Surprising No One, Gawker is Claiming to Get Death Threats

[Note: None of the links I provide will take you to Gawker.  If you wish to boycott their site as I am—and have been long before this dustup—you are safe clicking on my links.]

Earlier today I pointed out that Gawker has joined in the doxxing game.  Well, it should surprise absolutely no one that they are getting death threats.  I won’t link to their crappy site, but here’s a quote from it:

At 4:25 p.m. today—just one hour and a quarter after we published this list of (publicly available, public records of) all of the gun owners in New York City (names, not addresses)—we received the phone call embedded above.

"You're fuckin dead," it says.

Not a very elaborate death threat, but a death threat nonetheless. (While we cannot rule out the possibility that the caller was a deranged fan of Miss Alabama, it's fair to assume this was related to the gun post.)

Also, a Gawker Media employee completely unconnected to the post in question received a phone call after the post went up telling her "You better look both ways when you leave the building" and "all of you better look both ways because you're going to get shot." The caller also said "every girl better have a boyfriend because you need someone to protect you."

The police have been contacted. These violent threats come as reaction to us publishing information that was already publicly available.

It is exactly as I predicted and indeed I anticipated this and asked a few rude questions:

Btw @gawker do you have armed guards on your building? When (not if) you get death threats from lawful gun owners, will you? cc @johnjcook
— Aaron Worthing (@AaronWorthing) January 8, 2013

@JohnJCook is the author of the Gawker article.  Again, I wrote this before I knew for a verified fact they were getting death threats, but I knew it would happen.  This is the case with all of these tweets:

I mean if you hire security guards to protect yourselves, I don't think they'd appreciate being called a__holes, @gawker @johnjcook
— Aaron Worthing (@AaronWorthing) January 8, 2013

Plus, @gawker @johnjcook, if you hire armed guards to protect yourselves, doesn't that just make you a__holes by proxy?
— Aaron Worthing (@AaronWorthing) January 8, 2013

.@johnjcook @gawker when u get scared from all the death threats are u going to "stick to your guns" & not hire ppl w guns to protect u?
— Aaron Worthing (@AaronWorthing) January 8, 2013

And I wrote this after I read about the threat including their statement that they called the cops:

Will they call the cops who help them a__holes? CC @gawker RT @jstrevino: World's fakest transgressors appeal to authority
— Aaron Worthing (@AaronWorthing) January 9, 2013

Meanwhile one of the commenters to the original Gawker article wrote this:

The journal posted my address and name for my gun ownership. My past stalker saw this. I haven't heard from him in two years, because I disappeared. Now he is back and calling me......thanks to people like you bunch of assholes, looks like I will have to protect myself from becoming a murder victim. Gracias.

No way to verify this is genuine or not, but it does illustrate exactly the danger created by this doxxing.

Meanwhile the author of the article is complaining that he is getting doxxed:

They shouldn't do that, but I have zero sympathy RT @johnjcook: People are tweeting my address. I didn't publish anyone's address.
— Aaron Worthing (@AaronWorthing) January 8, 2013

By the way, what is stupid about this is that he is implicitly verifying that they have the right address.  He should have been vague on this point.

But like I said, it shouldn’t be done and even if I saw the tweets in question I wouldn’t do anything to help my readers find it.  Two wrongs do not make a right.  But this is also really predictable as retaliation for his creepy and likely tortuous conduct:

You see, @johnjcook & @gawker, this is what happens when you start a doxxing war. The same tactics get used on you.
— Aaron Worthing (@AaronWorthing) January 8, 2013

All of which makes this tweet summing it up probably the best way to end this story for now:

I think the only name of an a__hole revealed in that @gawker story was @johnjcook allergic2bull.blogspot.com/2013/01/agains… cc @mrsdigger
— Aaron Worthing (@AaronWorthing) January 9, 2013

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My wife and I have lost our jobs due to the harassment of convicted terrorist Brett Kimberlin, including an attempt to get us killed and to frame me for a crime carrying a sentence of up to ten years.  I know that claim sounds fantastic, but if you read starting here, you will see absolute proof of these claims using documentary and video evidence.  If you would like to help in the fight to hold Mr. Kimberlin accountable, please hit the Blogger’s Defense Team button on the right.  And thank you.

Follow me at Twitter @aaronworthing, mostly for snark and site updates.  And you can purchase my book (or borrow it for free if you have Amazon Prime), Archangel: A Novel of Alternate, Recent History here.  And you can read a little more about my novel, here.

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Disclaimer:

I have accused some people, particularly Brett Kimberlin, of reprehensible conduct.  In some cases, the conduct is even criminal.  In all cases, the only justice I want is through the appropriate legal process—such as the criminal justice system.  I do not want to see vigilante violence against any person or any threat of such violence.  This kind of conduct is not only morally wrong, but it is counter-productive.

In the particular case of Brett Kimberlin, I do not want you to even contact him.  Do not call him.  Do not write him a letter.  Do not write him an email.  Do not text-message him.  Do not engage in any kind of directed communication.  I say this in part because under Maryland law, that can quickly become harassment and I don’t want that to happen to him.

And for that matter, don’t go on his property.  Don’t sneak around and try to photograph him.  Frankly try not to even be within his field of vision.  Your behavior could quickly cross the line into harassment in that way too (not to mention trespass and other concerns).

And do not contact his organizations, either.  And most of all, leave his family alone.

The only exception to all that is that if you are reporting on this, there is of course nothing wrong with contacting him for things like his official response to any stories you might report.  And even then if he tells you to stop contacting him, obey that request.  That this is a key element in making out a harassment claim under Maryland law—that a person asks you to stop and you refuse.

And let me say something else.  In my heart of hearts, I don’t believe that any person supporting me has done any of the above.  But if any of you have, stop it, and if you haven’t don’t start.