[WikiEN-l] Michael claiming identity of actor Ahmed Best

Sat Jul 5 05:41:56 UTC 2003

I said before that Michael and Adam's 'trolling' of wiki, whatever one may 
think of it, never raised the problems including serious legal issues (ie 
possible copyright abuse) thrown up by DW. I'd like to amend that to suggest 
that Michael could potentially be raising another legal nightmare.

A couple of times lately he has assumed the names of ''real people'' and 
claimed to be them when editing wiki. He apparently has now assumed the 
identity of actor Ahmed Best. Not knowing anything about Star Wars (I'm more 
of a Trekkie!) I know nothing of Mr. Best, including whether he does exist. 
But he does feature in wiki articles that seem to have been created by other 
genuine contributors, so I presume he must.

According to the page of [[User:Jar Jar Binks]] (the character on Star Wars 
played by Best), Michael wrote:

Hi there, I'm the real [[Jar Jar Binks]] ([[Ahmed Best]]).
I heard this website is a tough place for a banned user that I don't know.
I played in all [[Star Wars]] sequals from 1998 to 2003.

Going by editing style, topics picked and past behaviour, not to mention the 
banned user jibe, Jar Jar Binks has generally been presumed to be Michael 
and Infromation reverted all JJB's edits (which in any case were strikingly 
typical of Michael).

If [[User:Jar Jar Binks]] is not the actor he purports to be:

What are the possible legal problems if any that might follow if someone not 
merely uses a real person's name but purporting to be him/her while 
contributing to wiki. While our NPOV policy should ensure that nothing 
written in articles could damage the reputation of the real person whose 
identity has been 'stolen', what of 'personal' comments, including abusive 
or threatening one, placed on users talk pages?

While Michael has in the past used the real names of minor rock stars, using 
Ahmed Best is potentially more dangerous.

i. Actors' names and identities are ruthlessly guarded by the actors' union, 
Equity;
ii. Actors' agents and lawyers are also ruthless in their efforts to protect 
the name and reputation of an actor.

This is understandable. An actor's employability rests on their reputation. 
Should someone in the movie business look at wiki and find comments of an 
abusive or threatening nature coming not merely from someone called ''Ahmed 
Best'' but supposedly from the Ahmed Best who starred in Star Wars, they 
could form the impression that Best is someone they should avoid employing. 
As a result, the name and reputation of an actor, being central to their 
employability, is ruthlessly guarded from exploitation by Equity, their 
agents and lawyers.

The issue isn't what they purportedly said to 'x' or 'y' on wiki, but how 
what they supposed said reflects on them and their reputation.

Even if Equity, the actor or his lawyers chose not to act, or were unaware 
of it, the use of the username Jar Jar Binks is also a potential legal 
minefield. Using a username is perfectly OK. But as the above quote shows, 
this supposed user claims a direct association with the star wars films. The 
chances are the /character/ JAR JAR BINKS is almost certainly the copyright 
property of George Lucas's company. The company might take considerable 
offence at the usage what they might see as not the use of a name but of a 
character. That could have implications for Ahmed Best, whom they might see 
as abusing their copyright by using a character of theirs which he played on 
screen in his private life off-screen, to gain attention, notoriety, etc. 
And that in turn might lead Equity or Best to raise the issue with wiki. 
Even if there was no legal case, it could be used by him to publicly attack 
wiki (to get publicity!), in the process of damaging our reputation. After 
all a serious encyclopædia hardly needs in the public mind with the 
impression that one of its contributors is someone who 'steals' actors 
identities and copyright names.

Two final points: If Michael is willing to steal a real life actor's name 
and a copyright film character, having previously stolen the identity of 
some singers in some minor rock bands, whose identity will he steal next? 
Bono? Some senior politician? Someone in the media? The bigger the name, the 
greater the likelihood that someone will take offence turn to their lawyers 
or go public and damage wiki.

Finally, how do we stop Michael doing this and so potentially doing wiki 
damage?

I have in the meantime removed all reference to Ahmed Best and Star Wars 
from the [[User:Jar Jar Binks]] page and protected the page to prevent 
Michael reinserting it. As of now, all the page does is use the user name in 
isolation, which should kill off any danger of copyright breach.

Because Ahmed Best, Equity or Lucasfilm does not act in this case does not 
mean that if Michael continues to use real names of prominent people 
someone, next week, next month or tomorrow will not react. We need to know 
what if any legal problems could arise, and what PR problems could arise, 
should Michael continue on this course. And we need to find some way of 
stopping Michael before Michael seriously damages wiki.

JT

PS: The great thing about Ireland is that it is so small we all tend to know 
each other (or know someone who knows someone who . . . ) If Michael uses 
Bono's name, I'll have a word with him and try to stop him from suing wiki. 
(I know his wife Ali!)  :-)

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