This image was lost some time after publication.

In 2006, Jason Fortuny — one of the so-called "Internet trolls" featured recently in the New York Times Magazine — placed an ad on Craigslist in which he pretended to be a woman seeking sex. Later, he posted photos and emails sent to him by the ad's respondents. Now, one of them — image and response pictured above — is suing him for $75,000. This John Doe claims Fortuny's post caused him to "suffer and continue to suffer from humiliation, embarrassment, lost opportunity of keeping his family together, and emotional distress." The plaintiff claims Fortuny violated his copyright, wrongfully disclosed private facts and intruded upon his seclusion. By way of response, Forturny wrote an eight-page letter to the judge in his own defense . It's much to long for even the most concerned citizen to read, but since its contents so seriously affect the legal system of our nation-state, we've shortened it down to the crucial bits, below.

Dear Judge Gottschall, Plaintiff has a copyright on a digital photo he sent to me. The use of this photo falls under fair use. The version of Plaintiff’s photo on my website is an 80 percent reduction from Plaintiff’s original photo. Plaintiff’s digital photo is not a product one would generally offer for sale, or expect to be purchased. Plaintiff asserts that publishing his email constitutes the public disclosure of private facts. There are no personally identifiable facts or information in his communication. Plaintiff does not use his actual name, or provide any contact. Plaintiff’s statements in his email to me cannot be traced back to an actual individual by the public. On Craigslist, Plaintiff and I were required to accept the terms of use which state in section 3, “that by using the Service, you may be exposed to Content that is offensive, indecent, inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise objectionable.” I didn’t believe anyone would fall for such an obviously fake ad. When I received those 175 responses to my Craigslist ad, I was blown away. I showed responses to friends. When I suggested posting the responses, none of us saw any issue in doing so.That there was so much coverage truly confused me. There was no malicious intent in my actions. It was curiosity. This is a case of a person trying to get his pound of flesh out of me for my perceived wrongs. I am frequently rude, unsympathetic, unempathetic, and politically incorrect, but there’s no law against that.