back to article Man with 74 convictions refused permission to fling sueball at Google

A sex offender with 74 convictions who changed his name to escape his past has been refused permission to sue Google by a judge in Northern Ireland. Callum Townsend, 25, who was previously called Stuart Townsend, had his effort to prohibit Google from publishing search results about him squashed by Lord Justice Stephens, …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Shoot the messenger syndrome?

    Even if Google had done this then what about the websites who initially shared that content to begin with?

    People seem to forget that all which Google does is collect that which has been publically shared by others. Instead of suing Google he should target the source of this material. Of course then he'd probably risk getting laughed out of court.

    1. Daggerchild Silver badge

      Re: Shoot the messenger syndrome?

      I'm not sure any of that matters. He's not pressing the right buttons yet. I haven't seen Right to be Forgotten invoked.

      But above and beyond all that, he's a prime plonker for changing name, then Streisanding all of his old actions onto his new name.

      1. Mark 110

        Re: Shoot the messenger syndrome?

        Does right to be forgotten include a right for your criminal offenses to be forgotten? It shouldn't. Thankfully I have never been convicted in a court of law for any of the stupid things I did when I was young. If I had been then I would suck it up rather than try and erase it from history.

        I am all for inaccurate or maliciously false stuff being erased.

        1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

          Re: Shoot the messenger syndrome?

          "Does right to be forgotten include a right for your criminal offenses to be forgotten? It shouldn't. "

          The Rehabilitation of Offenders Act 1974 disagrees with you.

      2. Jarrad

        Re: Shoot the messenger syndrome?

        That's exactly what he did, but Google assessed the request and decided against complying with it for the reasons noted, and the judge agreed with Google.

        Many people misunderstand the right to be forgotten (or right to erasure under GDPR). You have a right to REQUEST erasure, but there are more than a few legal reasons why a data controller can refuse to comply.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Shoot the messenger syndrome?

      In either case, at least some convictions are definitely not spent yet.

      There should be no grounds for the request so the result is rather not surprising.

  2. Lee D Silver badge

    Streisand Effect.

    1. CrazyOldCatMan Silver badge

      Streisand Effect

      With the added bonus of performing a ln -s ./"Stuart Townsend" ./"Callum Downsend" just to make sure that everyone links the two..

  3. Khaptain Silver badge

    Self Made Publicity

    The ironic side to this is that the fact that now that he has been denied the right to sue Google will automatically entitle him to receive all kinds of non-wanted publicity. This article being a perfect reference.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Is he getting legal aid for this ?

    Anyway here's his mugshot so you know who he is:

    Callum Townsend aka Stuart Townsend

    Avoid and don't give him a job.

    more here:

    https://theukdatabase.com/2012/12/05/stuart-townsend-magherafelt/

    1. wolfetone Silver badge

      Stinson Hunter strikes again.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      And this guy on twatter with the same name looks remarkably similar:

      https://twitter.com/callumtownsend8

      President of @Nicafc16 #FreeEducation. Politics & Criminology student. passionate Corbyn supporter. Retweets are not endorsements!

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Classic Twatter post in there...

        'My dinner.. battered Sauages, homemade battered onion rings, garlic cubes & peppered sauce :-)'

        I'm off to sign up to twitter now, that post has convinced me I can no longer function as a part of the human race without being a member.

        Some of my so called 'friends' have called me a member for some time now, I always wondered why when I wasn't on twitter.

        1. Mark 110

          Re: Classic Twatter post in there...

          "Some of my so called 'friends' have called me a member for some time now,"

          My mates just call me a stupid cock. We obviously have a different class of mates.

      2. Triggerfish

        Looks like him is that enough now for being convinced and taking action? should we dox him? maybe get his address out? set his house om fire?

        I mean the guy in the article is obviously loathsome, but lets not just start this pogrom shit here ta, especially as it's all based on you an AC ffs, who has absolutely no evidence.

        Oh look there's a cat that looks like hitler let's get it...

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Anway the story about him refused permission to sue Google was reported in the Irish Times on 8th Sept.

      http://www.irishnews.com/news/northernirelandnews/2017/09/08/news/sex-offender-loses-fight-to-have-press-coverage-wiped-from-google-1131747/

      Ed: kick your journos up the arse and get them to sniff out some current news and not trawl the ancient history archives.

      1. Tannin

        Alternatively, you could learn to read.

        After you have done that, and read the article, feel free to get back to us.

      2. Fruit and Nutcase Silver badge
        Joke

        @AC

        "Ed: kick your journos up the arse..."

        That will be a job for the new intern at Vulture Towers

    4. GrapeBunch

      Next name lottery

      How about Peat Townshend ?

      Should be disallowed, not for confusion with the rocker, but as false advertising for a sense of humour.

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Avoid and don't give him a job."

      I can't imagine too many Reg readers run driveway / paving businesses...

  5. Rameses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Whoops Where's My Thribble?

    Responsibility for ones own actions

    Stop blaming everyone else for your own horrible actions, you disgusting scam-artist sex pest.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Responsibility for ones own actions

      I'm not sure he's trying to blame anyone else, but he does seem to want to avoid responsibility for his own actions.

      1. Rameses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Whoops Where's My Thribble?

        Re: Responsibility for ones own actions

        @Keef

        Arguably he's blaming Google that his past actions are there for all to find, however I take your point. Having read some of what he was convicted of, I stand behind the use of the term scam artist as well as sex pest though.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Pint

          Re: Responsibility for ones own actions

          Fair enough RNtTKKWWMT, I see how it could be construed that he is blaming Google.

          I think we can agree the guy isn't very nice, your description will do too.

          Have a pint mate.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Responsibility for ones own actions

      I gave you an up vote just for your choice of pseudonym. Enjoy a pint while I laugh myself silly...

    3. a_yank_lurker

      Re: Responsibility for ones own actions

      More to the point, with any good search engine this clown's criminal history will be uncovered. At least enough to warrant getting the public court records if he has applied at your company or trying to scam you. Vermin like him, prefer to be in the shadows and difficult to spot. Google makes it rather easy for anyone to find out about his criminal past.

      1. John Brown (no body) Silver badge

        Re: Responsibility for ones own actions

        "More to the point, with any good search engine this clown's criminal history will be uncovered. At least enough to warrant getting the public court records if he has applied at your company or trying to scam you. Vermin like him, prefer to be in the shadows and difficult to spot. Google makes it rather easy for anyone to find out about his criminal past."

        Only for "unspent convictions" in the case of the court records. But that's where Google comes in. Those unspent convictions, which in many cases do not have be legally declared, are now findable by Google but not in the official justice system. For someone who may well have learned their lesson and has never committed another offence, they can still be "outed", despite having "done the time" and reformed. Just because the subject of this article appears to be a nasty piece of work who still has current "on the record" convictions doesn't mean to say the lives of others should be permanently shit on by a Google search when the justice system as "cleared" them.

    4. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
      Pint

      Rameses Niblick the Third Kerplunk Kerplunk Whoops Where's My Thribble?

      Member of the Silly Party, I would guess? If so, please pass on my regards to my old mate Tarquin Fin-tim-lin-bin-whin-bim-lim bus stop F'tang F'tang Ole Biscuitbarrel, the member for Luton

  6. Teiwaz

    Google Uk does not blah blah

    What was Googles point in bringing that up?

    Maybe Google should be submitting some sort of self edit to itself or at least public perception/assumption.

    Granted, the guy doesn't come across well, but these articles always seem to bring out the frothing vindictive self-righteous types - I'm always suspicious the most vocal of these are the very nastiest of pieces of work, who know it, and are eager to identify any group that they can claim moral superiority to.

    1. Old Used Programmer

      Re: Google Uk does not blah blah

      I suspect that Google made that point so that they could claim that he was suing in the wrong venue and/or get the US courts to decline to enforce any actions taken against them. If he'd raised the "right to be forgotten" it wouldn't fly in a US court, for instance.

      1. RyokuMas
        Devil

        Re: Google Uk does not blah blah

        Of course Google UK does not own Google Search - otherwise they'd have to pay UK tax

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