ARENA et al v. JOHN DOE et al

Filing 2

Emergency MOTION for Temporary Restraining Order Preliminary Injunction and Expedited Discovery filed by CAILIN ARENA.Memorandum. (Attachments: # 1 Order to Show Cause, # 2 Memorandum of Law, # 3 Declaration of Cailin Arena, # 4 Declaration of Patricia McWilliam, # 5 Proposed Order)(ARENA, CHARLES)

UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT
FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF PENNSYLVANIA

CAILIN ARENA and

No: 2:2012-cv-00778

PATRICIA MCWILLIAM,
Plaintiffs,
vs.
JOHN DOE and GOOGLE, INC.,
Defendants.
DECLARATION OF PATRICIA MCWILLIAM
I, Patricia McWilliam, declare:
1.

I am Patricia McWilliam, a plaintiff in the above-captioned action. I submit this

declaration in support of a motion for expedited discovery, temporary restraining order, and
preliminary injunction. This declaration is based upon my personal knowledge.
2.

I am a citizen from Greenville, South Carolina. I am temporarily teaching in

Seoul, South Korea.
3.

On January 20, I was informed that Defendant John Doe had created a website

where he posted pictures of me, used large amounts of text from my personal blog, mocked me
and “outed” me as the author of the blog.
4.

Defendant John Doe is an unknown individual.

5.

John Doe appears to hold a lot of malice towards me, even though I’m not sure

what I could have done to offend him. As far as I know, I have never met or interacted with him.

Based on what he wrote about me, I believe that he intends to harm my professional and personal
relationships and is aware that I am employed.
6.

On January 8th, 2012, John Doe created a website entitled “Korean Dating

Bloggers,” at http://secretlivessexbloggers.blogspot.com (the “Korean Dating Bloggers” website).
On or about January 19th, 2012, John Doe wrote a blog post about me and added it to this website.
He associated the website with my name “Patricia McWilliam.” John Doe also used my name as
a “website tag” for the blog so that it came up prominently in search results for the name
“Patricia McWilliam.”
7.

The Korean Dating Bloggers website is filled with screenshots from my now

private online blog, a screenshot taken of an old YouTube video I posted 7 years ago and
screenshot from a dating profile I set up. It also includes hateful commentary by John Doe and
screenshots from the websites of third parties. The website invites readers to find me on
Facebook or Linkedin. He also hunted down my statements made in an online forum
(Waygook.org), which is just disturbing.
8.

It is also disturbing to me that someone I don’t know and have never interacted

with (as far as I know), would go to such lengths to mock me and embarrass me in a public
setting.
9.

He invites complete strangers to find me on my LinkedIn account and states that

he hopes I am caused embarrassment and other resulting harm to my personal and professional
relationships.
10.

John Doe also tagged the online content with my profession – “law,” “law

school,” “lawyer,” “Christian,” “kissing,” “making out,” “Patricia,” “McWilliam,” “Patricia

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McWilliam, “University of South Carolina” – so that it was likely to appear high in Google
search results for my name and make it clear that the site could only be about me.
11.

John Doe calls me unattractive, a “whale”, and indicates I’m very religious. He

states: “Patria writes "anonymously" over at Tumblr (but remember kids you're probably not as
anonymous as u think) about how she makes out with a lot of guys at a lot of clubs but won't
sleep with any of them. She seems really proud of this. Probably because she is really super
Christian. But what would her pastor would say if he read her tumblr?”
12.

On my dating profile, I did mention that I self-identify as Christian and would like

someone of the same faith for a romantic partner, but that is the only place I recall commenting
on my religious views.
13.

I have taken numerous steps to determine the identify of John Doe, but all of my

attempts to verify his identity for certain have been thwarted by John Doe’s use of anonymizing
software and other activities taken to conceal his identity, as well as Google’s refusal to assist me
in identifying him without a court order.
14.

My correspondence with Google is attached as Exhibit 1.

15.

Unfortunately, I am teaching university students this year and whenever a student

or colleague Googles “Patricia McWilliam,” they see the website “Korean Dating Bloggers” in
the first page of search results. Sample Google search results are attached as Exhibit 2.
16.

I am worried that if not identified, John Doe will continue to send the material he

has created to any future employers, in attempt to compromise my employment and reputation.
17.

Moreover, John Doe’s conduct (and my inability to confirm John Doe’s identity),

has led to me suffering severe emotional distress, as also intended by John Doe.

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18.

I have had to miss numerous days away from work and have suffered physical

results from the stress of this situation. It has distracted me from work, caused me sleepless
nights, makes me feel nauseous and irritable with my friends and co-workers.
19.

I own a copyright application, filed February 12, 2012, for the online publications

I authored (Serial No. 1-724213741).
20.

John Doe continues to publish the content that is the subject of these copyright

applications on his “Korean Dating Bloggers” website. He has republished entire pages of my
writings and identified me as the author. I published these writings online anonymously on a
blog that is now set to “private.”
21.

I have a right to control copyrighted materials that I created and published online,

without the risk that those materials will be used without my authorization and republished
verbatim elsewhere.
22.

John Doe previously had access to my writings, saved screenshots of my writings,

and continues to publish entire pages of my writings without my authorization.
I declare under penalty of perjury that the foregoing is true and correct.

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EXHIBIT 1

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EXHIBIT 2

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