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Ex-Ashley Madison CTO Threatens Libel Suit Against Journalist
An anonymous reader writes: Security reporter Brian Krebs, who has been instrumental in breaking news about the Ashley Madison hack, is now being threatened by the website's former CTO with a libel suit. Contained in the leaked data was a series of emails from the ex-CTO, Raja Bhatia, to the CEO of Ashley Madison's parent company. In the emails, Bhatia noted a security hole in a competing website, saying that he downloaded their user database and was capable of modifying and exposing it. After reporting on these emails, Krebs received a letter from Bhatia's lawyer (PDF) saying the post was libelous and defamatory. They demanded a retraction, which Krebs is thus far unwilling to do.
When you're in a hole, stop digging.
I'd love to see under what legal theory that reporting facts could be considered libelous or defamatory.
It's been twelve years since it was coined, and yet it's unbelievable that people STILL haven't heard of the Streisand effect.
Trying to shut someone up in this age just makes the information spread much faster and wider. I wouldn't have heard of this at all if the lawsuit wasn't threatened.
I think he's posturing ready for the inevitable lawsuits and criminal investigation. He did after all, admitted in his emails, hack into a competitor and steal their database of users.
I can't wait to see those AM twats get cross-examined.
-jcr
The only title of honor that a tyrant can grant is "Enemy of the State."
Someone else, above, said 'when you're in a hole, stop digging!', which is good advice -- unless your intention is to draw as much attention to yourself as possible. I'm still holding out for the idea that somehow this whole 'hacking' event was engineered and staged by Ashley Madison themselves, perhaps for generating large sums of money via blackmail, and to also generate as much interest in their business as possible, so when they 'rise from the ashes' of this incident, security ostensibly renovated and reinforced, they'll have an even larger client base than ever before, despite all the revelations of fraud. Before anyone objects: Do you really put anything past people who would run a business like this one? Seriously, it's only a half-step above running a brothel.
Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
*sigh* Canada.. so easy to silence the critics.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
I've listened to Handel on the Law a lot. Isn't the truth an absolute defense when it comes to libel/slander suits?
That's essentially what Raja Bhatia's lawyers said, and I see nothing wrong with that.
"I don't know, therefore Aliens" Wafflebox1
If I was Krebs, I would request my attorney send a letter to Bhatia's lawyer stating that since those Emails consist of a confession to Federal level hacking charges against a US corporation that he is required by law to make the information as public as possible, especially to such agencies as the DOJ and FBI (and whatever the equivalent Canadian authorities are), and that by definition there is no liable (at least in the US, the article does state that Canada's liable laws are different). Then follow up on that threat and actually forward all information to those agencies (and nerve.com) for review.
How they are used to stop journalists reporting the truth.
How does it affect my nerd life?
There's a huge market in China!
Oh yeah, threatening Brian Krebs will work perfectly, no way this could possibly go wrong!
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
"Illegal evidence" is that which is gathered by methods outside the constitution, i.e., through a search without a warrant, etc. The adjective "illegal" does not refer to the evidence itself, but the manner it was obtained.
The lawyer's letter lays out his position. We don't the facts, but here's his position, which may be reasonable g
The letter to Krebs says that in the very emails Krebs relied on, the former CTO explicitly said that he did NOT download the account database. He said there is a clear vulnerability so someone COULD download the database, and he did not do so. The Krebs article appears to suggest that he did, so the Krebs article might be misrepresenting what is actually said in the emails.
The letter also seeks to distinguish between noticing a readily apparent vulnerability vs "hacking" the web site. Those are kind of two degrees of the same thing, but Krebs said "hacked". If the truth is more like "noticed", a retraction is in order.
Lastly, thr letter seeks to clarify that he was not AM's CTO, or even working for AM, at the time. Reading the article one might well get the impression that AM's CTO, on behalf of AM, hacked a competitor. That's not factually correct, the lawyer says.
Dude, since your company has gone to the waste-side, let it go.. You were caught promoting dishonest business practices, your business model is based on the perversions of others and how YOUR SERVICE PROVOKES THAT, its obvious, you have leveraged something to the point that you have to result to this type of behavior I think is very poor, regardless of your race, creed, or belief.. It's fine to admit u were caught, but dont go after they individual whom uncovered your unsavory behavior. Thats just low, Just accept your demise and move on.
do you all remember an article that described a certain Indian class of individuals have claimed the right to lie, cheat, steal, and engage in dishonest practices to (supposedly further their advancement. This was based on the notion that individuals in their culture have been do depraved, "shit on", etc. Because of such atrocities committed, they have the right.
I wonder if this episode could be attributed to that statement and thus that type of behavior. I wonder what cultural connections this may tie back to..
I am not a racist, I believe in equality for all, when appropriate. But when public statements are made like the one i described above, seem to surface in the way people conduct themselves at a global/trusted level, its had to ignore the correlation..
Requesting to be stood corrected if necessary, or if my assertion is flawed..
Otherwise thank you
This dude works in tech - a CTO, well, assuming he's actually involved in tech, not some 'business' CTO - and thinks that this is a good idea. He's basically murdering his own reference for the future, nobody wants a bunk ass CTO who doesn't understand the internet or world at large, and has his name smeared all over (yada yada Streisand effect yada yada) but the bottom line is this: if you do shady shit, and get busted, there is to be no expectation of silence by anyone...once it's out, it explodes and that's fucking it. Touching it just makes the explosion bigger. "Lawyers", yeh I'm sure his lawyers are loving it - when they offer advice and "yeh, lets file a suit!" - they're just securing their own monetary gain...because obviously this whole thing blowing up just creates a larger vortex to funnel this fucktards money into.
why is this post not modded for points?
See subject: It'd ALL hinge on it - if Bhatia said he did what the summary here says, Bhatia's wrong from the get-go imo...
APK
P.S.=> I've also seen that this Ashley Madison site wrote bots that deceived their male customers into thinking they were speaking with REAL women - not some "Eliza" style bot! That's LOW right there - really low... apk
I keep noticing the same thing over and over, that Canadians who work in high-tech have a huge inferiority complex against Americans, and look for excuses to be threatening or nasty. it's a beautiful thing to see such lack of self-awareness on display.
Bhatia ADMITS hauling in competitor nerve.com's DB & posted samples of it online even! Very DUMB imo... very dumb.
* WIRED -> http://www.wired.com/2015/08/a...
APK
P.S.=> Again per my last post, see my 'p.s.' there too - it's nothing but truth & doesn't speak WELL of this EX-CTO Bhatia... I mean, in this case, he even KNEW about nerve.com's issues, & NEVER WARNED THEM (the right thing to do) + even KNEW of Ashley Madison's security issues also (never fixed them apparently either IF I understood what I just read correctly) - anyone feel FREE to correct me IF/WHEN I am off/wrong here... apk
We don't the facts, but here's his position, which may be reasonable g
I don't your post.
I think it's safe to say all dating sites do that. Even Reddit did it to make people believe the site was more popular than it was. It's becoming more and more common that new sites have far more fake users than real users.
I can't believe people continue to use that ridiculous acronym, when a perfectly fine slight modification removes the duality: IMNAL.
shocker!
See subject: It's lame & low imo - & they're apparently not concerned in the least about deceits like that coming out eventually!
* Hard to believe Reddit did it - do you have any documentation of that?
(I hate to be a "citation demanded" idiot, but in this case, regarding Reddit - I'm actually curious now (they're VERY popular afaik, I don't use it myself & never have))
APK
P.S.=> To be honest here? I've felt the world was going crazy for a WHILE now - even asking MY elders (me @ 50++ yrs. of age now in fact) a few years back "Is it ME, or is the world more nuts than ever now?" since they lived longer than I, & I often look to my elders for advisement (when I respect their opinions & experience that is) - every single ONE of them said "Absolutely"!
See - I figured it was just the same as it ever was, only the the free flow of information due to the internet exposed it more (more of what was "hushed up" before only really) & THAT is what I told them as I wanted to be 'fair' about it, not assuming "I know everything" since I just plain don't!
Nope - they disagreed on that too & stuck to their guns that it was more nuts than ever, & the world had gotten deceit down to a fine art!
Man - I didn't know what to think so I just kept listening to what I read or heard + saw, & am still convinced things are more out of kilter than I ever saw in my time @ least... apk
I can't believe people continue to use that ridiculous acronym, when a perfectly fine slight modification removes the duality: IMNAL.
Did he check the security of his own web-site, and in particular, for the same flaw? Since the hackers/crackers claim there wasn't any security at AM, what was this CTO doing besides free penetration testing for the competition?
I can't believe people continue to use that ridiculous acronym, when a perfectly fine slight modification removes the duality: IMNAL.
Stupid racist, too dumb to read the actual letter.
See subject - & I never will: Complete lack of integrity + deceitful as hell!
APK
P.S.=> Makes you wonder how much of that goes on elsewhere (I know for a fact of a few 'sockpuppeteers' here for instance - imagine an ENTIRE forums full of them though)
... apk
Bhatia should have consulted you about the /etc/hosts files that he wasn't using
That subject line tho g
...he should be researching which countries don't have extradition treaties with the United States...
Also: Top 10 Ashley Madison Pickup Lines.
Lawrence Person (lawrencepersonh@gmailh.com (remove all "h"s to mail)
http://www.lawrenceperson.com/
One avenue of attack is to go after the Director of NSA.
Offer him, 10 of billions of African sex slaves!
Offer him, cash, in 3 Trillion dollars,
Or do a dirty dirty on Him; I.e. use his own agency to kill him!
Otherwise, go after Platte River Networks, all the employees!
Stage a Congressional investigation.
Then subpoena all employees.
Then ask the following questions to each employee:
1) Do you have a Top Secret or above Security Clearance?
2) Do you have accesses to Top Secret or above documents?
Then ask:
Did Platte River Networks receive Top Secret or above clearance and access?
All the answers by all the employees will be, NO.
Therefore they can all be shipped en-mass to GITMO and left to rot. Obama will never shut down GITMO.
Ha ha
Where's the letter? All I see at the other end of that link is another Slashdot post.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
On account of the horrid misconstruction "to be stood corrected", obviously. The OP meant to say something like, "I am prepared to stand corrected...," or, "I ask to be corrected."
He also doesn't close parentheses.
Il n'y a pas de Planet B.
"I am not a racist"
I remember a lot of racist posts which contain that assertion.
See subject: It'd make me as bad as those here that do which I know for a FACT, a few here do...
APK
P.S.=> I won't lower myself to THAT level - I even wrote hairyfeet, another member here, that VERY thing (idiots doing it would LOVE me to do that - to do what THEY do, dragging me DOWN to THEIR LEVEL - it's never going to happen)... apk
See subject you "ne'er-do-well" & do a better program than I did.
* You can't, & you KNOW it...
APK
P.S.=> Gotta love these little miserable do nothing trolls - it's easy to toss the truth about them their way as I have above... apk
Roughly the same as the US, with detail differences. In both countries you can sue anyone for anything and tie them up in litigation. One province and a few states have explicit SLAPP statutes, and sharp judges will hit frivolous suits with costs against.
davecb@spamcop.net