Free speech is not the enemy

Sorry Jack. Linking to that site with Malkin's home address and phone number went beyond the pale.

Malkin published a press release - the same release was published on at least 3 other lefty websites (including Indymedia which gets nearly 100,000 visitors a day). You are equating publishing information clearly intended for wide distribution with information that is in the public domain but of a personal nature. You might not see a difference but I do.

I can't accept any more of your submissions for the carnival, Jack. By linking to that site with Malkin's personal info you've gone beyond the pale in my book. It's what I'm calling "A line of death." It's been crossed. I am also going to delink anyone who links to you.

This kind of thing has to be nipped in the bud immediately. I'm sorry you saw fit - even though you asked your readers to "be nice" - to link to that website.

So in other words, Rick, it's acceptable for Malkin to do it, but not me? At least I asked people to be cautious and considerate in how they used that information.

I respect your feelings in this matter, but I think your anger and dismay is misplaced. You talk about not accepting any more carnival submissions, and yet you never indicate which one it is that I'm banned from.

Get a grip, man. If you're going to express righteous indignation, how about directing it towards Malkin, who, after all, is the one who started this and began firing indiscriminately in all directions?

BTW...if you're thinking that your reaction is somehow going to cause me to see the "error" of my ways, guess again. This is my sandbox, and I make the rules here. I also write about what I choose, when I choose, and in any manner I see fit. You can read it, or not. Either way, it's no skin off my nose. Link or delink whoever you choose; that is your right and your perogative.

I'm somehow supposed to take you and your views seriously when you defend Malkin's actions and decry mine? Wake up and smell the cat litter, willya??

Yawn....

You know, I think it is fair. What is the old saying? "All's fair in love and war."

Well, we are in the middle of a culture war her ein America and I am flat-out shit-sick of being attacked because I am a liberal.

Had it up to here.

Anyway, my strip focused on this topic today and I linked it to your post.

Thanks, SB! I love the cartoon!!

Hey, it's not as if I spent hours cyberstalking Malkin. She started this clusterf--k all by herself.

Live by the sword, die by the sword, eh?

Oh, and to those of you who might want to condemn me for linking to a site that has Malkin's personal information on it: I'll take you seriously when I read an equally impassioned condemnation of Malkin's actions. What's that? You're not willing to do that? Well, then, STFU. I've got no time for hypocrisy and meaningless sturm und drang. Take your show elsewhere.

I think it's always wrong, period. It was wrong for Malkin to post the kids' contact info, it's wrong for anyone to post Malkin's personal contact info. And it was wrong for the New York Times ombudsman (the previous one) to publicly lash out at one particularly critical e-mailer, I don't care HOW rude the e-mailer was.

I see at least two issues here. One is the likelihood that anyone whose info is posted in the context of divisive debate like this will be harassed. I'm sorry, but unless you spam for a living, no one deserves that.

The other is that of unequal power. Malkin has a national audience. The NYT ombudsman does as well. In both cases, it's a privilege, and it should be used responsibly. By responsibly, I mean, among other things, with some sense of proportion. You don't kill a fly with a tactical nuke. Put another way, anyone in that position should pick on someone his/her own size.

Yes, I know there's a culture war on, but those who are in favor of culture can make their points effectively and powerfully without stooping to this tactic. As in boxing, if you can hit hard enough, you needn't sucker-punch to win.

I would never be the first to post personal information. However, if you are going to use that weapon against your political adversaries, don't be surprised when they return fire. Malkin is getting what she deserves. No, it's not pleasant, and no one wants to see anyone get death threats or harrassment. Nonetheless, her actions lead to untold numbers of death threats from her readers, a reaction she cannot deny responsibility for.

Tit for tat? Perhaps. I'm not proud of it, nor am I happy about it, but we simply cannot let this pass unanswered. Perhaps next time Malkin will consider the ramifications of her actions prior to letting loose the dogs of war.

It seems to me that Malkin and Jack are equally wrong here, but to a lesser degree than those who used the information posted to needlessly harass people simply because they happen to have a different point of view. Such actions are ineffective, inappropriate, irresponsible, and downright stupid.

Nobody can stop stupid people from doing stupid things. But one can choose to take the higher road and not make it so easy for stupid people to do stupid things. (Make them work for their stupidity!)

Perhaps a lesson that could be learned from this scenario is that in the "information age" it is wise to carefully guard personal details. As a result of the Internet, we can go "around the world in 80 milliseconds." Along the way, we're bound to encounter millions of stupid people.

I say she has sacrificed her right to privacy. We should all be posting her information. Malkin is the kind of person who learns nothing until the consequences are brought right home to their door.

Literally.

Malkin is a public figure.
Malkin has promoted herself and has published her own contact info (and if she wasn't smart enough to restrict that to her work email and cell, whose fault is that?) in the past.
Malkin, like Limbaugh, trades on the dangerous assumption that she can take aim at whomever she chooses with impunity because she is a celebrity.
Because she is a celebrity, however, much more fecal material can be routed into a rotating air impeller aimed at her than can be routed into one aimed at a private citizen with impunity, and since she put up her info I don't think there's anything wrong with using it.
If you choose to use it to let her know you agree with her or to praise her that's your business. If I choose to use it to tell her what a twit she is, that's mine.
She can, after all, erase her phone messages and delete emails, and she's a big girl with a six-figure income -- which, by the by, none of thoe college kids are.

Amen, Sarah....

For what it's worth, she has disconnected the number posted on a Town Called Dobson.

Rick-WOW! You take yourself pretty seriously! What, pray tell, is a 'line of death?" and how does one cross it? Get a grip, man. This is just free speech playing itself out. Deal with it.

The Malkin Apologists are out in force trying to beat down with intimidation those that speak out against Malkin.

Malkin has been the subject of the strip for the past 2 days. The response from the apologists are, well, not surprising.

The mayhem starts HERE.

Keep up the good work and don't let the bastards beat you down.

This is all hilarious. Putting publically available information on the internet is morally neutral (unless you have specific or general knowledge that the information will be used for harm.) I'm not just defending Jack here, I'm defending Malkin too. Sure, she's a complete idiot, but making a big production over this is such a gigantic waste of time that I can't even think of good hyperbole to describe it.

Instead of all this garbage, we should be talking about things like her [book](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Defense_of_Internment) titled "In Defense of Internment."

Also, Rick, you need to get over yourself. You sound like a 4 year-old. "I will delink anyone that links you." God. Sometimes I really fucking hate the internet.

Let's be clear. Malkin did not publish a press release that happened to have contact information on it. She published ONLY the contact info. The release was just a method for her to get their information, like Google or the phone book. The people posting her information found it through public records, as well.

And with all of the wailing about poor Michelle, has anything actually happened? The students got death threats, she got death threats. Other than feeling paranoid, have there been any negative repercussions from her address being posted? Listening to the right, you'd think her family had to throw everything in the station wagon in the dead of night and race for the border.