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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
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Category: Kooks
Posted on: February 5, 2007 4:05 PM, by PZ Myers
Forgive the unlovely image conjured by the title, but it's true: Sylvia Browne is trying to shut down a critical website on the flimsiest of pretenses. It's good to see that she must be feeling some heat.
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Comments
They seem to actually be down. Can you paraphrase what you read before the plug was pulled?
Posted by: kyle | February 5, 2007 4:11 PM
Sylvia Browne's lawyers sent a cease and desist order to the StopSylviaBrowne site because it contains the words "Sylvia Browne" and therefore might cause people to be confused into thinking that it is Sylvia's site.
Considering the level of intelligence in Sylvia's clientele, they might be able to make a case.
Posted by: PZ Myers | February 5, 2007 4:20 PM
or maybe my inter-tubes got clogged up. They're fine now.
Posted by: kyle | February 5, 2007 4:20 PM
This is basically the same argument Fox News used in trying to shut down Al Franken's book "Lies." The case was quite literally laughed out of court, as would this. However, I'm sure Sylvia Browne's pockets are far deeper than those of the site proprietors, so just the threat of litigation may be enough to shut the site down. Lets hope not.
Posted by: argystokes | February 5, 2007 4:30 PM
That web site is loading very inconsistently, which is probably because of much higher than normal traffic, which is probably because Browne tried to get the site shut down, which is ironic.
Posted by: notthedroids | February 5, 2007 4:30 PM
I'd be scared if i were them. I mean with her psychic abilities she probably already knows the outcome of the case. And it probably results in their abduction by a latino gentleman, some jagged rocks and a blue car. Besides that she sees that they are definitely near some water, and hence will lose the case.
Posted by: kyle | February 5, 2007 4:34 PM
As Al Franken stated....
"PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SUE ME."
"I need the free publicity."
Posted by: Steve_C | February 5, 2007 4:35 PM
ya know, someday I think I will have to write a program that allows private users to donate bandwidth on the fly to sites that are temporarily having bandwidth difficulties like this one.
yeah, yeah, I know there's more to it than that (you'd have to have special switches that allowed for that, along with several other things), but wouldn't it be cool?
Posted by: Ichthyic | February 5, 2007 4:35 PM
What would be the relevent jurisdiction, and do they have SLAAP statutes?
Posted by: Zombie | February 5, 2007 4:53 PM
They appear to have succedded since the site is down.
MYOB'
.
Posted by: MYOB | February 5, 2007 5:02 PM
Site seems to get intermittent errors. Perhaps they are getting a lot of traffic today as a result of the C&D making its way around the Internet. People love a good C&D story...
Posted by: Zombie | February 5, 2007 5:10 PM
This tactic worked for Jerry Falwell, who tried forever to shut down the site "jerryfallwell.com" and eventually succeeded when it was discovered that one of his employees had mistakenly registered "Jerry Fallwell" as a trademark many years ago.
It is my understanding that "fair use" doesn't apply the same way to trademarks as it does to copyrighted material. And who knows how trademarked names factor into this.
Posted by: Reed A. Cartwright | February 5, 2007 5:22 PM
I got to the site a few minutes ago and just read the .pdf of the letter. What's hilarious to me is that it mispells her name twice:
"4. Your site provides linking instruction and text instructing others how to infringe our
SYVIA'S BROWNE'S marks.
"We hereby demand that you immediately cease and desist from any use of SYVLIA BROWNE in this or any other URL forthwith...."
Back when I was a legal secretary, botching a client's name (especially when it's claimed as a trademark) on any final document, even a letter, would be grounds for immediate dismissal. I won't even get into the bizarre sentence construction and dubious use of apostrophes in item 4.
Posted by: rhubarb | February 5, 2007 5:24 PM
StopSylviaBrowne site because it contains the words "Sylvia Browne" and therefore might cause people to be confused into thinking that it is Sylvia's site.
And that she's trying to stop herself? Hahahaha!
Why doesn't she just start a new site: StopStoppingSylvia Browne? Or just "think it" to everyone? (Sort of a mental Western Union telegram. Stop. That wasn't completed. Stop.)
Didn't she, a psychic, know that this was going to happen? That's what always get me.
Posted by: Kristine | February 5, 2007 5:26 PM
Aw, heck. I misspelled "misspells."
Maybe SYVLIA made me do it...
Posted by: rhubarb | February 5, 2007 5:49 PM
Why does she even need a website or book deal? If I was a psychic, I'd win the lotto for a week straight and retire in Hawaii.
Posted by: Geral | February 5, 2007 5:50 PM
Why does she even need a website or book deal? If I was a psychic, I'd win the lotto for a week straight and retire in Hawaii.
I don't know much about her but I don't think she claims to be able to predict the future. I think she claims that she can speak to the dead and various otherworldy spirits. Other than fleecing grieving families, I am not sure how such a skill would be useful financially even if it were possible. I guess maybe she could speak to a dead pirate and find out where their gold is buried or something. Yaaar!
Posted by: brent | February 5, 2007 6:17 PM
The folks with the site should immediately contact the Electonic Frontier Foundation. that have a lot of good advice on how to respond to such threats. If it's "interesting" enough, they will also get involve. When lawyers get faced with other big guns trained on them - or anyone who clearly knows their rights, they suddenly start to get reasonable.
http://www.eff.org/
Posted by: jbCharleston | February 5, 2007 6:19 PM
Gotta love those hucksters for donning the mantle of the injured party.
"How dare you impugn my honesty? I'll sue you! If my clients are stupid enough to believe me, they could believe you too! My livlihood won't sustain the slightest threat!"
Posted by: breakerslion | February 5, 2007 7:04 PM
All Sylvia has to do is follow through on her three year old+ agreement to apply for James Randi's Million Dollar Challenge, submit to scientific testing of her claimed abilities, and emerge triumphant over the forces of rationalism. Winning a million dollars is a much more cost effective way of silencing criticism than hiring a lawyer.
Posted by: fyreflye | February 5, 2007 7:09 PM
I notice the lawyer did not try to say the website owner is guilty of libel for writing that Sylvia is a fraud. God, that's the lawsuit I want to see. I can imagine Sylvia consulting her attorney, "But he called me a fraud, can't I sue?" and the attorney replying, "But Sylvia, you ARE a fraud."
Posted by: ryogam | February 5, 2007 7:38 PM
It's been over five years. She accepted on 9/3/2001... Not long before another event the spirits were probably screaming to her about.
Posted by: Bronze Dog | February 5, 2007 7:42 PM
brent, she most definitely does claim to be able to predict the future. But this somehow doesn't work on her. This means no lottery, no clever investments, no figuring out she is about to be sued for investment fraud. It is all very convenient for her since she doesn't have to deal with the most obvious predictions.
Of course she could predict the lottery number that will allow someone else is to win and give them the number if they split the award with her, but I am sure she would have en excuse as to why that wouldn't work but would still allow her to predict the future for others for a fee of thousands of dollars an hour.
Posted by: TheBlackCat | February 5, 2007 9:35 PM
Yes, Sylvia does claim to be able to predict the future. Here's a Richard Roeper column (via Skeptico) detailing some of her notable successes in 2006.
Posted by: Ebonmuse | February 5, 2007 10:13 PM
Perhaps something along the lines of bittorrent would do the job: the users who have already connected to the website and downloaded its content (in this cage the one page) can upload that content to other users who want to view the website, if the website itself is too busy to attend to them.
Posted by: valhar2000 | February 6, 2007 5:34 AM
Yeah! And when a site is having trouble, a check box/link could come up in the corner (non-invasive, classy) asking if you wish to participate. That way we would know we were helping. ... of course it would have to expire. 4 hours? 24 hours? a week? Customizable settings?
Posted by: Mike Fox | February 6, 2007 6:38 AM
I have just sent this email to the law firm doing Sylvia Browne bidding :
Good day,
My name is Alexandre Parent and I have received news of your cease and desist letter sent to Robert S. Lancaster for his website www.stopsylviabrowne.com. I may not be an expert on American copyright laws but I find that your claims are at best very shaky. I find it difficult to understand that a respected and serious law firm would want to be associated with an evident fraud like Ms. Sylvia Browne. I understand every person has a right to believe what he wants, but I find it unacceptable that that person would want to limit my rights to say how fraudulent I think their beliefs are. I know this is a long shot. I am a nobody. I am not even American, but I sincerely hope that you will reconsider your position regarding Mr. Lancaster and you policy of defending obvious crooks like Ms. Browne.
Sincerely,
Alexandre Parent
Posted by: Tristeus | February 6, 2007 9:22 AM
Speaking of the JREF challenge, I wonder if Randi is going to get involved considering the change he made to the challenge and the mission of his organization. He said he was going to try and go after them, maybe he'll back the website?
Either way, this week's Commentary is going to ROCK.
Posted by: Zbu | February 6, 2007 1:04 PM