WRIT FILED IN VERIO INTERNET FREEDOM OF SPEECH CASE

PRESS RELEASE

For immediate distribution

WRIT FILED IN VERIO INTERNET FREEDOM OF SPEECH CASE

Friday, August 11, 2000

Santa Monica, California

Internet businessman Jim Pickrell filed a writ against Internet giant Verio, Inc. today, alleging that Verio had violated his First Amendment rights by asking a judge to put him in jail for publishing a Web site critical of Verio. Verio had obtained a contempt of court order that dismissed Pickrell's lawsuit against Verio, after Pickrell posted a page on the World Wide Web that outlined Pickrell's charges in the lawsuit. Pickrell has been under a gag order since November 25, 1997 which prohibited him from publicly criticizing Verio.

Today's writ asks the California Court of Appeals to set aside the gag order, the contempt ruling, and the summary adjudication order that threw Pickrell's case out of court. Pickrell claims that the preliminary injunction, or gag order, is a violation of his First Amendment right to make his charges public, and that Verio's attorneys had procured the contempt ruling by telling a series of lies in court. The writ requests that all of Pickrell's charges be restored so that he can present his evidence and witnesses in front of a jury. The case is currently scheduled for trial in October, but the only issues currently up for trial are Verio's countercharges against Pickrell.

Under California law, a contempt of court order is not normally appealable except by a special writ.

Background

Pickrell originally sued Compute Intensive, Inc., a Southern California internet service provider, charging that they never paid him when they bought out his business, Leonardo Internet, in May 1997 and that they had tried to put him out of the Internet business entirely with a campaign of interference and slander. Pickrell is now the operator of Brand X Internet, a small Internet Service Provider. Compute Intensive was merged into Verio in June 1998.

After Pickrell filed his suit against Compute Intensive, he put up a Web page on which he posted various documents from the case as well as various statements from Compute Intensive executives which he identified as "lies." Compute Intensive obtained a temporary restraining order which barred Pickrell from publishing "false and derogatory" statements about Compute Intensive and its employees. Pickrell dismantled the Web site but left an updated version of the pages in a private location on his server computer.

On June 10, 1999, twelve days before a trial was scheduled to begin, Compute's (now Verio's) computer security consultant produced the Web pages and Verio asked for a contempt of court citation and for Pickrell to be sentenced to jail for five days. In the contempt hearing, at which the only witnesses were Compute's employees and lawyers, Judge Julius M. Title ruled that not only was Pickrell in contempt, but that all of his statements on the Web page were false, all of Compute/Verio's so-called "lies" were true, and that Pickrell had no case because he had violated his contract. This became the basis for the July 10, 2000 order that threw out all of Pickrell's charges. (Pickrell was not sentenced to jail.)

Commentary

"This case is a blatant example of a big company ripping off an individual, and then using the court system to punish him when he complains," said Pickrell's brother Brian. "What's especially disgraceful is that Verio is a major Internet company and they should be supporting the public's right to use the Web, not trying to have someone thrown in jail over a Web site.

"These court rulings we've seen so far are completely insane. The judges had to ignore a couple of dozen laws to nail Jim. Otherwise, Verio wouldn't have a case.

"We have all sorts of laws specifically designed to prevent what's happened here, starting with the First Amendment. The California constitution supports free speech, too. California labor law specifically bans any restraining order that stops someone from publicizing a labor law case-if a suit over unpaid salary isn't labor law, I don't know what is. And the California hacking statute says they can't go rummaging through his computer files for things to use against him in court. It says right there in the hacking statute that it's there to protect his right to privacy, which is guaranteed by the California constitution.

"I don't know if this writ will succeed or not," continued Brian Pickrell. "Jim hasn't gotten a fair shake from a judge in the three years this case has been going on, and there's no guarantee that the appeals court will even hear the case. We all have rights in America, but those rights don't mean a thing if a judge decides to ignore them."

Participants

Verio, Inc. is a nationwide Internet services provider that recently agreed to be bought out by the Japanese firm NTT Communications for $5.5 billion. This merger is currently on hold while the FBI reviews it for security concerns. Verio is based in Englewood, Colorado.

Jim Pickrell, 38, is a former partner in Leonardo Internet, Inc. and is currently the operator of Brand X Internet, Inc., an Internet services provider based in Santa Monica. His only current comment on the case is "I can't talk about it. I'm under a gag order." His email address is jimp@brandx.net and his telephone number is (310) 393-8467.

Brian Pickrell, 37, is a former Air Force officer and Space Shuttle operations engineer. He is Jim Pickrell's brother and is not a party to the lawsuit. His e-mail address is bobthrollop@brandx.net.

Justin Jaschke is the CEO of Verio. He has not made any public statement about this case. His e-mail address is CEO@Verio.com.

More information about this case, including some of the court filings, can be found on the World Wide Web at http://www.worldfront.com/home/everyone/ The full text of the writ is at http://www.worldfront.com/home/everyone/documents/writ.html