An open letter to my readers:
Dear friends,
I regret to inform you that ChrisBattaglia.com will no longer remain active. Over the next few days, the contents of this website will be permanently removed from the server that currently hosts them. If you have any favourite articles or images bookmarked that you wish to download, do so now, before they are deleted. However, I am unable to link to the rest of the site at this point.
You are probably wondering why all of this is happening. The truth is simple: I have been sued.
On February 14th, 2006, I posted a satirical Valentine’s Day card directed at Rev. Jerry Falwell. Three weeks later, on March 9th, I posted an article about what I thought the uproar over the Danish Muhammad cartoons was really about, complete with my own upbeat cartoon of Muhammad dancing. At the time, I considered both of these posts to be satirical humour, with a completely non-malicious message behind them.
Unfortunately, some people did not share this view. After posting the article on the Danish cartoons, I received an e-mail from a certain religion rights group (fearing further litigation, I will not identify it at this point in time). The e-mail explained their discontent with my last two articles, and requested that they be taken down to avoid any further correspondence. I figured the whole thing was a joke, and ignored it.
On March 30th, 2006, I found another e-mail from this group in my inbox, detailing their intent to seek damages under new laws prohibiting indirect and/or satirical commentary, if it is proven defamatory, from being publicly circulated electronically.
Needless to say, I was stunned by this, and I have had to make a very difficult decision. I am completely outmatched by this financially and ideologically strong group, so even though I do not believe they have a case, I do not have the means to pursue a level stand against their claims. So, in a last-ditch effort to avoid a legal battle I would not be able to fight, I have decided to remove my current website from the public arena.
I hope you understand my decision, and it does pain me a great deal, but I simply cannot compete against a large, well-funded group with a strong legal team. I assume many of you think that this is censorship, and perhaps it is, but at this point, I have no other options. Perhaps there will come a time when ideas and opinions can be expressed freely without fear of such actions as I have experienced, but I’m afraid we are not there yet.
I will do my best to keep this page up to date with the latest news about this situation. Thank you for your support throughout the time that ChrisBattaglia.com was operational, and hopefully one day it will be once again.
Chris Battaglia
(04/01/06)
cb@chrisbattaglia.com