Ken,
I think you will find you are mistaken and the website is not illegal.
Jurisdiction is an issue.
As far as I am aware, anyone is currently potentially able to register the
name "International Association of Societies of Design Research" as a
business name in Western Australia, the UK and many other countries in the
world. IASDR does not have International ownership of the name. This is in
the same way that anyone in (say) Australia can register the name Design
Research Society (it is available, I just checked). This means that anyone
can potentially legitimately use the IASDR name to offer a conference -
legally. Jurisdiction issues apply. Using others names as if they are agreed
participants, is a different matter but probably jurisdiction is relevant in
this also.
As regards Blogger/Google, the legal status of 'avoiding impersonating
other identities' is merely 'a request to users' in the Content Policy
rather than a violation of its Terms of Service. In fact, the Terms of
Service contains a warning that it might occur.
I agree the content of the website is potentially upsetting to many people,
clearly unhelpful and might compromise the mission of the 'real' IASDR, but
illegal under all jurisdictions, I think not. It is most likely equivalent
in legal status to all the firms that registered Western Business names and
logos in China before the original firms did and now export copies of the
same products to the West as if they are the originals. Unhelpful, and with
the responsibility on the user to be aware of who they are dealing with.
Do you or anyone else know who is responsible for the site? Has anyone
emailed them? One option is it may be a student exercise.
Did you check the code of the website? I did. The email addresses are
illusory. They do not work. No one can send their material to anywhere.
As far as I can see (and as Symantec checks out), the website is clean and
does not contain malware.
I understand the website has clearly put a lot of people's nose out of
joint. Is that really a problem? I remember a similar situation in which
very senior and respectable professor pretended as an exercise to be a
student of the opposite gender on the PhD-Design list some years ago. Is the
website so different?
Warm regards,
Terry
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Warm regards,
T
-----Original Message-----
From: PhD-Design - This list is for discussion of PhD studies and related
research in Design [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ken
Friedman
Sent: Saturday, 8 May 2010 10:47 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: The fake IASDR2010 web site is illegal. It violates the Blogspot
Terms of Service
Dear Terry,
The fake IASDR2010 web site is in fact illegal, and it clearly violates the
Blogspot Terms of Service and the Google Terms of Service. This is not a
viral marketing campaign. Without swift action, this can damage IASDR and
create major problems for the organizers of IASDR 2011.
This can hurt the conference in several ways. The fake site diverts possible
traffic and potential submissions from the real conference. It can therefore
damage outreach and marketing for the real conference. The site lists
supposed IASDR keynote speakers that have not been chosen or announced by
Delft. The fake selection may therefore weaken interest in the conference
among people that do not wish to hear these speakers. The fake site could
particularly damage the conference or IASDR if people send papers to the
gmail submission address and receive no replies. The damage could be even
worse if the contents of their papers were to be misused when they are
unaware that they have not in fact submitted them to IASDR.
Because the site is put together plausibly, it may attract people that are
neither gullible nor lacking in awareness. There are conferences that run
through blog sites, and conferences that use gmail addresses for
submissions. Unless you know with certainty that the real conference web
site runs through the university, you would not necessarily be aware that
this is not the case.
The people whose names have been abused in associating them with a fake web
site might have a similar complaint. And then there is the question of
confusing very different groups with IASDR -- there are people on the
supposed advisory committee that have nothing to do with the IASDR member
societies or even with design research. The frauds who built the fake site
have apparently taken a random selection of well-known names from different
design organization and design conference sites, mixing people from IASDR
and DRS indiscriminately with people from groups that do not participate in
IASDR such as Cumulus, EAD, and AIGA.
It's silly to propose that anyone connected with IASDR or DRS might have
done this. Everyone serving on the boards or committees of IASDR and the
IASDR member societies wants to attract people to the actual conference, and
therefore to the real conference web site. No one with responsibility to
IASDR or DRS would misrepresent the conference this way.
Because this site falsely represents a legitimate conference hosted by a
legitimate university, it is illegal. It also violates the terms of service
in several dimensions, one of which being that content must not violate the
law. The Technological University of Delft has sole right to the use and
representation of its names and activities. IASDR has the sole right to
authorize communication in the name of IASDR. Similar questions arise in the
misuse of names. A solicitor will be able to clarify further legal problems
visible in this web site.
Yours,
Ken
Ken Friedman, PhD, DSc (hc), FDRS
Professor
Dean
Swinburne Design
Swinburne University of Technology
Melbourne, Australia
--
Terry Love wrote:
This is an excellent viral marketing approach to raising attention to and
advertising IADSR, the DRS and Holland!
I'm wondering which of us created the website? Or who DRS/IASDR has upset?
As far as I can see the website is not strictly doing anything illegal, nor
does it appear to breach Blogger's terms. It's success depends only on the
gullibility and lack of awareness of those who use it.
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