UPI lawyer demands deletion of Politech RFID April Fool's joke



-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: Article on Monitoring the Homeless Population
Date: Thu, 6 May 2004 15:16:04 -0400
From: Marc Oram <MOram@upi.com>
To: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>

Declan:

I appreciate you getting back to me promptly.

As I mentioned, we have received, and are continuing to receive
inquiries regarding the article you posted on your list serv.

While we appreciate your follow-up clarifying it as an April Fool's
Day joke, the article is being passed on to more and more people.
Further many people who are receiving the article, are not being sent
the disclaimer along with the article, as the disclaimer appears on
another page of your list serv.

As I am sure you know, the credibility of a news orgnanization is
based largely on reliable and accurate reporting.  As such, it is
extremely damaging to UPI, to be listed as the source of this article.

As such, we are requesting that you immediately remove the article,
and all related postings on the article, from your list serv, so
nothing related to the article appears on the Internet.  We would also
like for you to cooperate with us in ensuring that no additional
people receive the article.

We look forward to receiving a prompt reply, with a statement of your
intentions, at your earliest convenience.

Thank you for your anticipated cooperation.  Please contact me with
any comments or questions.

Sincerely,

Marc Oram

Ph. (202) 898-8073

  

-----Original Message-----
From: Declan McCullagh [mailto:declan@well.com]
Sent: Tuesday, May 04, 2004 3:40 PM
To: Marc Oram
Subject: Re: Article on Monitoring the Homeless Population


Marc,

Thanks for your note. The article is of course an April Fool's joke that 
looks, by the headers, like it was written by a staffer in the House of 
Representatives. I confirmed that it was a joke very soon after the 
"homeless" story appeared. Perhaps you didn't see the followup:
http://www.politechbot.com/pipermail/politech/2004-April/000574.html

You can see all the messages here:
http://www.politechbot.com/pipermail/politech/2004-April/

I understand the problems that you and other news organizations must 
have on April Fool's Day every year, and I don't envy you the task of 
chasing around the Internet.

Let me know if there's anything else I can help you with.

Best,
Declan



Marc Oram wrote:
> Dear Mr. McCullagh:
> 
> An article on monitoring the homeless population, which was attributed to UPI, was posted on your Politech list serv.  
> 
> I have talked to our Editorial Department and no one wrote the article or authorized anyone to write the article.  
> 
> We have received several responses from people asking us if the article is legitimate.  We are telling people that the article is not legitimate since we have no knowledge of any aspect of the article.  
> 
> Given the context of the article, I think you understand why we are concerned about the article being attributed to UPI.    
> 
> Please give me a call when you get a chance, as I would like to talk with you about this matter..
> 
> Sincerely,
> 
> Marc Oram
> 
> __________________________________________________
> Marc Oram
> Assistant General Counsel
> United Press International
> 1510 H Street, N.W.
> Washington, District of Columbia  20005
> Ph. (202) 898-8073
> Fax (202) 898-8051
> moram@upi.com
> __________________________________________________
> This email message, including any attachments, may be a privileged and confidential communication.  If the reader of this message is not the intended recipient, or the employee or agent responsible for deliverying the message to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution, forwarding, or copying of this communication is strictly prohibited.  If you have received this communication in error, please notify the sender by email or telephone, and delete the original message immediately.
> __________________________________________________
> 
>
Posted by Declan McCullagh on May 06, 2004