Paddy Keating did not reveal my email address on Feldpost.
What he did do was:
1) Misuse his priviliged position as a moderator to reveal the name I was using, even though it was given in confidence to the administration.
2) Reveal that it was part of my email address, which was also given in confidence to the administration, leaving only a limited number of options to deduce the whole address from.
3) Hack into PMs that I exchanged with other members.
I hope this clarifies the matter.
Cheers,
Sid.
Correction.
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Paddy Keating
Thanks for clarifying that, Sid. Regarding the issue of reading PMs, there was no "hacking" involved and I do not regret my actions. The PMs were not shown to anyone. I have explained my attitude to this issue here: http://www.feldgrau.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=27543 It is an attitude shared by many people.
Regarding your allegation of breach of confidentiality, no such breach occurred. There is no stage in the registration process in phpBB v.2.02 where such information is guaranteed any confidentiality. You can choose to conceal your e-mail address from other members but that is all. When I previously pointed this out, you changed tack and began accusing me of publishing your e-mail address. You were so convincing that I was even asked to apologise to you for it by the owner of Feldpost! Apart from anything else, I was part of "the administration" to which you refer and there was no discussion of any confidentiality pertaining to the name you used. Perhaps you discussed it with the owner but if that was the case, none of us was made aware of it.
After the destruction of Feldpost content, the allegation was both easier to make and harder to deny. Fortunately, there were people who remembered the topic in question and knew that the allegation was false. You have now withdrawn the allegation and I thank you for it.
You registered there under the name in question and it was openly discussed at one point by some moderators who felt that you had registered under a different name for the purposes of trolling. Even if the name in question had been given in confidence, trollsters are not generally accorded equal rights with genuine members. In any case, the fact that is was not even a real name rather undermines any case you might feel you have for claiming breach of confidentiality. It's a bit like someone who calls himself "Goofy" on a forum threatening to sue for libel because someone has ridiculed him or called him an idiot. How can one libel a ficticious character? How can one breach the confidentiality of a ficticious character?
I hope this clarifies my position and I hope that the moderators close this topic down as the matter is now closed, as far as this website is concerned. Once again, thank you for setting the record straight. I'll be sure to make that clear in any account of the saga.
PK
Regarding your allegation of breach of confidentiality, no such breach occurred. There is no stage in the registration process in phpBB v.2.02 where such information is guaranteed any confidentiality. You can choose to conceal your e-mail address from other members but that is all. When I previously pointed this out, you changed tack and began accusing me of publishing your e-mail address. You were so convincing that I was even asked to apologise to you for it by the owner of Feldpost! Apart from anything else, I was part of "the administration" to which you refer and there was no discussion of any confidentiality pertaining to the name you used. Perhaps you discussed it with the owner but if that was the case, none of us was made aware of it.
After the destruction of Feldpost content, the allegation was both easier to make and harder to deny. Fortunately, there were people who remembered the topic in question and knew that the allegation was false. You have now withdrawn the allegation and I thank you for it.
You registered there under the name in question and it was openly discussed at one point by some moderators who felt that you had registered under a different name for the purposes of trolling. Even if the name in question had been given in confidence, trollsters are not generally accorded equal rights with genuine members. In any case, the fact that is was not even a real name rather undermines any case you might feel you have for claiming breach of confidentiality. It's a bit like someone who calls himself "Goofy" on a forum threatening to sue for libel because someone has ridiculed him or called him an idiot. How can one libel a ficticious character? How can one breach the confidentiality of a ficticious character?
I hope this clarifies my position and I hope that the moderators close this topic down as the matter is now closed, as far as this website is concerned. Once again, thank you for setting the record straight. I'll be sure to make that clear in any account of the saga.
PK
Last edited by Paddy Keating on Sun Oct 14, 2007 4:04 am, edited 1 time in total.
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sniper1shot
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Troy Tempest
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From Feldpost site management :-
Regarding events on http://www.feldpost.tv, there have been in recent weeks allegations of a number of breaches of confidence, including the publishing of part of a member's email address, and subsequently that Private Messages on the site were not secure or confidential.
Regarding the confidentiality of PMs on Feldpost, there is NO functionality within the Admin suite of functions that allows the site owner, site administrator, or moderators to open and read Private Messages. For any administrator to enter a member's PM box would require them to reset that member's password and masquerade as that user - which given the Privacy Policy of the site and the Conditions you accept on registering would be highly unethical behaviour.
There ARE many sites and companies who would reserve that right or functionality for themselves - employers in an IT-heavy business for example - but they are obligated in law in most nations around the globe to inform you that they are reserving those rights and by signing up to them, or being employed by them, you are accepting that right and foregoing that confidentiality. It's built into most employee's terms and conditions of emplyment or contracts nowadays.
You'll note that on registering as members of Feldpost, that the Terms and Conditions of Membership did NOT require you to forego any such rights; we don't require it, and don't have the functionality to require it. IF in any theoretical circumstance we WOULD need to intrude on something like a private mailbox - AS YOU HAVE NOT SIGNED OVER THE RIGHT TO US, WE WOULD HAVE TO ASK YOU FIRST. And you have the right to say no.
If we wanted that right, we would have to ask you on first registering, and you would have the right then to vote with your feet.
That position was confirmed at 3pm Friday as being the legal position in the UK at least on our relatively limited (read "VERY limited") Terms and Conditions. By being SO simple, they protect you more than you would think by their simplicity.
This issue arose because a former site administrator, having reset the site owner's password to secure the site from a hacker, logged in as the site owner and read material in his PM box. This action cannot be construed in any way as being necessary to securing the site, and is regarded as a major breach of the site owner's confidentiality by that administrator.
Regarding the publishing of a member's email address or part of it, that user has stated:-
Feldpost management thanks that former administrator for his prompt action last Saturday night in securing the site; however, question marks over his behaviour before and immediately after that event have damaged the reputation of the site as various threads on Feldgrau and Feldpost attest, and his actions in these two areas of PM security and the confidentiality of members' personal data have unnecessarily damaged his own reputation. Feldpost management would like to take this opportunity to state that actions of this nature are not the regular policy of Feldpost, and did not and do not have the approval of site management, and will not be repeated.
Regarding events on http://www.feldpost.tv, there have been in recent weeks allegations of a number of breaches of confidence, including the publishing of part of a member's email address, and subsequently that Private Messages on the site were not secure or confidential.
Regarding the confidentiality of PMs on Feldpost, there is NO functionality within the Admin suite of functions that allows the site owner, site administrator, or moderators to open and read Private Messages. For any administrator to enter a member's PM box would require them to reset that member's password and masquerade as that user - which given the Privacy Policy of the site and the Conditions you accept on registering would be highly unethical behaviour.
There ARE many sites and companies who would reserve that right or functionality for themselves - employers in an IT-heavy business for example - but they are obligated in law in most nations around the globe to inform you that they are reserving those rights and by signing up to them, or being employed by them, you are accepting that right and foregoing that confidentiality. It's built into most employee's terms and conditions of emplyment or contracts nowadays.
You'll note that on registering as members of Feldpost, that the Terms and Conditions of Membership did NOT require you to forego any such rights; we don't require it, and don't have the functionality to require it. IF in any theoretical circumstance we WOULD need to intrude on something like a private mailbox - AS YOU HAVE NOT SIGNED OVER THE RIGHT TO US, WE WOULD HAVE TO ASK YOU FIRST. And you have the right to say no.
If we wanted that right, we would have to ask you on first registering, and you would have the right then to vote with your feet.
That position was confirmed at 3pm Friday as being the legal position in the UK at least on our relatively limited (read "VERY limited") Terms and Conditions. By being SO simple, they protect you more than you would think by their simplicity.
This issue arose because a former site administrator, having reset the site owner's password to secure the site from a hacker, logged in as the site owner and read material in his PM box. This action cannot be construed in any way as being necessary to securing the site, and is regarded as a major breach of the site owner's confidentiality by that administrator.
Regarding the publishing of a member's email address or part of it, that user has stated:-
I would draw any concerned member's attention to the Feldpost Privacy Policy statement, particularly this section:-2) Reveal that it was part of my email address, which was also given in confidence to the administration, leaving only a limited number of options to deduce the whole address from.
An action was taken by a former site administrator that was in breach of this policy and the site ownership does not in any way condone this action, and in the strongest terms express its displeasure at what happened. That member is no longer responsible for any element of the administration of the Feldpost forum. He is free to express his personal opinions on what occured and his motivation, but they do not have the support of Feldpost management in any way, and no statement made by that individual should be regarded in any way as reflecting the opinions, views and policies of the site management.Administration uses the information you provide to target and personalise the emails we send to you and the offers we make available to you. We do this to ensure that you only receive relevant and appropriate information. administration will not sell or give away your personal information to any other person, company or organisation, unless, it is required by law, or you expressly agree to us giving out your information.
Feldpost management thanks that former administrator for his prompt action last Saturday night in securing the site; however, question marks over his behaviour before and immediately after that event have damaged the reputation of the site as various threads on Feldgrau and Feldpost attest, and his actions in these two areas of PM security and the confidentiality of members' personal data have unnecessarily damaged his own reputation. Feldpost management would like to take this opportunity to state that actions of this nature are not the regular policy of Feldpost, and did not and do not have the approval of site management, and will not be repeated.
Hello from sunny Port Macquarie