Date: Mon, 18 Sep 2000 23:38:12 -0400
From: "John Berryhill Ph.D. J.D." (john@johnberryhill.com)
To: Modify (modify[at]attrition.org)
Subject: Re: Polite Request

: So your saying that this mirror hurts your reputation?  How will you prove
: that it didn't hurt your reputation the minute the hacked site was already
: up as opposed to after the fact.  How will you prove that your reputation
: was hurt at all.  How will you prove that you didn't have a bad reputation
: before the hack?  And unless you can prove that the statements on the
: hacked web page aren't true then you have no case.

You will be free to make those arguments in an appropriate forum.  If you had
any sense of decency, you would have implemented the robot exclusion standard
to keep hacked pages containing personal information out of the search
engines.  But it is obvious that you don't.

: : : (READ: We didn't write it).
: :
: : READ: It doesn't matter.
:
: Actually, the page wasn't copyrighted so we had a right to republish the
: page.

Who said anything about copyright?  Republication of defamatory material is
as actionable as the original publication.  If the hacked page contained
illegal pornography, you would not have a right to republish the material.
Material that invades privacy and is defamatory isn't any different in that
regard.

: I doubt you provided any technical assistance to any federal
: authority because I doubt you fully understand the topic of computer
: forensics.. hence, our mirror.

You believe what you like.  My doctorate is in electrical engineering.  I
obtained IP addresses corresponding to his dialup from two online merchants
that he charged sales against my credit card and obtained an SMTP log from
one of his email providers.  From there it was easy.

: I have no desire to meet the person that
: attacked that web site because I don't agree with defacing web sites
: (hence my name not being on the people that maintain the mirror list that
: you didn't seem to look at) nor do I believe in attacking others without
: fully understanding the background of ones involvment.

The link from a search engine to that page provides no context.  My privacy
was invaded and personal information was posted on a government server.  That
was fixed quickly.  But since you are so fascinated by machines and don't
give a damn about people, you merit special treatment.  You apparently DO
agree with maintaining the harm done to individuals by hackers, and behaving
like an arrogant juvenile.

: Its funny
: how people take a FREE service to the public and abuse it.  Federal law
: enforcement, security professionals, and others use the site for further
: investigation into cases that are ongoing or new.

Federal law enforcement has already identified this individual.  Obviously
you don't give a damn about abusing people, since you maintain your site in a
manner that the mirrored pages are accessible in a non-contextual manner from
search engines.  Since you have already deleted the credit card number, there
is no reason why you cannot delete my name, address, and pager number from
the page.  Your refusal to do so speaks volumes about your concern for
people.

As for contacting the "wrong" people, you can sort it out after your service
providers respond to the first batch of subpoenae.