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Internet Law

Judge-Turned-Journalist Files Wikipedia Defamation Complaint in Her Old Court

Posted May 22, 2009 10:19 AM CST
By Debra Cassens Weiss

Judge-turned-television journalist Catherine Crier is asking a court to require disclosure of the name of an anonymous Wikipedia writer in a defamation suit filed in her old court.

The complaint filed in Dallas County Court claims the anonymous writer cut and pasted a Dallas Morning News story about a disbarred lawyer arrested for shoplifting into Crier’s Wikipedia page, substituting Crier’s name for that of the ex-lawyer, Catherine Shelton. The Tex Parte Blog and the Dallas Observer both carried the news.

“On the Wikipedia website, John Doe stated that Ms. Crier was a murder suspect, committed shoplifting, was jailed and had been disbarred. These facts are untrue,” says the complaint (PDF posted by Courthouse News Service.”

Crier wants AT&T Internet Service, based in Richardson, Texas, to identify the person using the Internet protocol address used to post the content.

Crier’s lawyer, Joe Kendall, told Tex Parte that his client is currently writing a book.

Comments

1.

Jeff Merkey
May 22, 2009 11:35 PM CST

I actually appeared in front of Catherine Crier in my first technology lawsuit against IBM in 1988 in Dallas Texas when she was a judge.  I had filed for sanctions against the other side in this dispute and she dismissed their case for me. 

This was about a month before she took the job as a journalist.

Well your honor, the person who did this is located in Oklahoma City.

[root@fedora ~]# nslookup 75.16.196.192
Server:      166.70.238.41
Address:  166.70.238.41#53

Non-authoritative answer:
192.196.16.75.in-addr.arpa   name = 75-16-196-192.lightspeed.okcyok.sbcglobal.net.

Authoritative answers can be found from:
196.16.75.in-addr.arpa   nameserver = ns3.sbcglobal.net.
196.16.75.in-addr.arpa   nameserver = ns1.swbell.net.
196.16.75.in-addr.arpa   nameserver = ns2.swbell.net.
ns2.swbell.net   internet address = 151.164.11.218
ns1.swbell.net   internet address = 151.164.1.1
ns3.sbcglobal.net   internet address = 65.68.49.6
 
This system also appears to be offline and using dynamic IP addresses as my probes of the address indicate no live system on this IP at this time on any ports, and if it is online, it’s most likely a Windows XP system.  You will need to request who was assigned this address for the specific dates/times referenced in the complaint.

Know anyone in Oklahoma City?

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2.

Jeff Merkey
May 23, 2009 12:06 AM CST

Comment removed by moderator.

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3.

B. McLeod
May 23, 2009 7:17 AM CST

Good job, Jeff.  And, what Ms. Crier is doing needs to be done.  Posters should understand that when they go this far over the line, anonymity is not a given, and they may, in fact, be hunted down like an animal and served with process.

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4.

Wigmore
May 23, 2009 11:32 AM CST

Simply from a tech standpoint, I would appreciate if you folks could clear this up.

1.  Can the casual reader (i.e. not the webmaster) of a blog such as this one actually determine the identity of a poster?

2.  If internet service is obtained from a mass provider like AOL or Comcast, don’t many people share the same IP address?

3.  Even if an individual has only one IP address but is using unencrypted WiFi, can’t others use it?

4.  What if an IP address comes back to an internet cafe?

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5.

Jeff Merkey
May 23, 2009 11:44 AM CST

Answers


1.  Yes. 

2.  No.  and all IP addresses now use routing with embedded GPS coordinates in the fringe routers so abusers (such as folks distributing kiddie porn) can be traced to the exact location on the earth they use the IP Address.

3.  Yes, but web browers leav their footprint (complete with serial number of their OS and Browser build revision) when a web page is accessed in the “agent” field.  So it can be tracked to the exact computer easily.

4.  It was not geolocated at an internet cafe, but at someones personal residence.  This person is so nailed its not even funny.

Jeff

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6.

emjaycee
May 23, 2009 11:46 AM CST

Poorly-drafted complaint.  If “these facts are untrue”, then they’re not facts, are they?  I would expect better from a judge!

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7.

Jeff Merkey
May 23, 2009 11:48 AM CST

i.e.  here is the goelocated coordinates for this IP address.

http://www.infosniper.net/index.php?ip_address=75.16.196.192&map_source=3&overview_map=1&lang=1&map_type=1&zoom_level=7

Jeff

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8.

Stephanie Clarkson
May 24, 2009 7:05 AM CST

Actually, no. That’s the person, probably innocent, who was using a dynamically assigned address from the same ISP, yesterday, when Jeff there did the lookup. There is no guarantee that that’s the same person, and indeed, since it’s been 4 months, a very good chance it’s not.

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9.

Keith
May 24, 2009 7:07 AM CST

I hate to bust the bubble - but those coordinates are almost certainly no where near where the person actually used that IP address. At best, those coordinates are of the edge router of the ISP the target uses… but it’s trivial to determine the ISP just from the IP address itself. At worst, those coordinates point to some legal address of the ISP.

There is absolutely no way for an end-user device such as a computer to determine and report its geographic coordinates and transmit them back to the upstream router without specialized software and/or hardware installed. If it was this easy, do you really think she’d have to ask the ISP to identify the user (which I suspect is not going to happen in any case)?

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10.

Stephanie Clarkson
May 24, 2009 7:11 AM CST

(indeed, right now, that address is going to ansbcglobal.net address in irvine, california)

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11.

Stephanie
May 24, 2009 9:02 AM CST

that info sniper address, btw, thinks the ip I’m on right now is in a completely different state than I’m in. It’s pegged me at about 400 miles from where I am.

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12.

Jeff Merkey
May 24, 2009 9:22 PM CST

I noted this is the case with infosniper, but ATT and Comcast both tend to associate MAC addresses and IP’s together and will routinely re-issue the same IP address to the same user for months on end. 

ATT will have the DHCP logs as to who was given this address, and the address is hardwired to Oklahoma City, so at least the city is accurate.

I also know that the router’s GPS coordinates are accurate, so whomever did this is a user of the local router I traced.

Jeff

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13.

Jeff Merkey
May 24, 2009 11:56 PM CST

Wow,  I just realized something.  This address is in the same part of town where Wikipedia admin Phaladriel resides.  Wonder if that’s a coincidence.

Jeff

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14.

Philip
May 25, 2009 9:04 PM CST

Jeff,

I didn’t understand your first answer in #5. Are you saying that you can come to THIS site and locate the IP address of other posters? Such as mine (please don’t out me btw, even though I haven’t said anything bad!)? How would you do that?

Obviously with Wikipedia, it’s a different game- they are making the IP addresses publicly available.

Also, one more thought that hasn’t been discussed re identity: even if you trace the post to a specific spot, if it’s just someone with wireless modem whose neighbors leech off them, you’ve got the coffee-shop problem all over again: it could be virtually anyone, even an iPhone. In that situation I’d be shocked if a court would let a civil litigant such as Crier start sending subpoenas out to the whole neighborhood to review everyone’s hard drive, or take all their depositions; and in any case it would likely be a waste of her resources.

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15.

Stephanie
May 25, 2009 11:45 PM CST

“I noted this is the case with infosniper, but ATT and Comcast both tend to associate MAC addresses and IP’s together and will routinely re-issue the same IP address to the same user for months on end”

Except I *am* a Comcast user. I’m in Boston. Yesterday, it told me i was in Hartford, CT. I have a different IP; it says I’m in Greenfield, MA. At least it got the state right, but it’s over 100 miles away. As it happens, both of those sites are locations on traceroutes to my actual location from certain other IPs, and neither of them are anywhere near where I am. Geolocation is useless for locating home users; all you’ve found is an address of a router that the user connects to, and they could be almost anywhere in the city. My IP address in text form claims I’m 9 miles away, in Brookline, so even the ‘okcyok.sbcglobal.net’ you have is suspect; it means their ISP connects them there, in that name grouping, and not that they’re anywhere near it. (ip).brookline.ma.boston.comcast.net seems to be in ‘the United States’; infosniper has no idea where. Geoselect claims it’s in Albuquerque.

In addition your ‘wonder if that’s a coincidence?’ comment about the Wikipedia admin would be implicate libel if it wasn’t obvious to anyone technical that you’re not well informed, and/or if that name can be connected to a real one. I suggest you withdraw the comment; I have flagged it.

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16.

Jeff Merkey
May 26, 2009 12:42 PM CST

I had comcast service for a couple of years and they would issue the same IP address over and over again to my servers.  In fact, it was so regular, I did not ever have to use DynDNS or other services.  I had one IP for almost 2 years statically assigned, even though they claim the IPs are static.

As for the other comment, whoever did this was familiar with law enforcement (since they had access to police info)  and very capable with Wikipedia.  and also fixated on shoplifting and other crminal activity.  Now which admin on Wikipedia is a Cop and also has that level of experience and also lives in Oklahoma City.  Hmmmmm…. wonder who it could be .....

:-)

Jeff

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17.

JC Denton
May 27, 2009 4:44 AM CST

Jeff, don’t post complete speculation about Phadriel, who has not been on Wikipedia for a good year and a half now. She is gone, and from my recollection she was nothing if not the nicest person I had ever met, and someone who would not make such libellious comments. Now stop with the meaningless gossip, and pseudo tech knowledge which you evidentially do not possess.

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18.

Jeff Merkey
May 27, 2009 8:11 AM CST

Met?  Where did you “meet” her/him/them?  In a chat room.  Come back to reality ...

Jeff

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19.

Sxeptomaniac
May 27, 2009 9:21 AM CST

I would agree with those who believe there needs to be some accountability for people who pull stuff like this on the internet.  Too much anonymity and an audience turns some people into complete idiots.

On the other hand, I strongly caution anyone reading this against taking Mr. Merkey’s claims to having pinpointed the perpetrator’s location seriously.  There’s a very small chance it’s accurate, but a much greater one that it’s miles, even hundreds of miles, off.  Only the ISP has any chance of accurately determining the location the IP was assigned to on that date.

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20.

Jeff Merkey
May 27, 2009 10:53 AM CST

blah blah blah ...

Jeff

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