Indybay

The Vallejo Copwatch Post and the Disingenuous Demand for Removal 

The Vallejo Copwatch post entitled "Vallejo Police Officer who murdered Mario Romero has been identified" states that "On September 2, 2012, Mario Romero was approached and gunned down while sitting in his parked car in front of his home by a Vallejo Police Officer, identified by multiple witnesses as Officer Dustin B. Joseph (age 32)." The post additionally lists a number of prior complaints against officer Joseph reportedly found in public records.  

As is common in letters from lawyers demanding the removal of content, citations of law are used erroneously in an attempt to intimidate the Indybay Collective into removing the objectionable material. In the case of the recent Vallejo Copwatch post, attorney David E. Mastagni refers to California Government Code Section 6254.21:  

No person, business, or association shall publicly post or publicly

display on the Internet the home address or telephone number of any

elected or appointed official if that official has made a written

demand of that person, business, or association to not disclose his or

her home address or telephone number. 

(Gov. Code §6254.21 (c)( 1 )(A))

Yet there is no home address or telephone number listed within the post. The demand letter seems to deliberately conflate "personally identifying information" with the officer's name and alleged record of complaints on public record. The same could be said for another penal code cited in the letter, 146e, which forbids the disclosure of residences or telephone numbers with the intent to obstruct justice or cause or threaten physical injury to police officers. Similarly, the implied mention of misdemeanor and/or felony charges for "posting personally identifying information" confuses the issue that Indybay was not the entity which created the post; it originates from a third party.  

Oddly, the demand letter cites the federal RICO Act as it informs Indybay that the "individuals who have contributed the above-linked content on your site have also posted the same information on other websites." Indybay is certainly not aware of every other posting on every other website and could not be held responsible for such content as part of some sort of "conspiracy," regardless of David E. Mastagni's threat of potential civil and criminal liability.