Chip StewartDec 14, 2022
There’s the Streisand Effect for you: A mystery buyer bought a Charlottesville weekly’s archives only to wipe them from the internet - apparently to erase several stories about rape allegations he faced in college. Now the Washington Post is writing about it. @mmasnick https://www.washingtonpost.com/media/2022/12/14/hook-charlottesville-vanished-archive/
A newspaper vanished from the internet. Did someone pay to kill it?

The Hook, a Charlottesville weekly, closed in 2013 but web archives survived until 22,000 stories vanished in June. Speculation swirls around a mystery buyer.

The Washington Post
Show threadBritish Tech GuruDec 14, 2022
@MediaLawProf @mmasnick This, more than anything is a bloody good example of why nobody should ever post anything online under their own name. Or even have a high definition photograph of themselves online.
Show threadBob VezeauDec 15, 2022
@britishtechguru @MediaLawProf @mmasnick Or alternatively, express only views you would be willing to defend or explain for the rest of your life. Be careful tooting under the influence.
Show threadJames EdwardDec 17, 2022
@BobVezeau @britishtechguru @MediaLawProf @mmasnick
But it would be nice if we could develop a culture where it was accepted that what people said in the past isn’t necessarily representative of who they are today, and that people are capable of growth and apologising for past indiscretions. I would trust a politician more if they had tooted a bunch of wrongheaded stuff in their youth, but had come clean with an apology rather than trying to delete/bury it or pretend like they never once said anything dumb.
Show threadBob VezeauDec 17, 2022
@britishtechguru @jamesedward @MediaLawProf @mmasnick Absolutely agree. It would be great if there were a way by which one could permanently attach the apology to the original indiscretion.
Show threadJames Edward
@mmasnick @britishtechguru @BobVezeau @MediaLawProf I guess on Mastodon at least there’s the edit button that you could use to prepend a retraction, though the temptation will be to edit a bad opinion into a good one rather than own the mistake.
Dec 17, 2022 at 12:34pmWeb
Show threadBob VezeauDec 17, 2022
@britishtechguru @mmasnick @MediaLawProf @jamesedward I often takes some time for one to recognize such a mistake. That realization can also come in degrees. No easy solutions.
Show threadChip StewartDec 17, 2022
@BobVezeau @britishtechguru @mmasnick @jamesedward a few years ago, I wrote about some of the ethical challenges of Streisand Effect shaming done by journalists, and differences between regular people vs elected officials & prominent people. https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=3124532
Show threadBritish Tech GuruDec 17, 2022

@MediaLawProf @BobVezeau @mmasnick @jamesedward

About 30 years ago, a newspaper published a deliberately inaccurate article and syndicated it. Nobody picked it up because it was nasty. I never saw the newspaper because everybody tried to protect me from seeing it. It did affect life's progress but as nobody would show the article I never figured out why. 15 years ago I found it online and had the paper delete it. It was nasty! 2:years ago I had to stop a photo being sold on Amazon. What a PITA