Re: AOL data being mirrored everywhere

["Mike M" <mkmaxx () gmail com>]

Are you n3td3v?? Why all the dr@m@?? he could sue you.

Date: Mon, 07 Aug 2006 10:49:20 -0700
> From: "kaiser scapegoat" <kaiser_scapegoat () hotmail com>


Hi, all -
> AOL released data for 500,000 out in the wild for 500,000:
> http://tinyurl.com/ky6ek
>
> Since it has been widely mirrored, AOL will next find a scapegoat so the
> public will be more worried about those villains that dared to point out
> the
> problem and mirror the evidence.
>
> Here is the instant recipe:
>
> 1) PR department reaches out to their media contacts. Journalists then
> tell
> sensationalist story of "hackers" or "bloggers" who mirrored *your*
> private
> data. AOL worms out of responsibility for letting the data loose in the
> first place by declaring war on the evil bloggers.
>
> 2) Now that there's no public support for the blogger, AOL can safely
> trick
> a government agency into publicly denouncing the blogger. Since the
> blogger
> is clearly a danger to public safety, the government is allowed to ignore
> all applicable law. After all their heart was in the right place, and that
> matter's more than an individual's rights. Also, since the press is
> already
> committed to portraying the blogger as a villain, the government knows
> that
> they will never have to apologize if they make a mistake. The press has a
> vested interest not to report the error.
>
> 3) Next AOL's team of corporate lawyers will file a lawsuit. It doesn't
> matter if the lawsuit is frivolous - they are after the PR value of
> "prosecuting on behalf of the public", and reinforcing to the media that
> the
> blogger who dared link to the info is the evil one. If the blogger is
> poor,
> weak, and has no media platform of their own, then AOL might actually win
> the lawsuit by default, adding further legitimacy to their "public
> defender"
> posture.
>
> 4) The public doesn't understand that killing the messenger only
> guarantees
> successful cover ups in the future. And as far as I can tell, they don't
> care that there is a layer of people who corporations can calculate as
> having no Constitutional rights in this country (if a person can't defend
> their rights, they might as well not exist). AOL's "issues management"
> team
> is weaving these assumptions into their strategy.
>
> Scapegoating worked for Kaiser Permanente. It'll work for AOL.
_______________________________________________
Full-Disclosure - We believe in it.
Charter: http://lists.grok.org.uk/full-disclosure-charter.html
Hosted and sponsored by Secunia - http://secunia.com/