed to make and investigations she claimed took place. It is well over a month since she made this offer, but there is no sign of any number(s) and like Iain Dale she is refusing all communication and instead letting others attack me on her behalf. Currently, I am forced to read between the lines of this outburst, where Dorries appears to reveal that she has only recently attempted to make a complaint, only to be told by police that my conduct is completely within reasonable bounds (see here where she says: “I am expected, even though you aren’t one of my constituents, to take it”). I hope to know more about this soon; I am awaiting important data (and not from Dorries).

6. Iain Dale and Nadine Dorries have repeatedly sought to try me in the court of public opinion rather than address this properly through a criminal or even civil route. Worse, they do this knowing how it encourages the person targeting me. Dale is particularly mendacious about this; he privately defends bold assertions/accusations as opinion, while knowing this person targeting me passes it off as fact. He then has the temerity to call me a liar and claim I put him through hell over this. Dale and Dorries have sought to pursue this through the court of public opinion, and if they wish to continue on this path and allow their accusations to stand without retraction, then that is where they should be offering their evidence.

7. Finally, I have NEVER been contacted by police about ANY instance of alleged harssment which is standard protocol for every force following any credible complaint. If Dale or Dorries ever made a complaint, it amounted to nothing. I part suspect that Dale did make a complaint to police as he claimed, but that it is not what he makes it out to be and/or he was as honest with them as he was with me about his promise to call Patrick Mercer. If either is the case, there may not be a number because his complaint was so inconsequential as to be dismissed*, or he would have good reason to withhold the number despite the doubts many people now have about his account/claims. But if he never made that complaint at all, and only claimed that he made a complaint so, like Dorries, he could then claim/imply I was subsequently guilty in some way, then obviously he has no reference number to give.

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*MINI-UPDATE – This passage changed slightly to include the possibility that Iain Dale made a complaint and was not issued with a reference number because it was so inconsequential he was advised by police that he was wasting his and their time. If this is the case, Dale has been misrepresenting the nature/significance of his complaint for well over a year and a half.

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UPDATE (19 Dec) – Iain Dale is still having his mate Hendren call me a liar on his behalf (while refusing to engage or communicate himself), despite the update above. Offering to do something entirely different than what is asked of you is NOT cooperation, especially when it is so thoroughly inadeqaute as what Dale offered. In any instance, he restricts his bullshit defence to the current investigation, and it is my clearly stated position that he refused to cooperate with more than one. Further, he only made the recent offer in the face of bad publicity; it wasn’t out of any altruism as he pretends. You may also note this accusation does nothing to address the other concerns raised in this post; it only implies that I have lied about it all. Typical of Dale and his leading flunky.

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UPDATE (19 Dec) – Oh dear. Dale has just had a comment published over at Hendren’s, and it’s becoming clearer why he cannot produce a reference number, and why he has avoided giving any details about his ‘complaint’ for well over a year:

I visited Tonbridge Police Station on the evening of 15 April 2008. That is all you need to know., I asked their advice, Their advice was to take out a harrassment [sic] order on you. I proceeded to take legal advice and you then received several warning letters.

Quite why you think you are entitled to any information from me after your behaviour towards me one can but wonder.

“15 April 2008″? Dare I bark at Iain to get his facts straight? Doesn’t he allege the events took place in 2009?

And why go to the police station? For dramatic effect? For exercise? A phone call would have done. It would have been logged, too, but surely that’s by the by.

Also, note in this closing paragraph he is again attempting to justify his refusal to cooperate when he claims he is cooperating (and basing a claim that I am a liar on this and this alone).

But most importantly, Iain Dale has repeatedly claimed elsewhere that he “reported me to police for harassment” as if he filed a report or statement (that he would later have to account for if untrue) and/or as if police somehow agreed my actions may have equated to harassment… now he says he merely asked police for their advice, and judging by this account he never got any further than the front desk! This, after claiming to have been the target of stalking for “years”.

He also implies here that he had cause to take a harassment order out against me and further implies that he began this process in earnest, when all he sent was two (not several) deeply flawed letters (that read like he wrote them before having a two-bit lawyer sign them off) containing accusations that he could not substantiate then and cannot substantiate now. The first relied heavily on a claim of repeated libel (not harassment) that, when challenged, was never mentioned again! Tellingly, he even feels the need to exaggerate the number of letters.

Dale’s recent account makes it pretty clear why he cannot produce a reference number; his ‘complaint’ to police was nothing like what he describes when repeatedly smearing me as a stalker and, like Dorries, he falls back on some vague talk about a conversation that is impossible to verify, where he is given ‘advice’ by police which most sensible people would interpret as ‘please stop wasting our time’.

And still he portrays my actions as if they amount to harassment/stalking, despite knowing how his accusations feed a genuine campaign of harassment targeting me.

(To add insult to injury, his mate Hendren is publishing comments suggesting I am imagining the process where the person targeting me recycles Iain’s lies and hyperbole, when he knows it to be a valid concern about actual events.)

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UPDATE – Here’s Iain Dale lying about the ‘complaints’ made by himself and Dorries. I’ll include a screen capture in case he later deletes it as if he never said it (as he does often):

Yes, he did make it up. So did Dorries. Neither of them made a complaint that was anything like what they described when repeatedly smearing me as a stalker. If they have a case, let them pursue it through criminal or civil means, not through a whispering campaign, trial by (new) media or tacit approval/encouragement of vigilante action.

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MORE RELATED BLOGAGGE:

Ramble On: Billy don’t lose my number

Never Trust a Hippy: Blogging v political careers

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Iain Dale, his pride, and others things that are hard to swallow

16th Sep 2010

Posted by Tim Ireland in The Political Weblog Movement

One of the main issues I have always had with Iain Dale is his ‘style’ of comment moderation.

In his post on ‘rules’, he says that he will not allow comments that could be “construed as libellous” and reserves the right to remove comments that are “insulting to me or other people posting in the thread”.

However, the sad truth is that Iain Dale has allowed this kind of content many times when it has suited him.

What follows are some choice extracts from a comment thread in which Iain Dale resorted to his all-too-common tactic of actively exploiting or engaging in exactly the kind of behaviour he says he won’t allow on his site… and on this occasion, I copped the sharp end of it when I dared to complain about this very thing.

Please note that Iain Dale may suddenly delete any or all of these examples (and pretend that he is trying to do me a favour when doing so, when he knows I seek a retraction over deletion). If this happens, I will add a screen capture and/or link to the archived version of this same page. To be clear; I would really prefer at this stage that Iain Dale try to defend his position and what he allowed in this thread, or issue a full and sincere retraction. I would regard the sudden deletion of the offending comments in this thread, without discussion or retraction, to be no more than a further attempt to retro-moderate his site (see: Jeremy Hunt) and pretend that none of this ever happened and/or did not happen in the way I describe(d) it.

For those wondering what relevance a thread from 2008 has here in the far-flung future world of 2010, it is this; Dale denies that he played any significant role in popularising and publishing the accusation that I am a stalker generally, and denies that what he has said in the past is in any way relevant to my being accused by others of stalking Nadine Dorries and Anne Milton specifically. This thread proves otherwise.

“Why should he answer any questions from someone who has clear mental problems.”
Comment by ‘Curbishlyauto’, directed at me, published by Iain Dale

“Tim, you have a blog which nobody reads, and your only significance in the blogging world is when you stalk successful blogs and try to blow up something with them.” Anonymous comment published by Iain Dale

“Iain, why is it that you insist on publishing anonymous comments that rubbish what I’ve done for the [political] blogosphere and/or call me a stalker or troll with mental problems?” – Comment by me (shortly before I was banned from making further comments by Iain Dale)

“Erm…. and Stalker Tim, as Iain has one of the most widely-read and influential blogs in the country (as does Guido) that does in fact make them experts, and you an amateur.” – Anonymous comment published by Iain Dale

“Excuse me Tim, you useless little stalker, I don’t see you answering MY questions…” – Anonymous comment published by Iain Dale

“Overnight Tim Ireland has sent two emails making non specific threats. Either I obey his rules and dikats or I should face the consequences. As a result he is now banned from making further comments on this blog if he persists in his campaign of vilification I shall be placing the matter of m’learned friend. Ask Anne Milton or Nadine Dorries what it is liked to be stalked by this idiot. I was so stupid to reverse the previous ban. It won’t be happening again. This time it’s permanent.” – Comment by Iain Dale himself

Before we proceed, I am happy to repeat Iain Dale’s denials that he submitted these anonymous comments himself; I don’t see how this stands in his favour when he has knowingly exploited them in violation of his own comment moderation policy, but he seems to think that the distinction is important, so I’m happy to make it.

My position is that Iain Dale has knowingly and repeatedly allowed his website to be used as a platform for anonymous abuse and false accusations designed to damage his critics, and that he has done it so often that it’s neither here nor there if he typed these comments himself; he created an environment that encouraged sock-puppetry in his favour, and used this consistently to gain advantage in online debates that he hosted. I regard this to be an abuse of his readers trust, and an abuse of his wider responsibilities as a publisher.

Iain Dale currently regards the publication of the above accusations on his website to be ‘irrelevant’. He has since offered to delete them, but refuses to retract them. He is now upset because I may have to resort to civil action (as if this is a certainty, and aimed primarily at him for personal reasons).

I also question his use of the word ‘threat’ here, and not for the first time. Like ‘stalker’, it is a word he is all-too-willing to throw about like candy, and he has often given the false impression that a threat of attention, exposure or confrontation has been a threat of physcial violence, but he’ll throw a full-on wobbly if anyone dares call him a ‘liar’ when he is caught lying, and will classify an charge of ‘hypocrisy’ as ‘abuse’ while thinking nothing of calling someone a “sack of shit” and/or telling them to “piss off”.

(Psst! If you have the stomach/patience to read the entire thread, you may note that Iain Dale calls me a ‘liar’, too, basing this on the possibility that I might have been half-wrong about something. In his opinion. He also publishes comments that imply that I have defrauded my clients/employer.)

Currently, it is not going to cost Iain Dale anything but his pride to retract these claims that he defends as opinion, when he knows that they are being passed off as fact in an ongoing harassment campaign.

But, despite knowing of the dangers to me and my family (and even a lot of the background that I dare not publish), he won’t even discuss the evidence on which he bases his judgement… so it can’t even be said that he can defend it as opinion, because he has so far refused to do this.

So, basically, I’m to be branded a stalker on the basis of Iain Dale’s “because I say so”.

I can, theoretically, step past Dale and the barrier of bullshit he knowingly maintains despite the risks to me (and my children), but even that will take money.

If I am to attempt prosecution of Dominic Wightman, the man most instrumental in the 18 month campaign of harassment against me (and now my family), I will need expert representation, and that takes money. Please donate today.

(Or maybe have a quiet word with Iain Dale and point out that he looks a bit silly pretending that he’s gone out of his way to help when he won’t issue a simple retraction or defend this opinion of his. He’ll most likely pretend he’s already dealt with this. He hasn’t. He knows his site has been used as a source of ‘dirt’ against me by the same people repeating his published opinion as fact. If he will not and cannot defend his opinion, on what basis does he refuse a retraction? Oh, and a relevant statement to police; he seriously wants me to provide him with their phone number and/or have police call him so he can wing it over the phone and ‘reassure’ them based on his current illogical and unsupported stance. I won’t be agreeing to this in a hurry. Retraction on site and written statement to police, or I will be forced to go around him, or over him. That’s the reality of it, and no ‘threat’.)

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NEXT: The MPs who knowingly shun due scrutiny with false and hysterical cries of ‘stalker’… including one cabinet minister who has lied about doing so, and another who has given an entirely false account of what they claim to have by way of supporting evidence.

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