Well, looks like we won't be seeing a reply from LFJ to Null's lolsuit any time soon: his lawyers want 90+ days to respond.
Source
How Null feels:
Source
As to the lolsuit itself, I've given it some thought, I've done some reading into cases with online platforms seeking Declaratory Judgements (mostly Twitter/X against the US government over government leaks, I personally have not found a case of an online platform or website suing a private individual for DJ over content), and here's where I am right now with Null's case against LFJ. Again,
not a lawyer, not your lawyer, this is just my personal opinion.
Here's the problem I have with Null's request for a DJ:
Null is trying to make it seem like he's requesting a DJ because LFJ's DMCA take-down is prima facie bad faith, so he argues he should be allowed to just ignore such a blatantly bad faith request instead of "going through the motions" just for the sake of compliance as required by the DMCA: take down the content first, give the user an opportunity to contest the removal, then put it back online.
However, Null has made it abundantly clear in his public comments that the reason he actually wants to be allowed to bypass the DMCA take-down protocol is not just because LFJ' request is prima facie bad faith, but because Null suspects that if he did go through the DMCA motions, he would be forcing his users to doxx themselves to him, as the motions require the party contesting the take-down (in this case a user whose post was removed) to object under their real name and address. Null claims that Liz Fong Jones is abusing this requirement to get Kiwis to doxx themselves, so that LFJ later sue Null and abuse the discovery process to gain access to Kiwis' personal infoz. Null points to LFJ having previously stated his intent to obtain Kiwis' doxx to ruin their lives. Null claims that he promised his users to protect their online anonymity on the forum, and this promise is sacrosanct to him so that users do not lose faith in him and his platform. Here's what Null said about this on the last MATI:
And if they [the KF user whose post was removed in accordance with DMCA] try to file a counter? We have their name. We have their address. Oh, they're young? Bet their mom would like to know. Oh, they work at this job? Bet their company would like to know what they're up to online. Oh, they're in university? Aw, buddy, I've got somebody who's in staff at that faculty at that university.
The problem that I have is that Null's Fair Use claim is so much more stronger than his malicious intent claim ("DMCA forces my users to doxx themselves, which would then give LFJ access to their information"). The second claim is not based on something that has already happened but on a future hypothetical.
It's a fact and a matter of public record that LFJ has stated publicly on Twitter during #DropKiwiFarms that he would like to doxx Kiwis to ruin their lives. LFJ also stated at the time:
"The best form of moderation is where not just the mods are handing stuff down, but where you ridicule and ostracize people who repeatedly push the line rather than cheering them on"
But AFAICT Null cannot prove that LFJ has already abused private information obtained by him through compliance to the DMCA to doxx Kiwis and ruined their lives. Null alludes that this has already happened, but what is his evidence for this? If he puts the above tweets into evidence, LFJ can easily claim that this was just idle talk in the context of public trans activism, and therefore not a credible threat to actually doxx Kiwis.
Does Null have testimonies from Kiwis that LFJ has doxxed and that this has happened to? I don't understand how you can go before a judge and claim you should be allowed to ignore the DMCA on the basis of a future hypothetical, unless you have a very strong case for the likelihood of something happening. It shouldn't be a "maybe", it should be a "guaranteed to happen".
Like, if Null had already followed DMCA protocol, removed the glamour shot and given the user an opportunity to object to the removal under their real identity, with Null then placing the Bsky glamour shot back online because he was satisfied with the user's objection, but LFJ kept sending letters through his legal firm demanding that Null to prove that the poster had actually objected under their real identity... I can see how that would create a situation where a user's privacy is on the verge of being violated. That's not the situation here. I don't feel like Null has made a strong enough case for his claim that LFJ is abusing the DMCA protocol with ulterior motives. I think it's right for Null, given LFJ's public statements, to
assume that LFJ has ulterior motives and is abusing what he thinks is a legal loophole in the DMCA to get private infoz. But assuming is not being sure of something happening.
I feel like it's very easy for LFJ to counter Null's argument with:
"But I never asked Null to give me any of his users' private information, I'm only asking him to take my glamour shot down in accordance with the DMCA. I don't care about the identity of the user who posted it, I just want my picture removed. That's all I ask for.". Null is probably gonna say:
"No, you never had to ask for my users' infoz cos you just had Hackers on Estradiol hack my forum to then doxx my users illegally.", but again, how can you credibly and definitively trace this back to LFJ
before a judge? You can't, so the prospect of LFJ doxxing your users is a mere hypothetical as far as the judge is concerned. The judge in NY doesn't know the whole context of #DropKiwiFarms and the hacking of the forum ALLEGEDLY being plotted behind the scenes by Keffals, LFJ, Esqueer and other troons at the time, for the purpose of doxxing Kiwis and thus driving them away from the forum.
I now fear that the NY judge is just gonna say:
"Don't make promises to your users you can't keep. The DMCA protocol has a built-in mechanism for allowing protected content to be restored after compliance to a take-down. If it was a bad faith take-down request, you can just put the protected content back online after the user has credibly objected to its removal. You wanting to preserve the anonymity of your users is not reason enough for you to be exempt from going through the DMCA motions, even if it's in response to a prima facie bad faith take down request."