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MethLabs Shuts out PeerGuardian
Lost&Confused writes to tell us Slyck News is reporting that most of Methlabs.org administration and development staff have been forced out of their own website. For the time being PeerGuardian is being hosted on sourceforge. However, users are advised to stop using the Methlabs.org and Blocklist.org hosted blocklists in favor of the Bluetack list until they can sort things out.
What possible reason would Mr. Erwin want with methlabs.org? I can't believe he would pull this shit. He needs a good ass kicking for stepping out of line.
I have gotton various things, at methlabs.org it says to ignore e-mails I get from anyone about PG unless it is from @methlabs.org. In an e-mail I got from someone else saying to go to the Sourceforge site. So for the time being, I probabaly will not download anything from either place since I don't know who to believe.
Not really. But it sounds almost exactly the same as what Michael Sims, the Slashdot editor, did to the Censorware Project.
Expecting a bitchslap in 5... 4... 3...
Bogtha Bogtha Bogtha
Indeed. We (Methlabs) had an admittedly stupid setup and were working to change it. Obviously, we worked too slow. It's a shame that small groups of friends even have to think of legalities but I guess that's reality.
Anyone have advice on keeping this from happening again, to us or other OSS groups?
I'm reluctant to update my lists using either source at the moment until it's cleared up. The plan for me is to keep the status quo until told otherwise from a reputable source.
I have a problem though; I have two main computers I use regularly and one of them was last updated on the 11th of September, the other on the 14th of September. The $64,000 question is:
Which of my computers, if any, are using reputable blocklists?
I don't know when this coup was started and thus I don't know at what stage we were supposed to stop trusting the auto-updating. I've already turned off my auto-updating for PG2 on both computers but I'd like some info on whether my current lists have been 'tainted.' By the sounds of it, this was a bit of a 'slow mutiny' so I'm somewhat paranoid that the lists may have been compromised far earlier than say, a week ago and thus this is all null and void. Needless to say, we just don't know at the moment.
Any info from some reputable PG2 personnel (I've seen you guys post here before, PS - love your work! I donate!) would go a very, very long way.
But it lists most of the third party companies that snoop as well. If there is a whole, people are encouraged to report it.
And besides - Isn't poor secuirity at least a little better than no security?
Also, 2 more points ;-)
.), and its a fun way to stick it to him.
;-) ) and use this as additional proof (even though small claims doesn't set a precedent) for your cybersquatting claim.
1. Form the LLC anyways. Use the name, MethLabs LLC
File a cybersquatting request. Even if you loose, its not a bad way to go. If you can show you started the project, you'll be in *really* good shape, I think. As far as I know, if you have a business name, you are virtually guaranteed the domain name. What's good for the goose is good for the gander.
Emphasize that its a *security* site. ICANN generally frowns on people trying to subvert security software.
2. Trademark the term "Peerguardian". This costs about ~$400. You may have to take a collection for this. Then, you can pretty reliably prevent him from using that term on methlabs.org.
A trademark will help you achieve number 1, above, and virtually guarantees number 3, below.
3. Sue in small claims court. Make sure to sue in *his* state, but not necessarily his jurisdiction. Even if you don't get the domain back, claim the maximum (usually $3000) in damage. The loss of your projects domain name is easily worth much, much more, but $3000 should be fairly easy to start up again with (pays Domain fees hosting fees LLC fees, etc. .
Small claims court usually only takes a day of work, and the filing fees are pretty small, too. Even if he doesn't pay, you can enter a judgement against him, have the pleasure of actually employing a creditor FOR you (not against
Plus, small claims judges are big on practical issues. They don't like to see people get screwed, and generally side with the abused party.
WhiteWolf666 an exBush supporter. All you new-school,compassionate,save the children Republicans can rot in hell
I know Ken (d3f) personally, and most of the ml.org staff. Ken would shoot someone for putting up a message like that.
...is that we really don't know who to believe, especially since nobody has bothered to the things journalists do. Like go out and interview people, corroborate stories, and so on.
We get:
"However, after speaking to the Methlabs team and various connected members of the community, P2Pnet, SuprNova and Slyck can all confirm that the original story that the domain has been hijacked is genuine"
So "Slyck News" is claiming they've done so- but they haven't given any names, quotes, or details as to how they arrived at this conclusion?
The whole thing is one Big Internet Drama, and pardon me if I just don't care.
Please help metamoderate.
Yes, I agree that the use of 'theft' is inappropriate. However, it really is drawn out to say 'copyright violation' all the time. Can we take it as read that I DO understand the difference between theft of proprty, and the unlawful redistribution of information ?
:)
And, no, you don't get a specific vote on copyright law. You didn't get a specific vote on a bunch of things. You live in a republic, not a democracy. The last TRUE democracy was ancient Greece, where they voted on near everything, and things didn't turn out so well for them
My point (and I really don't see why it was labelled 'off topic'... even 'flamebait' might have been more accurate) was that P2P communities are rife with people that just want their free stuff, and they don't give a damn who they hurt. So, it should be NO surprise that one of them turned against the PeerGuardian developers. William wanted his free stuff - where 'stuff' here meant the methlabs.org site - and he didn't give a damn who he hurt.
No surprise whatsoever.
If one wants to deal only with ethical people, don't create programs that will attract a highly disproportionate amount of unethical people.
Could the admin have been influenced (via loads of cash) to cause this confusion. Remove or modigy all MPAA/RIAA ip addresses, and make sure they do not go anywhere else for updates? If I was one of the above orginizations, that is what I would do.
-William
God is everything science has yet to explain.
After poking around the comments on the other site, I came across this one from eremini, one of the PG devs. I've included it verbatim below. This is the most believeable version of the story I've heard.
& postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=25 )
(Background: cerberius, a.k.a. William Erwin, is the one who they claim "hijacked" methlabs.org. Cerberius, eremini, fox, and Gambit2011 were claimed to be on one side, with the rest of the devs, and the "owner", on the other. Gambit2011 posted to take himself off that list.)
(reference URL: http://www.slyck.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=14191
Actual Post:
eremini here. I am gonna post exactly what happened, since there's no need to hide it now. As some of you know cerberius has always been the one that did technicall things on methlabs, set up the servers, updated server software, etc... So it only naturaly the servers were registered to him. Now about a week ago, Furi and Phrosty decided to kick cerb out, right now they are going around forums truying to say that they wanna be professional, but how do profesionals fire peope? They talk to them, explain the reasons, etc. Did they do that? No. Did they try to do that? No. Just one day all of a sudden, they changed the methlabs.org server root password, wiped all the data off it and hijacked a google adsence account, which was registered to cerb's social security number. Now about the domain. Yes, cerb did transfer the domain to him, a couple of months before that (Miles might call this keep all your balls in one sack), but he did not hijack anything, he transfered it with complience to all ICANN rules, which state that the preveious owner gets send an email, to which he gets to reply 60 days (!) if you want to reject the transfer, that didn't happen. So its transfered fair and square. Now about stealing money. What money? The google adsence money (which cerb got back with google being ready to press charges against hijackers for fraud) is still there, no money transfered. Same with paypal, the money, like always, will be used to pay hosting costs and other fees concerning methlabs. There thats the end of the store. Now you decide who to trust, but please don't trust them, just because they put their real names in some attemp to "be profesional"