Okay, at the risk of p1$$1ng everyone off <img src="images/graemlins/crazy.gif" alt="" />, I'm going to play Devil's Advocate here.

The statement Mr. Ralston was objecting to, from the "Cease and Desist" letter, was:

No Need To Amputate

Your survival should not require you to amputate your own
arm, as Aron Ralston was recently forced to do in order to
escape being trapped by an 800-pound boulder. Nor should
you have to make any other extraordinary sacrifice. While
too late for Aron, come July 1, 2003, you will be able to
purchase a pocket-sized emergency beacon that will alert
authorities that you need to be rescued and also give them
your location.

Now, I'm pretty sure even without looking that this was taken out of context. However, just reading that section, it sounds to me like some pitchman who's trying to capitalize on Mr. Ralston's misfortune. In my opinion, IF Doug had been using this incident to sell merchandise (which I'm certain he wasn't) or even to promote some particular brand and drum up business for one of his advertisers (which, again, I'm certain he wasn't), then I'd be pretty p-o'ed and ready to seek legal redress. Maybe somebody brought this to Ralston's attention and he didn't take the time to read the web site in a calm, clear-headed manner before he fired off a complaint to his lawyer. Pretty hot-headed behaviour, for sure, but I guess Doug could give him lessons <img src="images/graemlins/wink.gif" alt="" />

I mean, how would you feel if you saw a company that sold burglar alarms and monitoring services using this to sell their product?

Elizabeth Smart Didn't Need to Suffer

Don't let your 14-year old be kidnapped and raped like
Elizabeth Smart; with our state-of-the-art alarm and
monitoring system, your children - unlike sweet little
Elizabeth - can sleep secure in their own beds.

I'd be pretty damn offended <img src="images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> if I read an advertisement like that - I can't imagine how the Smart family would feel. But - other than the fact that Doug isn't trying to sell PLBs - the tone is quite similar to the quoted text.

All you people immediately jumped on the bandwagon and attributed all sorts of base motives to Mr. Ralston, without any evidence to back them up. (EVIDENCE? WE DON'T NEED NO STINKING EVIDENCE. HANG THE GUILTY BASTARD! <img src="images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" />) Nowhere in any of the correspondence is there any indication that Mr. Ralston is hoping to make money from his ordeal; isn't it possible his concern is that people might THINK he's endorsing a commercial product when he isn't?

The tone of his lawyers' correspondence doesn't indicate someone who's out to make money. The first letter stated clearly that if Doug would remove Mr. Ralston's name from the website, they would consider the matter closed. The letter clearly states that Mr. Ralston "is not interested in allowing his name to be used to promote the PLB technology, your lectures, or any other products or services ...". Maybe he's not interested because Doug didn't offer him any money; or maybe he's just not interested period. But it doesn't sound like a man who's just out to make an easy buck.

I personally wish that Doug had taken a deep breath, counted to 100, and then politely replied that Mr. Ralston was simply mistaken - there was no intent to use his name for commercial gain or advertising purposes and that the post in question was of a purely educational nature, or words to that effect. Doug might even be willing to point out that one reason Mr. Ralston didn't have one of these devices is that the damn gummint has been dragging its heels for years on this issue, (so it wasn't like Mr. Ralston was simply too cheap to buy one).

At the risk of further alienating everyone, I'd also like to point out that what happened to Ralston was a fluke - far less foreseeable than what happened to our deeply revered Chris Kavanaugh on the California Channel Islands (http://www.equipped.org/0601rescue.htm). <img src="images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" />

Even the best of us make mistakes. Cut the guy some slack, why don't ya?