Wikipedia has sent a cease and desist letter to a friend, what should she do?

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28052888

by imazio • 5 years ago

5 6 5 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

Hi, a friend has received a letter from Wikipedia demanding for a change of an Instagram account handled by my friend. It’s handler is a game of words that sounds like Wikipedia. My friend is scared as it is the main source of income. Any useful advice??

pwg• 5 years ago

The proper advice here is: consult an attorney.

slater• 5 years ago

^ That.

imazio3• 5 years ago

It is the obvious answer, I agree. But if your main source of income is at risk, there is a lot of uncertainty around standing up. Even if you think it is right.

imazio3• 5 years ago

Thanks for the advice, I said the same thing. They are scared and thinking about giving up and bending to the request. I had hopes on someone providing some argument convincing enough as to consider fighting this (unreasonable request from my humble point of view).

AnimalMuppet• 5 years ago

This might be someone pretending to be Wikipedia. What legal basis does Wikipedia have for telling someone to change something on Instagram? (Unless it's removing Wikipedia content, which would be a reasonable - and legally enforceable - request.)

imazio3• 5 years ago

I am actually surprised as well. It is because the handler sounds like “wikipedia”, but it includes a bad word (not in English though)

Wikipedia has sent a cease and desist letter to a friend, what should she do?

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