For the past few YEARS someone has been harassing Kevin Church, of Beaucoupkevin.com, using the moniker "Steve Ebbling." It started out as typical internet troll bullshit but took a turn for the disturbing when "Steve" made threats connected to Kevin's pilgrimage to the MOCCA Art Festival this past weekend. Through a bit of sleuthing that would do Nancy Drew proud Kevin has deduced that "Steve Ebbling" is in fact on Gary Esposito. After posting the big reveal to his blog along with the line of reasoning he used to figure out who was trolling him Kevin then received this email. Go and read it, I'll wait.
You back? Pretty funny/sad stuff, eh? Nonetheless I am bothered by it.
If the email is real, and I am operating under the assumption that it is, then Gary Esposito and Steve Edwin are not only truly pathetic douche-bags but just straight up pussies as well. The email has the stench of, "Oh fuck, what do we do now that we've been found out," all over it, particularly since Kevin has informed Grey Global Group, the marketing firm which employs Gary "Weakest Troll Ever" Esposito, that he has been harassed from a computer at their IP address.
Now I do not have a problem with trolling in general, in fact a large amount of why I read the comic forums is to see the nerd-rage spin out of control and to get this done properly you need a troll. What I do have a problem with is that the initial trolling here is so weak and then the ongoing harassment drops below even sophomoric into the realm of "Your momma." If you're going to troll/harass then do it in new and interesting ways. Calling a, pardon me Kevin, large pasty white dude, large pasty and white without adding some art to it is just making an observation. (Being a rather large and pasty and white dude myself I know whereof I speak.)
The other thing I have a problem with is the unwillingness to be a man while harassing Kevin. If you are going to be a dick on the internet then at least own your dickishness. Hiding behind the thin veil of anonymity the internet offers is really a pussy move. Also when you get caught being a dick? Own it. Particularly in this case Gary. You have already sealed your fate. Kevin has enough evidence, circumstantial or not, to file a harassment suit against you or, barring that, against a John Doe aka. Steve Ebbling and subpoena computer access logs from Grey Global Group and user information from Hotmail. To be completely honest if I were Kevin I would have completely skipped the meta-post and any notification to Grey Global Group and gone right to a lawyer.
Finally I would expect much better goonishness from someone with the last name Esposito.
Oh well, the whole point of this was to help Kevin in his attempt to increase the Google rank of his Gary Esposito post from yesterday and to blow off a little steam. Come back tomorrow when I hope to post a review of Brent Ghelfi's debut novel Volk's Game.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
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3 comments:
Just to add a bit of I've-had-one-year-of-law-school know-it-all, and a lot of mass-hyphenated verbiage, to this post, I am going to come out and say that this is not a winning law suit. To the best of my understanding, you can't sue anybody for cyber-stalking unless you can prove they're a credible threat to your physical security. That being said, it may constitute a crime, federal or otherwise. I just don't think Kevin has a claim in civil court against Mr. Gary Esposito.
Ultimately this lawsuit does not need to be a winning lawsuit to achieve the goal of punishing Gary for his jackassery. All the lawsuit has to do is last long enough for Grey Global to be served with a subpoena requesting the computer logs and I am fairly certain that things would start to get a little rough for Gary around the office. While they might not fire him right off the bat, although I bet reading and posting to blogs violates some use of corporate resources policy, I suspect a reason would be found to either let Gary go or he would be de-hired.
(I love the term de-hired. For those of you who don't know what this is, it is when the company or supervisor has decided that a particular person is no longer wanted at the company however sufficient grounds for firing said person cannot be found therefore the only way to get rid of them is to get them to quit.)
Ultimately the termination of Gary's employment at Grey Global would be the unstated goal of this lawsuit since even if it was a winner (and I agree with your assessment that it is not) I bet there is very little to get besides the satisfaction of legally sticking it to a complete dickwad.
Hi Mr. Woods, this is the dickwad Gary Esposito from years ago with the whole Beaucoup Kevin trolling assholeness I did back in 2007. I'm writ in to ask for a favor; It's been almost 9 years since I did & got caught and punished for my trolling-rightly so. Since then I've taken steps to better myself over the years, therapy for my anger & depression, rebuilt friendships, went back to school to learn new skills for the workplace and started my own business.
I'm asking as a personal favor if you can remove my name from the "search engine" codes(?) that has your Opiate page about me-being an asshole-from coming up near the top of the results list.
I know what I did what stupid and childish, and I have apologized to everyone involved and have paid the price for my awfulness. I have been humbled and I paid the price a lot with friends and family, and learned about myself over the years of therapy and rebuilding.
Recently, I had to close my comic book store-I realized I am a good business man, manager, boss and salesman in the years I had it open-and have been freelancing at jobs lately, but fear that my dickwad past is affecting my finding work full-time today and getting my life in a more sensible order. I know what I'm asking is a lot and a big favor on your part and I'll be forever in your debt, one that I wouldn't know how to repay you, but I'd like to start the next phase of my life-which may include another business again, I really enjoyed owning and creating something with my own hands-without the baggage of my previous life to affect those that I may need in my life to help me on my search for work, having meaningful relationships and being a healthy, productive person all around. I am proud that some friends have made me legal guardian & emergency contact for their children, who I consider my nephews and nieces-that I love dearly, more than anything on earth, that I consider my greatest accomplishment in my rehabilitation these lat few years.
I am a better person now then I was back in 2007 but like all people, I need a little help once in a while, so I am asking you for some help at an important time in my life. I Thank you for your time and I hope you are well and look forward to hearing from you.
Have a great day.
Gary Esposito
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