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#1
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Need a Usenet computer guru opinion please
Assuming I'll be separating the troll answers to this post from the
useful information, I need an answer to a Usenet question if anyone wants to take a moment to try and help with a bad situation. To the regulars, bear with me on this as I need this answer to fit some missing pieces together. I am in the process of dealing with an unknown person or persons using my name to post here on this forum. It's no big deal really as I'm sure any of you who matter recognize the difference between my posts and the forgeries. Fortunately I have a few international contacts who are looking into it overseas for me. But discovering the culprit isn't my aim here although that might be forthcoming with a bit of luck. What's concerning me isn't the copied and pasted in text that has been appearing here over my name, as anyone can do that, but rather how someone can access the data and path necessary to have a post appear with my name appearing as the poster in the thread hierarchy to the point where someone can actually see my name as the poster and click on the profile link to see my regular profile. For all practical purposes, this would appear to be a post from me personally and I need to find out how this person is accomplishing this. For you Usenet gurus out there who might want to try and help with this; I use Google groups for Usenet posting since I don't post all that much any longer. An example of the type of post I'm referring to where my name has been forged can be found in the thread called [Complaint sent to x- privat.org] Checking that thread you will find a post supposedly from me, bearing my name as the poster under a post from one of the suspect posts showing the name of Ron May. On my Google threads this post shows as number 8.Assuming I have no idea how this post appeared and had nothing to do with it's being posted, can someone explain exactly how a person can access this forum having my name and profile appear as though the post came from me? I understand someone could open an account on one of the free servers using my name and have taken the steps necessary along those lines, but how can their posts appear on Google Groups allowing access through links to my profile. Is there any way at all this can be stopped by notifying Google Groups? Is this even a Google Groups problem? Any and all input (expected trolls excepted of course :-) appreciated. Thanks, an I'm very sorry for having to take up the band width to address these issues. Perhaps one of these days we can get back to talking flying again :-) Dudley Henriques |
#2
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Need a Usenet computer guru opinion please
Dudley Henriques wrote:
but how can their posts appear on Google Groups allowing access through links to my profile. Yeah, how can they. Baffling. |
#3
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Need a Usenet computer guru opinion please
On Tue, 10 Nov 2009 07:40:06 -0800 (PST), Dudley Henriques wrote in
: What's concerning me is ... how someone can access the data and path necessary to have a post appear with my name appearing as the poster in the thread hierarchy to the point where someone can actually see my name as the poster and click on the profile link to see my regular profile. For all practical purposes, this would appear to be a post from me personally and I need to find out how this person is accomplishing this. They just have to lie about who the post is "from." The software protocol that runs Usenet (NNTP) does not check the authenticity of the "from" field. Nor does Google cross-check the authenticity of a post that says it was "from" . ... can someone explain exactly how a person can access this forum having my name and profile appear as though the post came from me? Once the post with the lying "from" field is injected into any old server, Google archives it, finds your e-mail in the from field, and sets it up so that the post is associated with your profile. I understand someone could open an account on one of the free servers using my name and have taken the steps necessary along those lines, but how can their posts appear on Google Groups allowing access through links to my profile? Google doesn't check authenticity. It merely reports correlations. It can't tell the difference between the real you and the counterfeit you. Is there any way at all this can be stopped by notifying Google Groups? You may ask Google to remove the counterfeit posts from their archives. They say there is a removal tool available to you if you are logged in to Google Groups: http://groups.google.com/group/google-groups-guide/web/google-groups-faq Is this even a Google Groups problem? Not really. It is a huge loophole in NNTP and not one that is liable to be closed any time soon (that I know of--I am not involved in that part of the system). Marty -- Big-8 newsgroups: humanities.*, misc.*, news.*, rec.*, sci.*, soc.*, talk.* See http://www.big-8.org for info on how to add or remove newsgroups. |
#4
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Need a Usenet computer guru opinion please
On Nov 10, 12:42*pm, Dudley Henriques wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote: but how can their posts appear on Google Groups allowing access through links to my profile. Yeah, how can they. Baffling. It's getting less baffling every time you post. DH |
#5
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Need a Usenet computer guru opinion please
Dudley Henriques wrote:
I am in the process of dealing with an unknown person or persons using my name to post here on this forum. That *******! :-) Fortunately I have a few international contacts who are looking into it overseas for me. What a lucky guy you are! :-))) I understand someone could open an account on one of the free servers No, obviously you don't understand anything about how usenet works. :-))))) |
#6
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Need a Usenet computer guru opinion please
Dudley Henriques wrote:
... I am in the process of dealing with an unknown person or persons using my name to post here on this forum. It's no big deal really as I'm sure any of you who matter recognize the difference between my posts and the forgeries.... Dudley Henriques It might be useful to find out if the troll in question is left or right-handed. Brian W |
#7
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Need a Usenet computer guru opinion please
On Nov 10, 9:42 am, Dudley Henriques wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote: but how can their posts appear on Google Groups allowing access through links to my profile. Yeah, how can they. Baffling. Well internet *identity theft* is currently regarded as pranksterism, however, that crime is becoming serious, to the extent an injunction could be imposed on imposters, as it is a form of fraud. This is very much like a person writing a novel using the name 'Steven King' to gain on an authors trade-mark name. It can get serious, just as copyrighted songs did. Ken PS: If this post is boring then I wrote it, it's the real me. |
#8
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Need a Usenet computer guru opinion please
On Nov 10, 12:53*pm, Dudley Henriques wrote:
Dudley Henriques wrote: I am in the process of dealing with an unknown person or persons using my name to post here on this forum. That *******! :-) Fortunately I have a few international contacts who are looking into it overseas for me. What a lucky guy you are! :-))) I understand someone could open an account on one of the free servers No, obviously you don't understand anything about how usenet works. :-))))) Troll |
#9
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Need a Usenet computer guru opinion please
On Nov 10, 12:52*pm, Dudley Henriques wrote:
On Nov 10, 12:42*pm, Dudley Henriques wrote: Dudley Henriques wrote: but how can their posts appear on Google Groups allowing access through links to my profile. Yeah, how can they. Baffling. It's getting less baffling every time you post. DH 217.162.205.36 |
#10
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Need a Usenet computer guru opinion please
Dudley Henriques wrote:
I understand someone could open an account on one of the free servers using my name and have taken the steps necessary along those lines, but how can their posts appear on Google Groups allowing access through links to my profile. Here's what I believe is happening: Google Groups uses only the content of the "From:" header to automatically associate posts to user profiles. So when someone places your name and e- mail address in the header of their posts, then no matter what Usenet service provider they posted from (and irrespective of all the other post's headers) the Google Groups software will associate that post with your Google Groups account. So the Google Groups web site software displays your user profile when someone (like you or I) clicks on the "View profile" of the forged post. Fortunately that does nothing to compromise your Google account. Is there any way at all this can be stopped by notifying Google Groups? Is this even a Google Groups problem? It's a problem with the user interface design of Google Groups that isn't likely to be fixed since they probably don't consider it broken. I suspect they wrote their software the way they did so that even if a poster changes Usenet service providers, then so long as that user continues to post under the same name and/or e-mail address, then their archives will associate all posts to the same user profile. Sometimes that reasonable, sometimes not (as in forgeries.) In one sense, the Google Groups programming assumption reinforces the case that such forgeries have the potential to be libelous and if persistent and serious enough, might rate legal pursuit. Depends on whether the perp makes the cost/benefit ratio low enough to pursue for you or anyone else so targeted. I've seen enough of the mismanagement (or deliberately criminal management?) of x-privat.org and the owner's slow and non-responses to complaints (and failures to blacklist repeated perps and failure to put in place better registration procedures) that I think it would be reasonable to target that provider. I think that from a legal strategy point of view, it might be worthwhile to consider pointing out to the owner of the x- privat.org machines that such libelous posts are originating on _their_ machines and they are responsible for said libel until they can prove otherwise. In other words, if they aren't keeping records of who is posting through their machine they have to be considered the authors of those posts. |
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