Ayyadurai v. Floor64, Inc. et al

Filing 1

COMPLAINT against All Defendants Filing fee: $ 400, receipt number 0101-6439091 (Fee Status: Filing Fee paid), filed by Shiva Ayyadurai. (Attachments: # 1 Civil Cover Sheet, # 2 Exhibit, # 3 Exhibit, # 4 Exhibit, # 5 Exhibit, # 6 Exhibit, # 7 Exhibit, # 8 Exhibit, # 9 Exhibit, # 10 Exhibit, # 11 Exhibit, # 12 Exhibit, # 13 Exhibit, # 14 Exhibit, # 15 Exhibit, # 16 Exhibit, # 17 Exhibit, # 18 Exhibit, # 19 Exhibit, # 20 Exhibit, # 21 Exhibit)(Cornell, Timothy)

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from the fhaf 's-jusf-wroiu? dept
Email
by Mike Mas nick
Tue, Sep 2nd 2014
12:26 pm

Filed Under:
dave c roc ker,
email, history,
inventor of email,
journalism, Larry
weber, lies, ray

I thought this story had ended a few years ago. Back in 2012, we wrote about how The Washington
as-

had "invented email" in 1978. The problem was that it wasn't even close to true and relied on a
number of total misconceptions about email, software and copyright law. Ayyadurai and some of

his friends have continued to play up the claim that he "invented" email, but it simply was never
true, and it's reaching a level that seems truly bizarre, Ayyadurai may have done some interesting

Companies:
huffington post

Time Warner Cable Bus.®

things, but his continued false insistence that he invented email is reaching really questionable
levels. And, now it's gone absolutely nutty, with the Huffington Post running a multi-part series

tomlirrson,

rewriting history,
shiva ayyadurai, va
shiva ayyadurai

Spcclrurrv

Post and some other big name media outlets were claiming that a guy named V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai

(up to five separate articles so far -- all done in the past 10 days) all playing up misleading claims

Download speed as fast as

saying that Ayyadurai invented email, even though even a basic understanding of the history shows

upload speed with our

he did not.

dedicated bandwidth.
tirnewamercable. com/Busi ness

Let's take care of the basics first, and then we'll dig in on what's going on here, because it's really
Permalink.
Short link.

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quite ridiculous. First off, no one denies that V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai -- an apparently very bright 14year-old at the time — wrote an email software program for the University of Medicine and

Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ) in 1976, By all accounts, it was a perfectly decent email system
that allowed the UMDNJ staff to send electronic messages, Further, no ore doubts that, in 1961,
Ayyadurai registered the copyright on bis program, which was called EMAIL. The problems are that

Essential Reading

Hot Topics

5.3 | If You're Worried About What President

(1) email was invented long before 1976, (2) the copyright is merely on the specific software

Trump Can Do To The Press, Blame

code, not the idea of email, and (3) while Ayyadurai may have independently recreated the basics

Resident Obama

of email (and even added a nice feature), none of his work was even remotely related to what
later became the standards of email. What's most sickening about this is that as part of this new

5.2

From Being Buried

he's simply wrong, but because they cant stand to believe that "a dark-skinned immigrant kid, 14
years old," invented email, and that it was done in "one of the poorest cities in the US" rather than

Two Former Senators Call On Obama
To Save The Full CIA Torture Report'

PR campaign, Ayyadurai is ridiculously arguing that the reason no one believes him isn't because

5.2

at a famous university,

Judge Tosses Charges Against
Backpage Execs, Tells Kamala Harris
To Take It Up With Congress

Again, that might make for a nice story line if there were some factual basis behind it, but there
isn't. The history of email is well-documented from multiple sources and it began way way
before 1976, And while early versions were somewhat crude, by 1976 they had basically everything

New To Techdirt?
Explore some core concepts:

that Ayyadurai claims to have inverted [it is entirely believable that Ayyadurai, as a bright kid,
independently came up with the same ideas, but he was hardly the first). There was a messaging

system called MAILBOX at MIT in 1965, You can read all the details of it here, including source

Perhaps It's Not The Entertainment

Industry's Business Model That's Outdated

code, Ray Tomlinson is frequently credited with inventing the modern concept of email for the

Saying You Cant Compete With Free Is

internet by establishing the £> symbol (in 1972) as a way of determining both the user and which

Saying You Cant Compete Period

computer to send the email to. By 1975, there were things like email folders (invented by Larry
Roberts) and some other basic email apps. As is noted, by 1976 -- two years before Ayyadurai
wrote his app -- email was 75% of all AfifflNET traffic.

Step One To Embracing A Lack Of Scarcity:
Recognize What Market You're Really In
read all »

So, let's get to the Huffington Post trying to whitewash all of this factual history out of existence,

It started on August 20th, with an article by Larry Weber, CEO of Racepoint Global, kicking off a
supposed "series" called 'The History of Email," Except that the series has little to do with the
history of email at all. It's just about Ayyadurai writing his particular email program in 1976,
Great story. Smart kid done good. Has nothing to do with the invention of email, Weber, though,
calls it The Boy Who Invented Email

At this point, it should be worth questioning why Weber

suddenly decided this was such an interesting story. If you don't know, Weber is one of PR's biggest
names, having built one of the most successful PR companies in history. It seems odd that he "just
happened" to come across Ayyadurai's fake story and decided to help create a 5-part series about
it, I have reached out to both Weber and the Huffington Post to ask if Weber has any financial
relationship with Ayyadurai, As I publish this, neither has responded. The post will be updated if I

18

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Document t t e W hy Is Huff ngton Post Runn ng A Multi-Par t Series To Promote The L es Of A Guy Who Pretended To Invent Email? Techd r t
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Capture UR L https://www echd r com art c es/20140901/07280928386 hu po-pub shes-b zar e m s ead ng ac ua y nco ec muti-par se es p e end ng guy nven e…
Capture timestamp (UTC):: Mon,, 12 Dec 2016 22:37:15 GMT
Capture timestamp (UTC) Mon 12 Dec 2016 22:37:15 GMT
0

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supposed "series" called 'The History of Email," Except that the series has little to do with the

history of email at all. It's just about Ayyadurai writing his particular email program in 1 978,
Great story Smart kid done good. Has nothing to do with the invention of email, Weber, though,
calls it The Boy Who Invented Email, At this point, it should be worth questioning why Weber

W,

suddenly decided this was such an interesting story. If you don't know, Weber is one of PR's biggest
names, having built one of the most successful PR companies in history. It seems odd that he "just

03

happened" to come across Ayyadurai's fake story and decided to help create a 5-part series about
it. I have reached out to both Weber and the Huffington Post to ask if Weber has any financial

relationship with Ayyadurai, As I publish this, neither has responded. The post will be updated if I
hear from either, None of the posts in the series disclose any such relationship. Nor does the

2
SERVICE

Huffington Post indicate that this is a "sponsored" post as far as I can tell.

BUNDLE

BUY NOW

The second and third articles in the series are both written by Leslie Michelson, the Director of

VPN Unlimited & To Do

High Performance and Research Computing at Rutgers Medical School (which took over UMDNJ a

Checklist: Lifetime

while back). More importantly, in 1 978 he was the Director of the Laboratory Computer Network

at UMDNJ, and apparently "challenged" Ayyadurai to create an electronic interoffice mail system,

Subscription Bundle

The fourth article in the series is by Robert Field, a technologist at Rutgers Medical School and, in
1978, a colleague of Ayyadurai at UMDNJ. See a pattern? Huffington Post also interviewed
Ayyadurai for HuffPost Live in which he mostly attacks anyone who challenges his story

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comparing himself to Ftiilo T, Farnsworthi -- except in that case, Farnsworth actually invented TV
before anyone else, Ayyadurai did not do that with email, Apparently there are two more in this

Techdirt Insider Out

series that are still to come.
Iittp://m.theregi5ter.co.uk/20f 6/12/08/wiriter_is_c<

When you look at the collection of articles, they all repeat the same basic things: Ayyadurai did
create an email system and 'It was recognized by the federal government," This is misleading in
the extreme. Its amusing how they all use the exact same language. Larry Weber claims:
On August JO, 19SZ, the US government officially recognized V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai
as the inventor of email by awarding him the first US Copyright for "Email,"
"Computer Program for Electronic Mail System," for his 1973 invention. This was

awarded at a time when Copyright was the only way to protect software inventions.

time forthe touches and pitchforks, I think.
Dark Helmet: Touches and pitchforks is my

new favorite typo win
Jeffrey Nonken: hah.
Well, mobile interface. That's my excuse.
Vidiot: WaPo article on copyright fight gets it

wrong, of course... ASCAP and MPAA seen as
the Office's only constituents. How about us
citizens instead?
https J/www.was hin gto n p o st. co rn/n ews/a rts-

and-

Leslie Michaelson says:

entertainment/wp/20f 6/12/0 9/congressional-

On August 30,1932, V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai received official recognition as the

panel-calls-for-independent-copyright-of ce

inventor of email from the U.S. government, for the work he had done in 1978.

Mike Masnick: well, they do quote new head of
the ALA too. and lie's good

CERTIFICATE OF COPYRIGHT REGISTRATION

I

A

Every article in the series includes this image of his copyright registration:

?

Join the Insider Chat

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Except, if you know anything about copyright, you know that what they're claiming is not at all
true. The registration of copyrights is about as close to a rubber-stamping process as is possible. It

has nothing to do with 'inventions" at all, but is rather a copyright for the specific software
program. Ayyadurai received a copyright on his emaii program and that's it, It has absolutely
nothing to do with him being the inventor of email,

Monday
1 3:09 Two Former Senators Call Qn Qbama To Save The
Full CIA Torture Report' From Being Bulled (5)
1 1 :52 The FCC Suggests Some Wtshy Washy Highly
Unlikely Solutions "lb The Poorly- Secured Internet
Off Things (13)

Microsoft holds a copyright on Windows, but no one claims it "invented'' the glass things you look
outside your building with. Hell, no one even claims that Microsoft invented windowing user

10:40 Iran The Latest Country "lb Use "Fake News? As An
Excuse For Widespread Censorship (1 1 )

interfaces., because it dlid not. The name of the program and the fact that you can copyright it

does not make you the "inventor" of the concept behind it.

10: 3S Daily Deal: DashCam Hi- Res Car Video Camera And
SGB MicroSD Card (1 )

Document tiitlle:: Why Is Huffiington Post Runniing A Multi-Part Series To Promote The Liies Of A Guy Who Pretended To Invent Email? || Techdiirt
Document t t e W hy Is Huff ngton Post Runn ng A Multi-Par t Series To Promote The L es Of A Guy Who Pretended To Invent Email? Techd r t
Capture URL:: https://www..ttechdiir tt..com//ar tiiclles/20140901/07280928386//huffffpo-publliishes-biizarrre--miislleadiing--ffacttualllly--iincorrrrectt--mullti-partt--serriies--prrettendiing--guy--iinventte_
Capture UR L https://www echd r com art c es/20140901/07280928386 hu po-pub shes-b zar e m s ead ng ac ua y nco ec muti-par se es p e end ng guy nven e…
Capture timestamp (UTC):: Mon,, 12 Dec 2016 22:37:15 GMT
Capture timestamp (UTC) Mon 12 Dec 2016 22:37:15 GMT
0

true, The registration of copyrights is about as dose to a rubber-stamping process as is possible. It

monaav

has nothing to tlo with "inventions" at all, but is rather a copyright for the specific software

1 3:0"9 Two Former Senatois Call On Obama To Save The
Full IUA 'Vxlixt* Repoif From Being Buried (5]

program, Ayyadurai received a copyright on his email program and that's it, It has absolutely
nothing to do with him being the inventor of email,

11:51 The FCC Suggests Some Wishy Washy; Highly
Unlikely Solutions To The Poorly- Secured Internet
Of Things (13)

Microsoft holds a copyright on Windows, but no one claims it "invented" the glass things you look
outside your building with. Hell, no one even claims that Microsoft invented windowing user

10:40 Iran The Latest Country lb Use Fake Hews As An
Excuse For Wdespread Censorship (11]

interfaces, because it did not. The name of the program and the fact that you can copyright it
does not make you the "inventor" of the concept behind it.

10:3B

Daily Deal: DashCam Hi-Res Car Video Camera And
SGBMkmSD Card 11)

Weber, Ayyadurai and his friends try to counter the 'it's a copyright, not a patent" claim with an

09:39 Georgia Secretaiy Of State Accuses DH5 Of
Breaching His Office's Firewall (15)

incredibly misleading response. Here's Michelsor:
0B:31

On August 30, 198Z, Shiva was issued the fiist Copyright for "Email", "Computer
Program for Electronic Mail System." At that time. Copyright was the equivalent of a
patent, as there was no other way to protect software inventions. Only in 1980 was
the Copyright Act of 1976 amended to protect software. Patent law had not even
caught up to software in 1980

If VjuVe Worried About What Resident T ump Can
Do lb The Press, Blame Resident Obama (41)

06:29 Judge losses Charges Against Backpage Execs,
Tells Kamala Hanis To lake It Up With Congress
114)
03:25 More R'osecutois Refuse To Accept Guilty Pleas

Based On Faulty S2 Field Drug Tests ill)

Copyright was not, and has never been 'the equivalent of a patent," Copyright and patents are two

very different things. Copyright protects specific expression. Patents protect inventions. That's why
copyright protected only the specific code that Ayyadurai wrote, rather than the concept of email ,

Sunday
12:00 Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Vteek
At Techdirt (5)

While it's true that software wasn't considered patentable by many at the time, that doesnt, in any
way mean that a copyright on a particular piece of software was the equivalent in any way, to a

Saturday

patent at the time.

12:00 This Week In Tech dirt History: 50 PA, China, Dajazl
ft The Hypocrisy Of Copyright 12)

To further their argument, both Weber and Michelson include nearly identical, but slightly

More &

different, infographics on the history of email, which (of course) start in 1978 with Ayyadurai's
work. According to those charts, email was barely even a thing outside of UIMDNJ until 1 935 when

Advertisement

o

offline email readers come about. The infographic is the work of the impressive sounding
International Center for Integrative Systems. What's left out is that the "Founder and Chairman"

Nationwide*

of the International Center for Integrative Systems happens to be,., a guy named V,A, Shiva
Ayyadurai, The same infographic tosses in a "milestone" in email in 1995, when "Echomail"
launched. Doesnt sound familiar? Echomail was a company started by... V.A. Shiva Ayyadurai,

The rest of the articles seem to just focus or attacking those who actually were involved in the
invention of email and who dared to speak out against Ayyadurai's claims, The story, which

CLASSIC CAR
INSURANCE

includes no actual support, is that the folks at BBN decided in the early 80s that email security was
a big business opportunity and rewrote history. Whether or not BBM played up their role in the

history of email, is debatable, but none of that charges the fact that they [and many others) were
using email, and bad email software, long before Ayyadurai did anything. At no point do any of

We believe in

them address the long history of email systems long before Ayyadurai arrived or the scene.

the classics, too.

Instead, they just talk about this grand conspiracy theory, claiming (ridiculously) that if BBN were
outed as not being the inventor of email [even though no ore really claims the company was the
inventor of email) it would harm its business. That makes no sense at all. First of all, BBHTs history

of work related to the internet is long and well-detailed (there's even a fantastic book about it).

I

Even if it had nothing to do with email, it's other work is much more impressive. Second, the
company is currently owned by defense contracting giant Raytheon. Does anyone honestly think

Raytheon cares one way or the other who 'invented email"?

Get a Quote

?
All of their "debunking" claims rest entirely or a RAND report written by David Crocker in 1977,

'X

where they take two sentences totally out of context. Here's what Ayyadurai, Weber and their
friends claim Crocker said:
"At this time, no attempt is being made to emulate a full-scale, inter-organizational
mail system. The fact that the system is intended for use in various organizational

contexts and by useis of differing expertise makes it afmost impossible to build a
system which responds to all users' needs."

®g§

I t's telling that Ayyadurai and his friends never actually tell you the name of the report or link to
it, Because actually reading what Crocker wrote would undermine their argument, The report is
called "Framework and Functions of the 'MS' Personal Message System" and you can read it here.
Not only do Ayyadurai and his friends take Crocker entirely out of context, the two sentences
above are not even contiguous sentences. They're not even on the same page. The first sentence is

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on page 18 of the paper, And it just says that this particular implementation [the program called
MS) is focused on certain facets, and for MS "no attempt is being made to emulate a full-scale
inter- organization mail system" even though the entire point of the paper is how various email
implementations are clearly replicating inter-organizational mail systems. The second sentence

comes on page 21 (with lots in between) and just focuses on the fact that lots of users have very
different requests and desires, and it's impossible to satisfy everyone -- and that it, alone, is
beyond the scope of this project. He's not, as Ayyadurai implies, claiming that building an

Document tiitlle:: Why Is Huffiington Post Runniing A Multi-Part Series To Promote The Liies Of A Guy Who Pretended To Invent Email? || Techdiirt
Document t t e W hy Is Huff ngton Post Runn ng A Multi-Par t Series To Promote The L es Of A Guy Who Pretended To Invent Email? Techd r t
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Capture timestamp (UTC):: Mon,, 12 Dec 2016 22:37:15 GMT
Capture timestamp (UTC) Mon 12 Dec 2016 22:37:15 GMT
0

called "Framework and Functions of the 'MS' Personal Message System" and you can read it here.
Not only do Ayyadurai and his friends take Crocker entirely out of context the two sentences
above are not even contiguous sentences, They're rat even on the same page. The first sentence is

A
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on page 18 of the paper, And it just says that this particular implementation (the program called
MS) is focused on certain facets, and for MS "no attempt is being made to emulate a full-scale
inter- organization mail system" even though the entire point of the paper is how various email
implementations are clearly replicating inter-organizational mail systems. The second sentence

comes on page 21 {with lots in between) and just focuses on the fact that lots of users have very
different requests and desires, and it's impossible to satisfy everyone -- and that it, alone, is
beyond the scope of this project, He's not, as Ayyadurai implies, claiming that building an
interoffice email system is impossible. He's claiming that creating a full system that satisfies
absolutely everyone is impossible. However, he does make it clear that other components are
being worked on, and when combined could create a more functional email system. Here's that
part, back in context:

To construct a fully-detailed and monolithic message processing environment
requires a much larger effoit than lias been possible with MS. In addition, the fact
that the system is intended for use in various organizational contexts and by users of
differing expertise mofces ft almost impossible to build a system which responds to all
users' needs. Consequently important segments of a full message environment have
received little or no attention and decisions have been made with the expectation

that other Unix capabilities will be used to augment MS. For example, MS has fairly
primitive data-base management filing and cataloging) facilities and message
/ciders have been implemented in a way which allows them to be modified by
programs, such as text editors, which access them directly, rather than through the
message system.

From the actual source documents (which, again, Ayyadurai and his friends fail to Link to and
totally misrepresent), it's clear that all Crocker is saying is that no single system will satisfy

everyone's current interests, He's not saying it's impossible to create an interoffice email system.
He's just saying that lots of different people have lots of different needs for an interoffice email
system, and for the team building MS, it would be too difficult to satisfy everyone's exact requests,
so they're focusing on certain features, knowing others will add other components Later. And,
given that people are still working to improve upon email today it seems that's still basically true.

Back to the rest of the paper, which actually does a tremendous job undermining basically all of

Ayyadurai's claims (again, which suggests why no one names or Links to the full paper)

in the

very first paragraph [again, this is prior to Ayyadurai doing anything) it talks about research for
"computer software" for "electronic mail,"Ooops. It goes on:
This report describes the design of one sucb program--the "M5" message system. Farfy

electronic mail systems have existed on the larger computers. MS incorporates and
expands upon many of the functions and concepts of such systems within an
integrated package. . .
In other wordls, the very paper that Ayyadurai and his friends insist prove that there was no email
prior to 1976 talks in depth about a variety of email programs, Again, remember that this was
written in 1977. This is not historical revisionism. It goes on:

One of the earliest and most popular applications of the ARfANET computer
communications network has been the transfer of text messages between people
using different computers. This "electronic mail" capability was originally grafted
onto existing infoimal facilities; however; they proved inadequate. A large network
greatly expands the base of potential communicators; when coupled with the
communication convenience of a message system, there results a considerable
expansion to the fist o//eatun?s desired by users. Systems which have responded to

these increased user needs have resided on medium- and laige-scaled computers.
In other words, lots of foLks are working on email systems, Ayyadurai tries to brush all those aside
by saying that his actually included things Like 'folders." But again, Crocker's paper notes:
Messages reside in file "folders" and may contain any number of fields, or
"components. "
1 1 actually has a whole section on folders. It also shows some sample messages at the time,

showing "to," 'from," "cc," "subject," and "message" fields, showing that the very basics of

interoffice mail (such as "cc" -- standing for carbon copy, which was a standard bit of interoffice
mail) had already moved into email, Here's a screenshot (which you can click for a larger version):
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Document tiitlle:: Why Is Huffiington Post Runniing A Multi-Part Series To Promote The Liies Of A Guy Who Pretended To Invent Email? || Techdiirt
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Capture URL:: https://www..ttechdiir tt..com//ar tiiclles/20140901/07280928386//huffffpo-publliishes-biizarrre--miislleadiing--ffacttualllly--iincorrrrectt--mullti-partt--serriies--prrettendiing--guy--iinventte_
Capture UR L https://www echd r com art c es/20140901/07280928386 hu po-pub shes-b zar e m s ead ng ac ua y nco ec muti-par se es p e end ng guy nven e…
Capture timestamp (UTC):: Mon,, 12 Dec 2016 22:37:15 GMT
Capture timestamp (UTC) Mon 12 Dec 2016 22:37:15 GMT
P
0

"components. "
1 1 actually has a whole section on folders. It also shows some sample messages at the time,
showing "to," "from," "cc," "subject," and "message" fields, showing that the very basics of

interoffice mail (such as "cc" -- standing for carbon copy which was a standard bit of interoffice

mail) had already moved into email, Here's a screenshot (which you can click for a larger version):
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Ayyadurai has built up his entire reputation around the (entirely false) claim that he "invented"
email, His bio, his Twitter feed and his website all position himself as having invented email. He
didnt. It looks like he wrote an implementation of an email system in 1976, long after others
were working on similar things. He may have added some nice features, including the "blind
carbon copy/bcc" concept (Update: Nope, bcc was in a 1 977 RFC). He also appears to have

potentially been ahead of others in making a full address book be a part of the email system. He
may, in fact, be the first person who shortened "electronic mail" to "email" which is cool enough,
and he'd have an interesting claim if that's all he claimed. Unfortunately, he's claiming much,
much more than that. He's set up an entire website in which he accuses lots of folks, including
Techdirt, of unfairly "attacking" him. He apparently believes that some of the attacks on him are
because he spoke out against corruption in India. Or because people think only rich white people
can invent stuff. None of that is accurate. There's a simple fact, and it's that Ayyadurai did not

invent email.

He does not even attempt to counter any of the actual facts. The documents that are presented
are misleading or out of context, He misrepresents what a copyright registration means. And his
main "smoking gun," in support of his claim that people are trying to unfairly write him out of
history is presented in a misleading way, out of context, with two entirely separate sentences
pushed together to pretend they say something they didn't.

He's clearly quite proud of the email software he wrote in 1976, and that's great. He should be, It
may have made some incremental improvements on what else was already out there, but it is not
inventing email, It's also entirely possible that he was wholly unaware of everything else that was
out there, And, again, that's great, We've talked many times in the past about multiple people
coming up with the same ideas around the same time, Ayyadurai should be quite proud of what
he's done. But he's simply not telling the truth when he claims to have invented email. His website

is full of accolades from the past, including his Westinghouse award (which is a prestigious award
for high schoolers), his copyrights and his later patents. There are local newspaper clippings.
That's all great, 1 1 reminds me of the folder my mother has on all the nice things that happened to
me as a kid. But none of it means he invented email,

It's unclear why Huffington Post is publishing this ludicrous anddisproven narrative, It's unclear
why one of the biggest names in PR is involved in all of this, though you can take some guesses.

But there are facts, and they include that "electronic mail" existed long before V, A, Shiva
Ayyadurai wrote his program as a precocious teenager, Huffington Post is either not disclosing a

paid-for series of posts (which would be a massive ethical breach) or they've been taken for a ride.
Neither option speaks well of HuffPo and its journalistic integrity,

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73 Comments | Leave a Comment

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Document tiitlle:: Why Is Huffiington Post Runniing A Multi-Part Series To Promote The Liies Of A Guy Who Pretended To Invent Email? || Techdiirt
Document t t e W hy Is Huff ngton Post Runn ng A Multi-Par t Series To Promote The L es Of A Guy Who Pretended To Invent Email? Techd r t
Capture URL:: https://www..ttechdiir tt..com//ar tiiclles/20140901/07280928386//huffffpo-publliishes-biizarrre--miislleadiing--ffacttualllly--iincorrrrectt--mullti-partt--serriies--prrettendiing--guy--iinventte_
Capture UR L https://www echd r com art c es/20140901/07280928386 hu po-pub shes-b zar e m s ead ng ac ua y nco ec muti-par se es p e end ng guy nven e…
Capture timestamp (UTC):: Mon,, 12 Dec 2016 22:37:15 GMT0
Capture timestamp (UTC) Mon 12 Dec 2016 22:37:15 GMT0

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Neither option speaks well of HuffPoand its journalistic integrity.

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73 Comments | Leave a Comment

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Reader Comments

u
MORE OK AYYADURAI

As a professional historian focused on computing I have maintained an in-depth treatment of
Ayyadurai' s claim to have invented email and his evidence at http:/'/www. sigcis.org/ayyadurai.
There should be enough detail there for anyone.

Mike is quite right to focus on the difference between copyright on a document and patent on an

invention, which Ayyadurai is working very hard to blur. One additional snippet from my research:
it seems unlikely that Ayyadurai was the first to contract "electronic mail" to "email" as the OED
has a 1979 usage for "e-mail" and Ayyadurai's earliest documented use of the term appears to be in

1981. Until he recently changed his story, Ayyadurai's own infcgraphic timeline had shown that "the
first version of the system is designed and deployed for use" in 1980.

Thomas Haigh

99
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Violynne (profile), 2 Sep 2014 §> 11 :57am

J dbuncd tBBT ss

I forget. What do they call a question with its answer in the question?
[ reply to this I link to this I view in chronology ]

JSj£ Anonymous Coward, 2 Sep 2014

"

12i33pm

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Re:

Apparently, EMAIL is the answer to this question.
[ reply to this I link to this I view in chronology ]

1.

JP Jones (profile), 2 Sep 2 014 g 1:37pm

9: H'oiQ

59

Re:

Document tiitlle:: Why Is Huffiington Post Runniing A Multi-Part Series To Promote The Liies Of A Guy Who Pretended To Invent Email? || Techdiirt
Document t t e W hy Is Huff ngton Post Runn ng A Multi-Par t Series To Promote The L es Of A Guy Who Pretended To Invent Email? Techd r t
Capture URL:: https://www..ttechdiir tt..com//ar tiiclles/20140901/07280928386//huffffpo-publliishes-biizarrre--miislleadiing--ffacttualllly--iincorrrrectt--mullti-partt--serriies--prrettendiing--guy--iinventte_
Capture UR L https://www echd r com art c es/20140901/07280928386 hu po-pub shes-b zar e m s ead ng ac ua y nco ec muti-par se es p e end ng guy nven e…
Capture timestamp (UTC):: Mon,, 12 Dec 2016 22:37:15 GMT
Capture timestamp (UTC) Mon 12 Dec 2016 22:37:15 GMT
0