Free Speech?

Universities claim to be the bastions of free speech – UCSB is no exception.  But does UCSB actually support free speech, or does it only support speech that is acceptable to UCSB?  

There are hundreds of websites that attack almost every company and institution on earth.  But oddly enough, there are no websites that highlight problems, report complaints, or just generally vent about UCSB.   Why?  Is it because the UC system and UCSB in particularly are so beloved that no one has even a minor issue with them?  No, it is because UCSB spends hundreds of thousands of dollars to crush anyone who dares to make any derogatory comments about UCSB. 

The UCSB attack on thedarksideofucsb.com started in November of 2004.  First, UCSB sent emails to the site and the site’s Internet service provider. 

The attached feed back form below was received by thedarksideofucsb.com from Meta Clow on November 10, 2004, during her visit to our website.    

“Below is the result of your feedback form.  It was submitted by

Meta Clow (meta.clow@vcadmin.ucsb.edu) on Wednesday, November 10, 2004 at 15:43:44

comments: To Whom it May Concern:

RE:       http://thedarksideofucsb.com/

"UCSB" appears in the URL of your web site.  You may not be aware that the name and initials of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) are protected by Section 92000 of the Education Code of the State of California.  The name or initials may not be used, without written permission of the University, to designate any business, social, political, religious, or other organization or activity. Anyone violating this provision is guilty of a misdemeanor.  Please immediately remove our initials from your website designation.

-----Original Message-----

From: Meta Clow [mailto:meta.clow@vcadmin.ucsb.edu]

Sent: November 10, 2004 5:30 PM

To: info@nitrotek.com

Subject: Violation of the Education Code”

UCSB then contacted our Internet service provider and repeated and expended its demands about using the initials “UCSB.”  The following email was addressed to our ISP:

“To Whom it May Concern:

RE:       http://thedarksideofucsb.com/

"UCSB" appears in the URL of a web site that you host and maintain.  You may not be aware that the name and initials of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) are protected by Section 92000 of the Education Code of the State of California.  The name or initials may not be used, without written permission of the University, to designate any business, social, political, religious, or other organization or activity.  Anyone violating this provision is guilty of a misdemeanor.

Please immediately remove the designation "ucsb"  from the address

<http://thedarksideofucsb.com/> and from any associated tags.  If you are

hosting or maintaining any other sites in which our name or initials appear in the designation, I request that you remove our name or initials from those, as well.

Sincerely,         

Meta Clow

Policy and Records Management Coordinator

University of California, Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, CA 93106-2033

Meta.Clow@vcadmin.ucsb.edu

FAX 805/893-8837”

A careful reading of the second email shows that UCSB not only is demanding that the initials be removed from the URL, but also is demanding that the initials be removed from any “associated tags.”  What this means is that search engines would never be able locate the site since there is nothing to identify it as having any comments or information about UCSB.

After we wrote an editorial calling for the resignation of the president of the Associated Students, Cevin Morris, the University then wrote even stronger letters that were sent to us by certified mail.  These letters threatened civil and criminal prosecution. 

UCSB apparently is successful at policing the use of its name. 

If you perform a search for almost any company or institution and look for negative statements, you will find them – not so with UCSB.  Try these websites:

http://www.Microsoftsucks.com

http://www.allstateinsurancesucks.com/

http://www.theinsurancesupersite.com/insurance/farmers-insurance/farmers-insurance-sucks

http://www.farmersinsurancesucks.com/

http://walmart-blows.com/

http://www.homedepotsucks.com/

All these companies would prefer to not be attacked; however, they cannot stop the exercise of free speech.  Many have tried and failed.  Most companies no longer even file litigation because they know they will lose.  You will notice that many of these sites not only have the target company’s name in the URL, but they actually use the company’s logo. 

Based upon the hundreds of emails received by www.thedardsideofucsb.com, many people have problems with UCSB.  But because UCSB threatens anyone who disagrees with the apparatchik of UCSB, there is simply no way to post information on the web without UCSB unleashing the lawyers on you.

A recent article [http://www.pacbiztimes.com/articles/wk_011705e.cfm] about UCSB’s threats of litigation against the Dark Side that was written on January 14, 2005, by Tony Biasotti, Staff Writer of the Pacific Coast Business Times, reads in part:

“The message (from UCSB) is clear: Change the name of your site, or face civil or criminal charges.

UCSB has no legal authority to make this demand. There’s not even much debate about the issue. Domain names like MircosoftSucks.com have been around for years, and courts have repeatedly ruled that they’re protected by the First Amendment, unless they could be confused with the official sites.

‘He’s entitled to criticize UCSB, and he’s entitled to use the name to do that,” said Eugene Volokh, a constitutional law professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. ‘This is constitutionally protected speech.’

“The Dark Side of UCSB” looks nothing like the official www.ucsb.edu site. It even has a disclaimer that says it’s not affiliated with or authorized by the university.

‘Generally speaking, if it’s a noncommercial enterprise, and if it is unlikely to cause confusion, then the matter is pretty clear,’ Volokh said. ‘Nobody would think that UCSB is behind this.’

If the California Education Code really prohibits what (thedarksideofucsb.com) is doing, then the statute is unconstitutional, Volokh said.”

The Dark Side of UCSB has not yet been sued by UCSB or the UC system.  It is doubtful that they will bring a suit.  If they bring a suit and lose, they will have to stop threatening people – that might open the floodgates of opposing opinions.   Their technique now is to threaten and most people (and more importantly their ISPs) back down. 

This type of controlling behavior is a perfect microcosm of UCSB’s attitude towards protecting its image.  UCSB believes in free speech – as a long as it fits their message.