Jihad Joe and His Cyberbullying

Not content to face lawsuits from the Chief of Police and Mayor of Salisbury, Jihad Joe has decided to go after a site set up to parody his called http://antisbynews.blogspot.com.

As usual, Jihad Joe is speaking out of his ass.

Jihad Joe has allegedly written a letter to the operator the parody site that includes the following text:

This will be your only warning. If you do not take down my photographs I will process a lawsuit against you Monday morning. If you ever use my photographs again I will sue you. Many have tried playing this game in the past and local authorities have quickly stopped the original owners of those Blog Sites, in which I am sure you are aware of. I will not warn you again and this time I will prosecute you to the fullest extent of the law. If you choose to continue I will not settle, I will sue for everything you have and or don't have.

Sincerely,Joe Albero

sbynews.com

Where do I start?

First, the site is clearly marked as a parody site, and under the fair-use provisions of US Copyright law, Jihad Joe has no claim to make. 

Second, "local authorities" haven't done anything.  Local authorities usually means police, district attorney, etc.  Unless a criminal act has occured, they are powerless to intervene.  Copyright violations, if they exist (and they don't-- remember, fair use covers parody sites!) are civil violations, and can only be redressed through a civil lawsuit.

Third, private citizens cannot prosecute other private citizens.  Prosecutions are the province of the state.  Civil lawsuits are not prosecutions.  Perhaps Jihad Joe's inability to hire a lawyer lately -- did he ever call Dale Watson?-- is limiting his capabilities in speaking precisely on legal matters.

Fourth, threatening to file a criminal complaint in order to achieve a civil resolution is extortion.   By throwing around empty threats about filing criminal charges in what every court in this country would view as a civil issue, Jihad Joe is engaging in extortion.  Of course, this shouldn't surprise anyone, as Jihad Joe has been willing to send veiled threats in the past to area bloggers about his family's connections to the Genovese crime family.

Jihad Joe is now guilty of that which I addressed in terms of Barbrady v Albero:  Jihad Joe is trying to silence critics of his site using the exact same tactics as the Chief of Police.  With that in mind, I offer my own pictorial contribution to the anti-Albero forces:

Oh, and feel free to copy and use on your site.