Charles Carreon Keeps Digging: Promises To Subpoena Twitter & Ars Technica To Track Down Parody Account

from the stop-digging dept

It would appear that lawyer Charles Carreon is not taking the advice of Matthew Inman to take some time off and calm down. He’s still going at it. His latest move is a claimed plan to subpoena both Twitter and Ars Technica to find out who created a fake Charles Carreon Twitter account which parodied Carreon’s… um… over the top approach to dealing with people making fun of him online. Twitter will get the subpoena, of course, because that’s where the account was. Ars’ subpoena is because someone signed up for an account on the site claiming to be the guy who ran the fake twitter account. Ars’ Nate Anderson contacted that guy by email who said (1) he lives in Sweden, so good luck, Charles and (2) that he stopped parodying Carreon because Carreon’s actual statements were so outrageous they didn’t need any parody:

“It became clear to me at one point that I could not keep up with Charles,” Modelista wrote. “His comments to the press were more damaging to his reputation than any Twitter parody account could ever be. You cannot mock someone who has such a low regard for his own reputation. Before the @Charles_Carreon account was suspended, I was simply linking to his interviews. Satire was not necessary at that point as Charles was providing it.”

One wonders what Carreon must think of the parody blog that has been set up to mock him even more mercilessly at Charles-Carreon.com. That one clearly notes that it’s a satire account. In the meantime, plenty of people have pointed out that Charles himself seems to have done many of the kinds of things he’s now accusing others of doing. Take, for example, his call to waterboard Ben Bernanke. It’s clearly satire (though, not particularly good satire in my opinion), but seems just as over the top as anything that Inman or the anonymous Twitter user did to Carreon. Actually, Carreon’s piece seems like much more direct incitement. And, seriously, if Carreon should be worried about anyone doing damage to his reputation, he might want to look at the person commenting up a storm on our site (and elsewhere) claiming to be Charles’ wife Tara Carreon. She’s been much more nasty and angry than anything that was directed at Charles.

On the legal front, the EFF has signed up to help with Inman’s defense. I’m wondering if Carreon is even going to be able to find any lawyers to help him out on his case. Once again, we’d suggest that Carreon take a step back, cool off, and think through the massive mistake he’s making. If he continues, the term the Carreon Effect might just catch on for real.

Filed Under: , , , ,
Companies: ars technica, twitter

Rate this comment as insightful
Rate this comment as funny
You have rated this comment as insightful
You have rated this comment as funny
Flag this comment as abusive/trolling/spam
You have flagged this comment
The first word has already been claimed
The last word has already been claimed
Insightful Lightbulb icon Funny Laughing icon Abusive/trolling/spam Flag icon Insightful badge Lightbulb icon Funny badge Laughing icon Comments icon

Comments on “Charles Carreon Keeps Digging: Promises To Subpoena Twitter & Ars Technica To Track Down Parody Account”

Subscribe: RSS Leave a comment
60 Comments
Mike Masnick (profile) says:

Re: Re:

Isn’t he a lawyer? Why would he need any help, he seems to have everything in hand as is.

Generally speaking, it is frowned upon for someone to represent themselves in a court case — especially if they are a lawyer. They are often less able to objectively view the situation, the likelihood of success, and instead, make it rather personal.

He *can* do so, for the most part, representing himself “pro se,” but it’s generally seen as a bad idea.

As the old saying goes: “A lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client.”

Anonymous Coward says:

“And, seriously, if Carreon should be worried about anyone doing damage to his reputation, he might want to look at the person commenting up a storm on our site (and elsewhere) claiming to be Charles’ wife Tara Carreon. She’s been much more nasty and angry than anything that was directed at Charles.”

Have no doubt. She’s been cross posting both her’s and others comments here:

http://www.naderlibrary.com/bulletin_board/viewtopic.php?t=896

Not Charles Carreon says:

Well, this is my new account, Not Charles Carreon. I have never been a huge raging douchenozzle, sued anyone for posting anything online, directly helped terrorist in any capacity, had problems in bed, etc…etc…

All of these statements are factual, including the account name’s implication that I’m not Charles Carreon. If Charles Carreon wishes to attempt to sue me in court for making fun of him, I’ll be happy to prove all of these things (though the tapes that prove the last point may violate someone’s publicity rights…). Charles may find it hard to prove that he hasn’t done these things though.

So Charles? If you’re reading this, in the parlance of my people: Come at me bro.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re:

I was confused by the phrase as well, but I think Mr. Masnick was implying that the volume of work required to pursue all of the legal action intended by Mr. Carreon would be too much without additional help.

There may also be jurisdictional issues that require him to hire local counsel, on the off chance that Mr. Carreon actually succeeds in identifying any of his anonymous critics and they live in a state in which he isn’t licensed to practice law.

Cory of PC (profile) says:

New Idea!

Seeing how things are going, someone out there is going to make a game out of this and it’ll be titled “Charles Carreon vs. the Internet,” and his starting weapons will be obvious: a shovel, a briefcase and several letters.

He’ll fight off internet trolls on different levels, based off different websites, while trying to earn $20,000 for him and his wife… and maybe FunnyJunk. To win and move on to the next level, you must dig your way out in order to, well, move on. In the end, he’ll face off Matt Inman at the final level, a court room, where the final judgment will be lay down and he will earn all of that hard-earned money after successfully “suing” a blog, a donation website, two charities, a micro-blogging site and a tech news site (maybe two if he stumbles upon this site…)

If you have any ideas you like to submit, feel free to add on. I’m waiting for when Carreon sues me for parodying him in a video game.

Jake says:

Anyone else suspect that since Carreon passed the point of having any professional reputation left to lose quite some time ago, he’s decided that if he has to fail, he’s going to fail on the most grandiose and spectacular scale he can possibly manage? After all, this is Hollywood; notoriety is probably more marketable than actual talent these days.

Lurker Keith says:

Re:

In the other topic on this, I posted that the commenters at Popehat have found her Techdirt posts crossposted on the sites she runs, & a linguist there says the word choices or patterns match as well.

So, yes, the Tara Carreon who was posting here was apparently the real one…

THe linguist also belives one of the ACs may have been their daughter.

Lurker Keith says:

Re:

Well, if you’ve been reading Popehat, IF, somehow, Carreon manages to get to the Discovery phase, Ken at Popehat has indicated that the Defense may decide to carpet bomb Carreon w/ their own Discovery requests.

From what I read on there, it seems he’d probably need a team of laywers to help him comply.

Oh, & I’ll take this oppertunity to point out that Popehat has now compiled their blog entries w/ a tag:

http://www.popehat.com/tag/oatmeal-v-funnyjunk/

So, you can view it all on one page now.

Some Anonymous Coward says:

Re:

Jack Thompson knows when to stop, even if it required being disbarred. Unless Carreon’s Internet access is restricted, he’s not going to stop just because he can’t practice law. And his wife won’t stop.

In my inexpert, non-medical opinion, I feel that what they both need is supervised care, therapy, and medication. I can’t laugh anymore, this is just sad. It’s a train wreck in slow motion.

It’s like watching an 87-year-old man piss all over himself because he refuses help even though he’s so arthritic and useless that he’s barely able to move his arms. It isn’t funny, it’s just sad and uncomfortable to watch.

Anonymous Coward says:

Here’s a good lesson for Charles regarding being a bully, the power of the internet, and why he should not be allowed to meddle with it.

This is truly amazing! Still 29 days to go and increasing every page refresh. The donations have increased by over $100,000 in the last six hours!

http://www.indiegogo.com/loveforkarenhklein?c=home

Also for anyone who hasn’t read it yet, Ars interviewed him:

The Internet’s Most Hated Man

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2012/06/the-persecution-of-charles-carreon/

That Anonymous Coward (profile) says:

Mike we need to consider a minor modification to the effect that someone else had posted. It makes it much more accurate.

The Carreon Effect: The act of doubling, then quadrupling down on an untenable position, then going all in.

I can’t wait until he is trying to subpoena everyone on the internet who said anything bad about him. Do let me know when the subpoena arrives Mike.

Carreon and his entire clan have demonstrated what one might call extreme lack of impulse control. They have posted amazing “facts” unsupported by evidence and demand by sheer force of will that you accept them as true.

Someone get him to the courtroom in CA already, a 5150 might be in order.

[citation needed or GTFO] says:

New Idea!

Maybe it could be a remake of Dig Dug! Internet trolls for the monsters and he not only has to defeat all of them, there will be a hidden letter on every level. Collect all the letters and you unlock a secret ending which features Carreon wrestling that bear from the charity drive!

The regular ending will just show him getting incinerated by the molten center of the earth because he dug too far.

TtfnJohn (profile) says:

Re:

It goes something like this if I recall:
“The lawyer who represents himself has a fool for a client.”

As for finding a lawyer to with rights to practice on the jurisdiction where they live lt’s remember this thing has gone international as contained in Mike’s post where Modelista lives is Sweden.

I feel incredibly safe is saying that Carreon hasn’t been called to the bar i Sweden.

trollificus (profile) says:

Re:

“probably”???

Sometimes it seems, at least over the last few years, that “fame” is the only criteria for being on TV or in movies, and “greater fame” the only goal. I mean, when getting a role on a 3rd tier reality show because you were once 2rd runner up in a Bachelorette series is considered a “career in show business”, it’s clear that fame is the only currency…not talent, not the ability to actually, you know, DO something, but only ‘being known’. I mean, born with enough money to do anything she wanted, Paris Hilton could think of no higher goal than to become famous.

It’s a weird phenomenon, but perhaps Carreon is convinced that becoming more famous is an unalloyed good.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re:

“Here’s a good lesson for Charles regarding being a bully, the power of the internet, and why he should not be allowed to meddle with it.

This is truly amazing! Still 29 days to go and increasing every page refresh. The donations have increased by over $100,000 in the last six hours!”

http://www.indiegogo.com/loveforkarenhklein?c=home

Damn. No senior citizen should be treated that way by children. Good to see there’s still some Good Samaritans left in this world.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re:

“There always seems to be more. Read all about the new religion her and Charles are trying to start:

http://www.oestia.com/

Clearly she’s pissed at Buddha. New post from Tara Carreon:

I really feel for the world right now, and especially young people, but all people, really, because of the psychological warfare that’s constantly directed at all of us. People are so very, very vulnerable to peer pressure. They want to be liked; they don’t want their societies to diss them; especially they don’t want to be targeted by the media for total ruination of their lives. And in order for the psychological warfare to proceed, the cannibals that run our society need sacrificial victims. In this case, it’s Funnyjunk and Charles Carreon’s family. It’s not the first time we’ve been targeted as sacrificial victims. We were targeted by the entire Buddhist community when I told them to go fuck themselves, for being nihilists, elitists, and authoritarians. Seeing what happens to people who buck the group mind-think, makes people fearful of what could happen to them if they didn’t do what they were told. In this way, everyone is made to support the status quo, i.e., the Conservatives.

So I want to tell everyone who is fearful of stepping outside the group mind-think, afraid of being an individual, and thinking for themselves, that it is better to do the right thing than the group thing. What do you need your peers’ approval for? So you can get stuck in a group prison with everyone else? So you can despise yourself for being weak and vulnerable? And be prevented from doing your part to keep the world from going to hell? And not step in to lend a hand when someone is being abused?

Better to tell your friends to go to hell, and have some dignity and self-worth, and be free to act as you want, according to your conscience. I get a lot of comfort from thinking about what Ralph Nader has been through over the years. The media tried to rip him a new asshole many a time. They wanted him to crawl into a hole and die. Fascist fuckers! Fuck them!

http://www.naderlibrary.com/bulletin_board/viewtopic.php?t=896&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=20&sid=044fbb4d061ecfec61f828c753464bf9

Spoken like a true Buddhist.

Buddha cries when reading the American Buddhist words.
http://www.TinyURL.com/7rcm8qo

Cross posting is fun. I learned that from Tara.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re:

Missed one. More from Tara

Posted: Fri Jun 22, 2012 4:19 am

Apparently, a bunch of Yellow Journalists, in the tradition of Henry Ford, decided that the “Internet” should be given to Matt Inman. Philosophical point of order about all this nonsensical talk that “Charles Carreon is the most hated person on the Internet,” that the “Internet” is rising up against him, and that you have to be careful not to piss off the “Internet.” THERE IS NO LIVING, BREATHING, ACTING, COLLECTIVE- COMMUNIST, FRANKENSTEIN ENTITY CALLED “INTERNET,” only people who are responsible for their actions. Matt Inman is a sadist, a cyberbully, a liar, and an Internet terrorist. Here, HE DID THE BAD THING. He acted like Monsanto, who goes around threatening farmers when their seed get into their fields, having been blown there by the wind, shitted there by the animals, dropped there by the insects. HE NEVER SENT EVEN ONE DMCA NOTICE TO FUNNYJUNK, which means that Funnyjunk wasn’t responsible to do EVEN ONE LITTLE THING for him and his content. In the law, there’s something very important: it’s called “NOTICE.” You can’t prosecute a person without NOTICE. As the ABOL LIbrarian, don’t expect me to take down your content without DMCA “NOTICE.” And a letter or email doesn’t qualify; a DMCA NOTICE has to be in the proper, legal form. Those are the REAL Internet Rules. But Matt Inman, being the bad person he is, decided to put his evil, sadistic, greedy self on the cross, call himself a martyr, and ask all his juvenile, non-thinking, violent followers to give him victim status, then made a page on his site “ripping Funnyjunk a new asshole” — for what? For having should have known that Inman’s pictures had been posted by users somewhere on his site. Mr. Evil Prince Inman couldn’t be bothered to give him NOTICE. No, that wouldn’t generate the traffic he wanted. He had to do something OUTRAGEOUS, and blame an innocent person, now plural. And prove that there’s a sucker born every minute, i.e., all his “Internet” followers.

Meanwhile, Mr. Matt Inman posts his pictures everywhere on the Internet, magically making “THIEVES” everywhere he goes, according to his own sick morality, poor judgment and humongous power trip. He and his mob followers don’t care about reason.

And these Yellow Journalists say that’s how the “INTERNET” works. That’s not how the “INTERNET” works, it’s how it doesn’t work. These Yellow Journalists want to give the Internet to Loki. This attack against FunnyJunk and Charles Carreon is an attack against law and order. Matt Inman is an Internet anarchist. Fascists always love an anarchist. And the Journalists are part of the conspiracy, egging everyone on with their hate headlines, and advice for everyone to get crazy and ATTACK, ATTACK, ATTACK! There’s something very bad going on here, which greatly benefits the Publishing Industry, and the copyright chicken hawks. And I don’t know why we can’t get a simple yes or no from ANYONE about whether Matt Robert Inman is related to Bobby Ray Inman. Apparently, every journalist in the world doesn’t seem to think that knowing WHO Matt Inman is is important. He’s a man without parents, brothers and sisters, or childhood friends. A man without a past, just like Barack Obama. Sure, there’s lots of famous people like that in the world! Usually, they are children of Intelligence Agents, or Intelligence Agents themselves.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wneCa_yIuzg

Anonymous Coward says:

So, by disliking someone I am part of a group mindthink? The flaw in her “logic” is that the people reacting to her husband are not really acting as a group. They are acting as a bunch of individuals with a similar goal (kinda sorta maybe). No one is actually in control here. Some are more aggressive and harass actively. Others just support through the charity or blogging.

Many people feel strongly on the subject and each individual is reacting in a manner according to their personality.

Anonymous Coward says:

Re:

“You sir/ma’am have been manipulated by Inman! And are part of his Nazi conspiracy to distract from my husband’s crusade against such manipulation! Did I mention my husband through some rather wild and drawn out stories and utterings I’ve discovered is Spanish Jewish?! Well he is! Also, I run an “internet library” so I don’t have to follow the DMCA if I don’t want to! Because there is an exemption for “internet libraries”! So ha! Also are you insane? My husband is suing for these charities! Do you believe people should just be able to donate to whomever they please?! I guess that means you think if there’s a fund raiser going on that you should have a choice on whether or not you’d like to give money to it as well!”

That is what she would probably say if she read your comment (and I’m basing that on some of the previous rantings she made, including one where she called me a retard and an idiot for saying and I quote, “your husband is suing two charities for no reason whatsoever”). Because we all know that people can’t possibly think for themselves and that the internet is not actually being run by Google and a consortium of Google-like players. Oh no, it is run by Matt Inman, the man with no background (there’s a great rant about that online, basically he’s like Obama, and they’re both either “Intelligence-Agents or children of Intelligence-Agents”). DUN DUN DUN.

Marcel de Jong (profile) says:

Re:

Inman is a sadist? Whut? He’s like Monsanto? What kind of drugs are they smoking? I want none of those!

Clearly these people should remain OFF the internet for good, for their own sake. They don’t understand A) humour, and B) how the internet works.

Also to Tara and Charles: The ‘mother’ in the infamous The Oatmeal comic is not Charles’ mom, it’s FunnyJunks CEO’s mom. Get the facts straight, before you go off the deep end!

Add Your Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Have a Techdirt Account? Sign in now. Want one? Register here

Comment Options:

Make this the or (get credits or sign in to see balance) what's this?

What's this?

Techdirt community members with Techdirt Credits can spotlight a comment as either the "First Word" or "Last Word" on a particular comment thread. Credits can be purchased at the Techdirt Insider Shop »

Follow Techdirt

Techdirt Daily Newsletter

Ctrl-Alt-Speech

A weekly news podcast from
Mike Masnick & Ben Whitelaw

Subscribe now to Ctrl-Alt-Speech »
Techdirt Deals
Techdirt Insider Discord
The latest chatter on the Techdirt Insider Discord channel...
Loading...