TSR: In Ur Accounts, Deletin Ur Stuffs!

[chann]

I'm reading Coconut's latest post, and thinking TSR were plainly trying to feed Coconut false and contradictory information - that EA is at fault, and that they have "far worse" info on hand. They believe these claims are exactly what people want to hear. And I think they're going to keep spreading this internal disinformation if when another of these scandals pops up. Of course, what they haven't denied so far is much more damning than what they have and it's too late for them to revise their version of events.

[aeris]

Seriously people, I knew the petition was going to be hacked the minute it was online. I have nothing against BlueSoup, I don't know her, but she came with this  idea at a time when everyone was still talking about Thomass hacking into MTS2 and deleting BB stuff, and when people were massively complaining about the info-sharing at TSR. That list was made to be signed by a lot of people, most of them known to be members of a community that doesn't agree with TSR activities. Did you really think that TSR would let the occasion pass? Of course not!

No matter how TSR got the file (EA, hacking into Bluesoup's page etc....), the result is the same: it's illegal. First of all, TSR did announce that the list it's not "coming from them" (not that I believe that, but well) That doesn't overule the possibility that someone gave it to them (EA, or a hacker, or a person who had access to the list content) .

Let's assume it was EA who leaked it (how convenient!). It is still illegal because TSR is not officially part of the company. It's only a fan site. EA cannot share the info with them. Period. (Quick question here: are we really sure that BlueSoup sent the list to EA?)

Now, if it wasn't EA, then the list was given freely by BlueSoup or taken from her site by hacking. The result is the same: TSR got it (that's illegal) and shared it (that's also illegal).

At this point, only Coconut and BlueSoup  can prove that TSR is guilty. It's obvious that Coconut cannot post the full list in her blog without violating the law, but if there is a trial, Coconut will be free to give any information she has to prove that she's telling the truth. Not to mention that there will be investigations to find the source of the leak. And if we add the whole Buggybooz hacking (it was proved by MTS that it was Thomas, right?) and the FA info-sharing precedents (Sasilia/Birgit if I recall), TSR will loose its credibility in front of a judge.

Now, if Atwa is the hacker... It's public knowledge that she has a close relationship to Thomas (we all remember that picture, of those two hugging, right? Not to mention all the emails where she talked about their "relationship") They used to work together to track pirates. So if she was the hacker, it's only natural to conclude that she hacked the petition with only one purpose: share it with Thomas.

As they say, every roads lead to Rome. Or here, TSR.
So, I really doubt that there will be any legal action against Coconut, if she says the truth. Unless you're a genious hacker, you will always leave traces on the internet. Nothing can be totally erased. Not only will TSR loose the case, but they will open a door for all the members who are on that list to sue them back. Major money loss. Too risky.

[Sigmund]

After the petition was hacked, I believe BlueSoup stated that the petition would not be sent. Unfortunately, she's been absent during this whole debacle. Regardless of what TSR spouts off, I'm skeptical that EA provided them with the list. Not really out of any undying faith in EA's morality, but I don't see what they would get out of doing so. Sharing info is a pretty risky thing to do, and I can't imagine a corporation doing it unless they were absolutely certain they wouldn't get caught (and TSR turned the blame on them pretty quickly), and were getting some kind of benefit out of it.

[badcyn]

I find it very interesting that you said that. I signed the same petition, and have no memory of ever joining TSR or providing them with the e-mail address that they apparently acquired. Does anyone else who is on the list remember signing the petition?

ETA: Just for fun, I went to the TSR website and tried logging in with the (now defunct) e-mail they manged to get their hands on. Sure enough, it came up with a "no matching e-mail in database" message. I'm becoming more and more certain that however they got it, I didn't give it to them.

I have different user name for TSR and most places.  I did sign the Bluesoup petition on the EA site.  I have never purchased a sub from TSR, have different username, and have never posted at TSR.  So my account listed on Coconut is my EA account.

[novastar]

If being "batshit insane," to quote Steerpike, wasn't the Soup's overriding characteristic one could almost make a convincing theory for her being some sort of paysite double agent. I mean first the deletion of PMBD's forum when she was an admin there, then protecting her favoured paysites so their stuff wasn't put in the booty and finally getting a list of people's RL info by promising them that only she and EA would ever see it and then getting it conveniently hacked.  

That said, I subscribe to nuttier than a bag of squirrels rather than actively malicious when it comes to her case.

That's a quote from the GOS link. The reason I'm posting it here is that I've been thinking "Why?". As in why in the world would anyone sign anything started by BlueSoup? If she broke her arm, I wouldn't sign her cast. The woman isn't that far from being another Atwat/CrapDime. Besides the stuff mentioned in the quote- Second Life anyone? She's a nut. I wouldn't trust her with a fake name pulled out of my ass 1000 miles from where I actually live- no matter what she wanted the information for.
I'm sure signing the petition seemed like a good idea at the time. Unfortunately it's turned out to have been a bad idea. The information is out. Now that it's out, arguing about the why/where/how won't get anyone anywhere. You all know that people (Thomass and Atwat/CrapDime and more) from TSR troll here. Don't feed the fire. Don't give them any reason to make up any statements about "the pirates". Don't give them a reason to sit back and point and laugh.

Although the BlueSoup argument is plausible, there's no doubt that quite a few of the signed/listed have no idea who she is and what she has done, so that information would likely have leaked about them anyway. It is a bit suspicious that she seems to be missing for this whole thing though, surely someone would have informed her considering how quickly the word gets around for this kind of thing.

[Scurvy Cat]

Moment of Paranoia.  I get a lot of phishing attempts.  However, there was something about the ingenious stupidity of this one that, well, reminded me of ATWAT.  So, I was wondering if those of you who have been "outed" in this latest nonsense would wade through their junk mail and see if something resembling this piece of utter crap appeared in you junk mail.

> Dear Account User
>
> This Email is from <CENSORED BY Scurvy Cat> Mail Administrator and we are sending it to every
> <CENSORED> Email User Accounts Owner for safety. we are having congestions due
> to the anonymous registration of <CENSORED> accounts so we are shutting down
> some <CENSORED> accounts and your account was among those to be deleted. We are
> sending this email to you so that you can verify and let us know if you
> still want to use this account. If you are still interested please confirm
> your account by filling the space below.Your User name, password, date of
> birth and your country inforTciwayion would be needed to verify your account.
>
> Due to the congestion in all <CENSORED> users and removal of all unused
> <CENSORED> Accounts, <CENSORED> would be shutting down all unused Accounts, You will
> have to confirm your E-mail by filling out your Login InforTciwayion below
> after clicking the reply button, or your account will be suspended within
> 24 hours for security reasons.
>
> * Username: ..............................
> * Password : ................................
> * Date of Birth: ............................
> * Alternative Email .........................
> * Country Or Territory: ................
>
> After following the instructions in the sheet, your account will not be
> interruTciwayed and will continue as normal. Thanks for your attention to this
> request. We apologize for any inconveniences.
>
> Warning!!! Account owner that refuses to update his/her account after two
> weeks of receiving this warning will lose his or her account permanently.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> <CENSORED> Mail Administrator

Could be standard phishing, but--

 

[ShanOw]

Because we are absolutely confident that we can prove this to be farce we have instructed a law firm to press for full legal recompense for libel.

Hello, yes. I would like to sue an unknown person who I have never met for telling people that I have committed a crime. And while your at it, I'd like to be nominated for a Stella Award.

[Pescado]

(Example: Pescado lives somewhere on this map... link.

Haha. Nice try. But that's just the DNS registrar.

[ShanOw]

Haha. Nice try. But that's just the DNS registrar.

I know   -I worked that out when I saw your MTS chat host name doesn't match - hence why I posted it I'm not actually going to post someones address. I figured thats where you live when your not in the bunker.

[Quinctia]

Moment of Paranoia.  I get a lot of phishing attempts.  However, there was something about the ingenious stupidity of this one that, well, reminded me of ATWAT.

<snip>

Could be standard phishing, but--

 

It's most likely standard phishing.  The past couple of weeks I've gotten a high volume of that sort of spam.  The funny part of it for me is that it's being sent from a spoofed admin address at my own domain to my various email aliases at my own domain.

I think I know all my identifying information already.  If not, emailing myself ain't gonna work out too well, is it? XD

[nerinda]

Congrats TSR, you just made an anonymous lurker into a vocal enemy,  keep up the good work. 

My exact sentiments.

And mine.

I didn't know the details about Bluesoup at the time, but I guess I still should've known not to sign anything that has something to do with TSR with my real name, given their history of hacking activities. But yeah, too late to cry about that now.

What exactly can they do with just an e-mail and a name, though, if there's no home address, phone number or even a country to go with them? And I mean that as a serious question, because I can't think of anything too damaging - but that might just be a failure of imagination on my part.

[Moune]

I would really like to know more about how Atwa supposedly distributed this list. How? To whom? How did she get it? What did she say about it and that kind of thing. Because that is really where this gets incriminating – by passing on the list and possibly accusing people of piracy.

To me this looks like a clear-cut massive Atwa blunder and not much else. For unknown reasons Thomas made the mistake of giving her the list, and as she was about to be let back into the fold as an FA, she thought she’d prove her loyalty by distributing it, thinking it would create goodwill for TSR and badwill for those who are against it. Very stupid way of thinking, I know, but the woman is stark mad.

The rest is desperate damage control. Steve’s threat of lawsuits are probably because he doesn’t know what the case is about, but had to step in quickly to stop Thomas from making any more damning statements and continue to brainlessly implicate EA in the matter. I don’t believe they set this up as a potential money-making scheme, like Coconut is speculating.

As for Bluesoup, I certainly don’t have any fondness for her at all, but I’ve got to say that if I were her I would stay far away from this discussion, too. To an extend she has already been branded as involved in this, although there is no actual proof of it, and I think a number of people would simply not listen to what she had to say about the matter. Yes, it was her petition, and yes, it is strange that her name is missing from the list. But it could be a deliberate move from the real hackers who knew that she was unpopular in certain circles and therefore an obvious scapegoat.

The real hackers, by the way, that we don’t know who are. It might be TSR but it might also be someone else who then passed the information on to TSR. There is no proof for either – unless Pes knows something he didn’t say.

[Witchboy]

The real hackers, by the way, that we don’t know who are. It might be TSR but it might also be someone else who then passed the information on to TSR. There is no proof for either – unless Pes knows something he didn’t say.

Pes has stated both on The Cave & GOS that TSR is the responsible party for the hacking.

Quoted from Pes on Sims Cave
No, this entire thing indicates something far more sinister than merely TSR's carelessness with their own member database: It indicates that they ARE, conclusively, in the business of hacking other sites.

Quoted from Pes on GOS
Yup. The fact that TSR has acquired the information from it thus functions as clearly as a confession that they were responsible for it. Now, I'm pretty sure we need no additional proof that TSR is in the business of hacking other sites, but here's one more piece of evidence for those who aren't yet convinced.

They are also awfully quick to slap up a denial saying that they didn't leak information from their own databases...even though no one is claiming that, as we have definitive proof that the leaked information is from the Soup's petition thing: We know this because SOME of the leaked names are, in fact, fake, part of a prank pulled by an unrelated agency, and those dox are in the file. Since the fake dox were never registered anywhere, the fact that TSR could leak the fake dox means that this is from the Soup's petition, no doubts.

[Moune]

Pes has stated both on The Cave & GOS that TSR is the responsible party for the hacking.

I am aware of that. But what proof does he have for those statements? Take a look at his quote from Sims Cave that you posted. Indications and speculations aren't proof.

[lorikay]

Honestly Moune, there is no proof.  However, there's a detail in all this that convinced me that TSR is involved.  The sacking the same day as this info came out of CarpeDiem.  I'm not saying that TSR hacked the petition(even though they've showed themselves capable of such), but sacking the artist the same day coconut came out with the list is very damning as far as I'm concerned.  And TSR has displayed behavior in the past of nefarious practices.  Because of their past I'm no longer willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

It may well be Atwa's whole deal, but I really doubt it.  Everyone seems to think that Atwa has something on Thomas, but in my opinion I think he has something on her.  She may be crazy, but she's always doing Thomas' dirty work.