Fuelstar admits defeat!

(subtitled: Threat of legal action shows how badly Fuelstar is under pressure)

Update 8th August 2008

Despite this website having been live for over a year, Ian Cornelius and Fuelstar have not even sent a letter from their lawyers demanding the site be taken down. The very good reason for this is that they know any letter requesting such an action would be dispensed to the nearest rubbish bin in fits of laughter.

So, how does a company like Fuelstar attempt to close us down? By using the "YouTube Provision", of course!

YouTube is presently faced with several extremely large lawsuits (including $1 billion by Viacom) on the basis that they have allowed content to be shown which breaches copyright or is subject to litigation. Accordingly, if someone complains to YouTube that some content violates this or that law, YouTube will just remove the video. Some classic examples are Richard Dawkins, Richard Wiseman and James Randi having videos removed, even though they made the videos! Because the threat is enough to make YouTube very wary, content is removed as an easy option.

In this vein, Fuelstar asked their solicitors, Baldwins, to write to our isp threatening legal action if the pages stayed up. The isp, of course, not wanting to be the subject of litigation, advised that the site would be closed down. No problemo - change isp. (An interesting aside here is that the lawyer acting, Breon Gravatt, of Baldwins, holds both bachelor and master degrees in science - psychology, in particular. The reason people think Fuelstar works is entirely due to confirmation bias - a well-known psychological effect.)

The upshot was a downtime of about 1 hour while the change to new server and isp was made.

Ian Cornelius, you're a legend!

During the entire last year, we've been waiting for just this type of action to start. While Fuelstar stays quietly selling its pieces of tin at a price higher than gold, they were relatively untouchable - apart from people being able to read our pages, that is.

What Ian Cornelius and Fuelstar have now done is shifted the argument to the law courts - an outstanding idea, because the High Court of New Zealand deals in facts, not conjecture; evidence, not anecdotes. The High Court also has the power to subpoena the results of those scientific studies from Auckland University that Fuelstar has suppressed for so long.

An injunction is currently being prepared to force the isp to upload the site again, at which stage, Fuelstar's only means of defence would be to prove its "invention" works. The only way that could be achieved is by having it tested according to simple scientific principles.

At which stage, the truth about Fuelstar will be revealed publicly, once and for all.

Thank you, Ian Cornelius and Fuelstar - you're helping shoot yourself in the foot - a most admirable trait.

The whole sordid Fuelstar saga is here. (Along with several other fuel-saving scams....)