What is Digg?266 Comments
- Phocion55, on 10/12/2007, -13/+665The dude should have goatse'd him. We all know how well hilarity ensues after that.....
- TaeK, on 10/12/2007, -14/+590he doesn't know how to download the internets
- kent1146, on 10/12/2007, -5/+431We are witnessing the birth of a future Verizon Wireless / AT&T / Cingular / BellSouth executive.
- strangeguitar, on 10/12/2007, -12/+415"I don't think you want me to contact my lawyer about this."
Hahaha! Dumbass. - skored, on 10/12/2007, -0/+360"I am an honest business man"
Who is stealing your pictures and bandwidth... - Coven, on 10/12/2007, -2/+336I say put the pictures back up for a few days. Once he's settled in and thinks he's won...its goatse time.
- ajoh198, on 10/12/2007, -6/+298Somehow people getting busted after hotlinking pictures always makes me laugh
- Dunadan, on 10/12/2007, -2/+196I clicked on the article link and the image was gone. Someone better upload it again or I may have to call my lawyer.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -17/+169Such a great article! I would suggest putting the images up for a few days, then put porn with the same filenames...
- JonatanP, on 10/12/2007, -0/+144I'd put the images back in GIF format, and add a goatse every 50 sec. I bet he wouldn't look at them long enough to notice >:)
- fernando26, on 10/12/2007, -11/+101I remember recently reading an article talking about how blurring is not an effective way to block text. Basically you take all possible numbers/letters (62 in all, considering case sensitivity) that could be present, blur them in a similar fashion, then compare to the blurred text. Using curves of best fit, theres a good chance that at least some, if not all the text can be unblurred.
Anyone care to try so we can contact this guy and offer him some affordable web hosting? =P - unloud, on 10/12/2007, -11/+98http://digg.com/programming/I_stole_your_bandwidth_images_and_now_I_believe_that_I_can_sue_you
and
http://www.digg.com/tech_news/MySpace_Gets_Goatse_d - lilzaphod, on 10/12/2007, -4/+84Why cover up the phone number. That's just wrong. I may have to contact MY lawyer because you're just a tease.
- ebaofvn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+79Hi... I'm E_B_A... I'm a newbie to Digg and my main reason for coming here was because I'm the guy who received those e-mails.
A friend of mine pointed this out to me and I thought you folks would want to know the full story...
It's not as dramatic as it sounds.
First, here is the full set of images:
http://www.shapelessmass.com/junk/I'm_gonna_get_sued.gif
http://www.shapelessmass.com/junk/lawsuit_emails.gif
http://www.shapelessmass.com/junk/legal_emails_conclusion.gif
Now the full story. I used to run violentnation.com, a website named for a collective of musical and visual artists who were concerned with the violent aspects of American culture. Since nobody seemed to ever contribute to the site but me, I shut it down and move everything to my new site, closing the domain and deleting my photos from the server (actually, I kept the domain for a while debating about what to do with it but that's neither here nor there).
Anyway, a few days later or so I get the first e-mail.
I ran a search of the referrer logs on the old site, found his site pretty easily and responded asking him about it and educating him on fair use, intellectual property and hot-linking.
He responded back the next day, then the day after that with the third e-mail after apparently talking with a lawyer apologizing and the whole thing is over.
He called me "Mr. E_B_A" which is a continual source of amusement to my on-line friends to this day.
Anyway, his was a ***** free-hosting website with one of the popular free-hosting providers (I'd rather leave his site a mystery as he had some very sensitive personal information on it and I suspected, on the second day, this might start making the rounds on the web one day - as you can see).
Here's some popular questions, many of which you guys have already asked...
Why did I conceal his identity?
I guess because while he did a profoundly stupid thing, it wasn't terrible enough that he deserves life-long harassment and phone calls, etc.
Why didn't I goatse him?
At first, I thought it was my cousin pulling a prank on me. Him being the fine, upstanding Christian prude he is, I doubt that would have gone over well. Then I started getting really paranoid and scared I would have to really go to court and the very notion of explaining the guy with the wedding ring to a bonafide judge seemed, well, somewhat risky on my part. So I elected to play it safe.
Is it fake?
No. Well, maybe. I still haven't ruled out the possibility that someone I know wasn't playing a prank on me. I have some rather mischievous friends. If it is fake, I'm not responsible for the fakery and I've been just as scammed as you.
What happened to the photos?
He replaced them with photos from someone else's site, last time I saw, apparently learning very little from the ordeal. I checked his code just to be sure. One of them was watermarked so I'm guessing there may be future legal action for THAT infraction.
Did you ever talk to him on the phone?
No. I had the opportunity but I knew I might get riled up enough to cuss him out and my only concern at the time, which looks relatively lame now, was to get rid of him lest he actually sued me for real. I'm a poor bloke with no lawyer, no money for a lawyer and no real legal experience to speak of. I had no clue at the time how serious he was or wasn't so I chose to take him very seriously and handle him with kid gloves. Put yourself in my position.
Can you show us his site?
No thank you. If he sued over this, imagine what he'd do if I started sharing his site to a bunch of devious internet folks with plenty of tricks up their sleeves that border on harassment. Thanks but I don't need any more drama then I already got from the duffus.
Has he contacted you since?
Thankfully, no. And I'd like to keep it that way.
Anyway, that's my little piece on the tragic turn of events that was my near brush with jurisprudence. - feaks, on 10/12/2007, -4/+75fernando26 is referring to this : http://www.digg.com/security/Why_blurring_sensitive_information_is_a_bad_idea
- xtmno3, on 10/12/2007, -6/+70Anyone want to take advantage of the "blurring images is unsafe" digg story, and figure out the name of the person in the email?
- nicktripp, on 10/12/2007, -2/+56Thanks for laying that out for us. I had no clue why this was funny prior to your post.
- jwecker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+44I don't think he deserves any sympathy. If he had written saying "Those pictures are down, did I do something wrong?" that would be one thing. But he threatened and bullied. Clueless bullies don't deserve your sympathy. They probably don't deserve a lot of the other remedies listed here either, but that's another story...
- PathDaemon, on 10/12/2007, -4/+47Some people just don't get the internet.
- kelbear, on 10/12/2007, -1/+43After it flashes across the screen, they'll probably sit and stare to see if it happens again.
- theonesteve, on 10/12/2007, -0/+37To prove it can be done, of course.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+30There are so many kids these days that are trying to be webmasters, and they all think using the words "lawyer" and "sue" will let them get their way every time. Hell, I was "sued" 3 times in 06 for things like "defemation of character on a webmaster chat forum"
- whyaay, on 10/12/2007, -1/+29I'd be curious to know what his "honest" business was...
- Dpack1, on 10/12/2007, -13/+38dugg down for digging up gay porn
- Providence, on 10/12/2007, -0/+25Throw in a couple from Lemon Party as well!
- r00tus3r, on 10/12/2007, -3/+26Markie, I don't think you meant to use the word 'evidently' there. What evidence do you have that the guy is using images that aren't his own? Perhaps you meant to say 'In all probability'?
- arnar, on 10/12/2007, -2/+25it makes me angry..
- daybreaker, on 10/12/2007, -0/+22I followed that story about the guy who replaced a cartoon drawing with porn because of all the myspace leechers... I had a similar issue, when I was apparently the sole provider on the internet of a Subway Stamp Card w/ Stamps image. One dude found it, and posted it as a comment on like 50 myspace pages. And being the emo teens they were, starved for attention, they all had like 40000 friends. So it was affecting my bandwidth, but not putting me over my limit. So, since it wasnt killing my bandwidth *that* badly, I did the good ol' image switch. If it was being used any place other than just myspaces and Xangas, I wouldnt have done it, I'd have just sent them a notice not to do it. But emo teens on myspace annoy me, so I couldnt take the higher road.
- spyrochaete, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20I say this guy should reply to the email, apologizing for removing the pictures and asking nicely for how long the other guy has been using them. Then draw up a web hosting bill and demand this "legitimate businessman" pay up or he'll definitely be speaking advice from his lawyer.
- Tripcast, on 10/12/2007, -0/+20Sorry, but too many people think they can just throw up a website and start a company. People should research before doing so, and if they don't know what they are doing - consult a web designer or other expert first. Many hosting companies (except the really bad ones) will have some kind of consultant you can get in contact with about setting up a company website.
- Caeric, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18If you go to http://s97.photobucket.com/albums/l214/Ymdar/Motivator/?start=all , you can see all of his Pics. Very well done on some of them, and definitely DUGG!
- ebaofvn, on 10/12/2007, -0/+18I guess this is dead.
Oh well... - DoorFrame, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17I don't think that word means what you think it means.
- numptydumpty, on 10/12/2007, -1/+18he's called zoolander, what do you expect, intelligence?
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -7/+24The funniest part is when just an image destroy an whole website .. :)
- griz, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17All your base ARE belong to us
- Klarth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+17You are viewing it from the recipient's point of view, dear.
- moofer, on 10/12/2007, -1/+17Yet you clicked on it again, and felt the compelling need to post. Good on ya.
- jstohler, on 10/12/2007, -2/+18Ignorance is no excuse.
- mddubs, on 10/12/2007, -2/+17no one would look at them long enough to notice
- Daveecee, on 10/12/2007, -1/+15And yet I see the word "obvious" which it is not.
- SteelChicken, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16people who steal images should get the goatsecx.
- nerdingout, on 10/12/2007, -2/+16wow.
the utter stupidity of people never ceases to amaze me. - mddubs, on 10/12/2007, -11/+25Riiiighhhhttt, like this couldn't happen anywhere else. Go hate on America elsewhere.
- Nougat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+13Here's where I saw it. The linked to article is the image linked to here, and the person who that email was sent to (digg user anagoge) tells the backstory in the comments:
http://digg.com/programming/I_stole_your_bandwidth_images_and_now_I_believe_that_I_can_sue_you - mcflynnthm, on 10/12/2007, -4/+17Guy: I'm using this guy's pictures and he moved them on his server. Can I sue him?
Lawyer: ... No. Don't be a n00b, imo. - brstilson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14I bet this guys business website is REALLY well done, too, and definently NOT hosted on geocities.
- benlundquist, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12You may not be familiar with "goatse'd" but this is pretty much what everyone is advocating.
- Nougat, on 10/12/2007, -3/+15I've seen this before, maybe a few months back, with the backstory - but I can't find a link to it now. The guy writing that threatening mail (we'll call him n00b) had linked directly to some images on some other guy's (we'll call him host) server. Host discovered this, and these were images belonging to Host, being used without permission. Host replaced images with hardcore porn, with overlay text saying "Stop stealing my images" (essentially). n00b gets pissed and writes that email.
I'll keep looking for the whole thing. - timoni, on 10/12/2007, -1/+13NICE. I would love to meet that guy in real life and talk politics with him or something.
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