The next chapter in the Merkey saga

Posted Jun 22, 2005 4:31 UTC (Wed) by jhardin (guest, #3297) [Link]

As in, *PLONK*?

Either Mr. Murkey is intentionally misrepresenting in a court filing what a killfile is, or he is just not up-to-speed on common Internet jargon. Can't help with the former, but for the latter here are some references:

http://catb.org/~esr/jargon/html/K/kill-file.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killfile

http://www.hyphenologist.co.uk/killfile/killfilefaq.htm

Also, a running this legal document through a spell checker before making it public would have improved its chances of being taken seriously (granted, at the cost of some of its - surely unintentional - humor value).

Jeff, you're your own worst enemy.

Posted Jun 22, 2005 4:40 UTC (Wed) by jachim (guest, #2963) [Link]

When did anyone ever attack him for being a Mormon?

I don't see PJ "predominantly promoting messages of hatred and violence" against Mormons.

Since when is Google Bombing and Google Spamming an "unlawful practice" that tampers with "hosting computers"? Granted it "tampers" with a search engine, but why does he care?

So, Merkey is this great and awesome contributor to Linux and Bruce Perens "claims to be a principal leader" in the Open Source Community.

Paragraphs 39 and 40 are downright outrageous.

41 parrots SCO's lines.

Linux empowers Al-Qaida, damn it!

And it allows the creation of MWDs. Send to troops to Finland!

OSS allows the creation of MPEG movies of terrorist beheadings, so it MUST be bad! (Funny, he doesn't say anything about the knife technology that did the actual beheadings. Seems like the knife makers are much more intimately involved with the terrorists.)

Linux advocates are trying to overthrow whole governments (and the whole of the EU, too!)

"Almost all of the companies" attacked by Bruce, PJ, Groklaw, Slashdot, et al are Mormon companies. Well, if "almost all" of them are, doesn't the fact that some aren't prove that it's not about religion?

The whole $50K buyout thing was Alan Cox's idea! (First I've heard that. Could be true, but I seriously doubt it.)

Merkey may not have ever worked for SCO, but if he isn't a shill, I don't know what is.

What the heck does "wold spoil ate" mean (paragraph 74)?

(Is JM a lawyer? If not, who drafted this filing for him? Certainly reads like a lawyer wrote it.)

The whole thing reminds me of the Monty Python Fish License sketch:
"You ARE a loony."

Posted Jun 22, 2005 6:02 UTC (Wed) by burki99 (subscriber, #17149) [Link]

27. Defendants Groklaw.com and Groklaw.net (“Groklaw”) are Internet websites which are alter-egos of Pamela Jones and are operated by Pamela Jones and hosted by the University of North Carolina. These websites are extreme right-wing and, among other things, seem to predominantly promote messages of hatred and violence directed against members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (“Mormons”) , and against business entities who employee, are funded by, owned by, or operated by Mormons. These websites also attack other groups who support or espouse cherished beliefs or positive views of Native American Society, Culture, and Spirituality.
...
32. Defendant slashdot.org is an far-right wing Internet news website that posts libelous and defamatory content and is used by Open Source Community members to anonymously post hate speech, death threats, threats to murder and promotes and advocates acts of domestic terrorism within the United States. The address and location of defendants is believed to be within the State of California, but is unknown at the present time.
...
42. Much of the activities of Linux and OSS have served to create a funneling system allowing sensitive and advanced technology created by computer technology companies in the United States to be illegally exported out of the United States and into the hands of the citizens of other countries.
43. As a result of these activities, a large portion of US technology has been unwittingly placed into the hands of various groups around the world, including Al-Queda, and other groups who sponsor international terrorism.

that was the time i stopped reading. don't think a judge will bear it much longer. otherwise something is really rotten in the state of utah.

Posted Jun 22, 2005 7:00 UTC (Wed) by xorbe (guest, #3165) [Link]

"The lawsuit seeks 100 million dollars in damages for civil rights violations, defamation, and other torts from each defendent."

Posted Jun 22, 2005 9:20 UTC (Wed) by steven97 (guest, #2702) [Link]

Posted Jun 22, 2005 9:45 UTC (Wed) by Seegras (guest, #20463) [Link]

Merkey wrote:
> Perens posted Internet messages on LWN.net stating to Linux
> and OSS members that [...] “Merkey should be placed in a
> file of people to be killed”.

Whereas the actual text by Bruce Perens reads:
| He belongs on every person's email kill file.

And then
> "I hereby swear and affirm that the statements made in the
> foregoing Complaint are true and correct to the best of my
> knowledge and ability."

Now, obviously the statement is FALSE, furtheron he seems not to know what a kill file is. This in turn contradicts his allegiation that:

> Merkey is engaged in the software industry as a computer
> scientist. Merkey has been awarded numerous patents by
> the United States Patent Office and is regarded by the
> computer industry as one of Utah's preeminent computer scientists.

Which contradicts again that the statements should be correct to the "best of his knowledge". If we assume that a computer scientist knows what a kill file is, this again contradicts that the "statements are true and correct".

Posted Jun 22, 2005 10:38 UTC (Wed) by jcm (subscriber, #18262) [Link]

...but but but! It's /really/ fun watching his antics and I'm actually glad that LWN do run these stories from time to time, even if it is "pandering".

:-)

Jon.

Posted Jun 22, 2005 14:16 UTC (Wed) by Thanatopsis (guest, #14019) [Link]

Now google lkml peyote jeff merkey.

And to think he swore all statements were true.

Posted Jun 22, 2005 14:30 UTC (Wed) by sbergman27 (guest, #10767) [Link]

There is, of course no way that said wingnut will win. But it can still be an inconvenience to (and a wrong against) the innocent parties.

Frankly, I think that the defendants that I am familiar with would have more class than to counter-sue. And it wastes their time, though I doubt anyone is actually worried. The thing about Jeff is that for all the bluster, he is at worst a damned nuisance, but essentially harmless.

Posted Jun 22, 2005 15:18 UTC (Wed) by tres (guest, #352) [Link]

12. Merkey's contributions to Novell and other computer companies within Utah and the computer industry at large has resulted in over 10 billion dollars in revenue into the local Utah high tech community over his prestigious career and in particular, the Utah Valley High Technology economy based on technology he has created and/or patented which is held by Novell, the Canopy Group, and dozens of other local high tech companies as well as companies around the world.

Posted Jun 22, 2005 18:10 UTC (Wed) by mk270 (guest, #4485) [Link]

I'd be interested to find out how much collusion there is between Maureen O'Gara (she of the first attempt), Jeff Merkey, and SCO. There are publicly well-documented links, but they're hardly conclusive of anything in relation to outing PJ.

Posted Jun 22, 2005 18:36 UTC (Wed) by allesfresser (guest, #216) [Link]

Posted Jun 22, 2005 19:10 UTC (Wed) by rickmoen (subscriber, #6943) [Link]

To most of us, this is just high comedy, but (assuming the filing is real) for Bruce and the other named parties, it's a serious imposition that is going to take real money and time out of their lives to dispose of.

This alleged civil lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Utah (one of the 94 trial courts, as opposed to the 12 regional circuit or appellate courts + one for the Federal circuit): That means that its proceedings follow the Federal Rules of Civil and Criminal Procedure.

The Federal Rules provide a standard remedy in case of frivolous litigation. It's contained in Rule 11: An action in Federal court must not be "presented for any improper purpose, such as to harass or to cause unnecessary delay or needless increase in the cost of litigation", the factual representations must "have evidentiary support or, if specifically so identified, are likely to have evidentiary support after a reasonable opportunity for further investigation or discovery", the legal claims must be "warranted by existing law or by a nonfrivolous argument for the extension, modification, or reversal of existing law or the establishment of new law", and any denial of respondent's factual allegations must be "warranted on the evidence or, if specifically so identified, are reasonably based on a lack of information or belief.

Anyone who is defending a Federal suit and feels that major elements of the complaint are improper per Rule 11 can file a motion requesting that those elements be corrected or withdrawn. If that doesn't happen within 21 days, then one can file for sanctions citing Rule 11.

The Federal courts don't have specific sanctions they must apply in such cases, but tend to come down like a ton of bricks on the offending party in sundry ways (not just ordering the losing party to pay all legal expenses, but also requiring direct punitive payments to the court, direct punitive payments to the other party, and sometimes non-monetary sanctions -- (as the Federal Rules require) sufficient to deter any repetition by that party and others. Rule 11 sanctions tend to be quite serious.

If I found myself served with a Federal action that seemed frivolous, I'd certainly ask my attorney to proceed towards Rule 11 sanctions, immediately.

(I am not an attorney; I may not and do not give legal advice to people about their own situations, and discuss law only in general terms. People having specific legal issues should consult their own lawyers. My acquaintance with the Federal Rules is mostly courtesy of teenage years spent in and around Federal court in San Francisco, observing legal wrangling about a civil-negligence lawsuit.)

Rick Moen
rick@linuxmafia.com

Posted Jun 22, 2005 19:33 UTC (Wed) by yodermk (guest, #3803) [Link]

"58. [Merky's offer to buy a BSD fork of the kernel] was originally suggested by Alan Cox"

Yeah right!!!!!

"59. OSS and Linux responded in a venomous manner to this proposal and while many members accepted the proposal..."

Huh??? Did any single person respond in a way halfway favorable to Merkey?

"...Perens, OSRM, and Groklaw and those acting in concert with them opposed it, and used their influence with OSS and Linux members by posting messages through the public Internet to defame and [...] threats to overthrow governmental systems."

Hey guys, let's overthrow the US government to get this Merkey dimwit!!!

LOL!

"57. During October of 2004, Mr. Merkey offered to purchase a fork of the Linux kernel from Linux and OSS members for an internal Open Source project whose intent was to support education and development of computer development skills within Native American Communities. [...]"

He had to buy a fork of the Linux kernel for an "internal Open Source project????" How in tarnation would the GPL not be adequate for that?

Never mind the fact that this masterpiece has more typos and spelling errors than you can shake a stick at.

I suppose I'm a defendant now. Oh well, I'm living far away from the States at the moment, so he can have fun tracking me down!

Posted Jun 22, 2005 20:41 UTC (Wed) by theraphim (guest, #25955) [Link]

American Indian, and mormon.
I've seen lot of this type. Once I've met a man who claimed he's the son of Stalin (but his real name was Gevorkyan Karen Gevorkovich, but who cares? he claimed, that's it).
Another one was man who claimed that group of people (DOES 1 to 200, hey-hey) made him exposed to DEATH RAYS and he suffered from it until he made a PROTECTION DEVICE (err, copper basin).

They were targets for compulsory hospitalization, not for lawsuit.

Posted Jun 22, 2005 20:53 UTC (Wed) by petrofsky (guest, #26862) [Link]

Posted Jun 22, 2005 22:46 UTC (Wed) by TxtEdMacs (guest, #5983) [Link]

"Why is Canopy so happy to kill Linux, destroy the GPL, and counterdemonsrate against ... August 21, 2003 Copped from Bruce Perens Website ... "

Proof positive, since it even mentions Canopy that's strongly tied into SCO.

Want more? Try this: " ... Interesting article in News.com by open source advocate Bruce Perens discussing the various attempts to kill open source by expensice law suits..."

He even has a HowTo on kill all, I found at the head of the list using only Perens and kill. Seems this Bruce guy is a dangerous person using kill so often. Nonetheless, throwing in the Merkey word mostly gets references to the law suit and murky links to kill.

How about some interesting fiction writing instead?

Posted Jun 22, 2005 23:17 UTC (Wed) by bojan (subscriber, #14302) [Link]

The socialist...

41. Members of OSS and Linux routinely reverse engineer, misappropriate, or by other means incorporate patented software methods, trade secrets, and other protected intellectual property into their projects under the cause of freedom to innovate, and in support of their socialist views that software should be free and owned by the masses. [...]

Go to right-wing sites...

26. [...] Jones is regarded as a right-wing legal reporter for Open Source. [...]

27. [...] These websites are extreme right-wing and, among other things, seem to predominantly promote messages of hatred and violence directed against members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (“Mormons”) , and against business entities who employee, are funded by, owned by, or operated by Mormons. [...]

Now directing your attention back to 41 again. The part about "stealing" and such...

41. [...] These activities have resulted in lawsuits and litigation from large computer companies around the world in an attempt to protect their investments in development of computer technology as the result of wide-spread theft of intellectual property by members of OSS and Linux.

Got that? Wide-spread THEFT. OK, now what does an outstanding citizen do when faced with this massive theft? Offers to buy stolen property from the thieves for US$50k! Not to mention the fact that Linus alone probably makes that much a quarter on Linux in the form of his salary.

Is this the most brilliant piece of legal work you've ever seen or what? ;-)

Posted Jun 23, 2005 0:07 UTC (Thu) by brouhaha (subscriber, #1698) [Link]

Posted Jun 23, 2005 20:21 UTC (Thu) by yodermk (guest, #3803) [Link]

I can understand Slashdot and Groklaw, since they are defendants, but I would expect to see it *somewhere* other than just LWN!

Posted Jun 25, 2005 4:51 UTC (Sat) by 1LMan (guest, #30664) [Link]

An ex coder & 1L

Posted Jun 26, 2005 0:47 UTC (Sun) by dps (guest, #5725) [Link]

It would be plausable to be an expert in computer science and not know the meaning of "kill file". Some computer scientists use formal methods which are a specialised area of mathematics. There is formal methods jargon including dag, process calculus, variant, abstraction invariant and "the mean calculator".

You do not use computer programs to prove results about a parallel system composed of abny number of the stated components (defined in CSP) connected in any way whatsoever---that the overall system is acyclic is *not* one of the conditions. This, and the performance of an implementation on real parallel hardware, is what got me a PhD in computer science.

All of this is a long way from understanding the meaning of "kill file".

Posted Jul 1, 2005 8:13 UTC (Fri) by jmerkey (guest, #30549) [Link]

I am providing a limited disclosure of some of the comments which have been posted or emailed to internet websites or myself as examples of inappropriate comments and as a result of perens verbal attacks and those of Groklaw. This does not include the hundreds of comments posted on Groklaw. I am saving those for court ...:

Bruce Perens;
"HE should be in everyones ... kill file"

"Kill Him ..."

"We are going to firebomb your house ... "

"You are a crackhead and a f_cking assh_le and I hope someone does away with you."

"I hope you off yourself before you reproduce. That would be a major setback for the species if
you are allowed to reproduce."

"We are going to come to your house, kill your wife and cut her open, and kill your children"

"I hope someone firebombs your house SCO Stooge"

"Go and kiss Marl Dickbrydes ass some more."

Linus Torvalds,
"What did they [SCO] offer you ..."

"How about asphxiation then for a soltution to the Merkey problem"

"He smokes peyote and should be put out of his misery"

"A dying breed (we hope)"

"These "kill Merkey" comments do not help. Some clown like Dan Lyons at Forbes may very well use these comments to prove that Linux lovers over at slashdot really are a hateful violent crowd"

"In some circles, if you offer 50K for a thing worth many times more, you have a large chance to get killed due to lack of respect. Merkey must consider himself lucky [to have not been killed]"

These are examples of the thousands of pages of exhibits and comments posted to the internet as a result of perens and Groklaw stories and false allegations I work for SCO, am a spy for SCO and the Canopy Group.

I hope this evidence is enlightening to the interested Linux Community members.