8 May
2006 Editorial.
I do not respond
to the personal attacks against me launched by Phillip Eide, of Perverted
Justice. However the recent criticism of both Perverted Justice and Dateline
NBC compels me to answer.
Phillip Eide is
the founder of Perverted Justice, a renegade vigilante web site and organization,
mislabeled an "Internet watchdog organization". Dateline NBC teamed up
with this group in a series of programs "To Catch a Predator", airing over
the next few weeks.
I first published
a news story in 2004, critical of Perverted Justice and their legally flawed
methods. At that time, Perverted Justice entered both AOL and Yahoo!
chat rooms, posing as underage teenage girls and enticing people to engage
in private conversations, which quickly turned sexual in nature. Perverted
Justice posted a copy of the private chats on their web site, Perverted-Justice.com
and included the telephone number of the alleged predator.
Perverted Justice
also operates a "follow up forum" in which they encourage harassment of
the alleged predator, including the posting of flyers in the alleged predators
home town.
This is all background
to the latest from Eide. Perverted Justice also operates a public forum,
Corrupted-Justice.net in which they post rantings aimed at critics of Perverted
Justice. I'm mentioned there a few times, as are other critics of Perverted
Justice.
The latest discussion
thread depicts a comparison between myself and Chris Hansen, of Dateline
NBC. If we are to believe that information posted on Perverted Justice
is factual, then we also must take at face value this unfair comparison.
This comparison
shows two images, one of Mr. Hansen, and one purportedly of myself. The
person in the post is not me and I have no idea who it is. This is typical
of Perverted Justice in that they have no problem involving innocent persons.
They also got my name wrong, It's Peter J. Carr, not Peter S. Another example
of flawed information.
I have to feel
sorry for whoever it is they claim is myself. I am sure he does not know
that his photograph is being used in such a callous manner. My photograph
is readily available, and is included in the related link posted below.
I'm sure it will eventually end up on Corrupted-Justice.net.
Repeated emails
and telephone calls to Dateline NBC have gone unanswered. They are aware
of the posting, and refuse comment. Not surprising, considering the recent
criticism of Dateline NBC and their flaunting of journalism ethics. Cokie
and Steve Roberts are the latest taking Dateline NBC to task for
their disregard of ethics.
In the end, I
am more angry than humiliated. To believe that Dateline NBC would partner
and condone postings that are juvenile attempts to silence and embarrass
critics goes against a more fundamental concept, that of acting as mature
adults.
Peter J. Carr
Owner/Publisher
Chatmag.com
External Links:
Chatmag
News. Corrupted Justice Discussion Posting and Photographs.
Corrupted-Justice.net
Discussion Thread.
Leadercall.com
Dangers of Deception. Cokie and Steve Roberts.
