http://www.perlmonks.org?node_id=471468

Some of you may or may not have noticed elsewhere that the esteemed saint chip is having a bit of Legal Difficulty (Mirrors here) with his (former) employers. This is an issue that could potentially affect us all.

We've been here before with employers behaving in an unenlightened fashion toward members of the community and we've rallied around to a greater or lesser extent, but I'm sure there is something that most people can do: whether contributing to the defence fund, providing further mirrors or publicising the case elsewhere.

Next time it could be you.

Update: changed mirrors to point at the www.irc.perl.org rotor

/J\

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Perlmonk needs your help!
by crenz (Priest) on Jul 01, 2005 at 01:03 UTC

    In addition to contributing to the fund, I think it is necessary to take some publicity action. The details of the case should be written up in a clear, concise paragraph or two that is mirrored on many websites, so that anybody looking for information on Health Market Science will know about their shady business practices -- especially their customers.

    Also, getting the EFF and/or some media involved might help. Just relying on the court case could become rather expensive if the company has a lot of resources.

Re: Perlmonk needs your help!
by CountZero (Bishop) on Jul 01, 2005 at 09:09 UTC
    Did you notice that the search warrant ordered to impound "scanners" and "LCD/CRT video devices"?

    As if they would still contain images of the "stolen" trade secrets.

    Speaking of cluelesscluelessness lawyers and court officials! It is the same as examining the retina of a murder victim, to see if it still has the imprint of the face of the murderer.

    CountZero

    "If you have four groups working on a compiler, you'll get a 4-pass compiler." - Conway's Law

      It's actually cluelessness, but in a good way. They know ahead of time that they don't know which items might be important evidence. Law enforcement officials collect everything and sort it out later. It's really hard to go back for something that you find out you should have collected but didn't.

      Seizing equipment is not just for digital evidence either. There might be physical evidence. At the beginning, you don't always know what is important and what isn't, what belongs to whom, and so on.

      Your analogy to the murder victim is invalid though. Law enforcement and court officials will have access to the evidence. Also, a coronor won't necessarily not do parts of an autopsy because someone already told them what happened. Examination does not only support a story, but also rules out other stories.

      --
      brian d foy <brian@stonehenge.com>
Re: Perlmonk needs your help!
by Transient (Hermit) on Jul 01, 2005 at 02:51 UTC
    This needs to receive media attention in, at the least, PA, and otherwhere if possible. If this HMS is hosting government sites, those of us in those states need to notify our representatives about this (and Attorney General's offices).

    First off, I'd like to see something conclusive before I go jump on a bandwagon. But in the case that this is true, it's seriously important information that should be brought to HMS' clients' attention.
Re: Perlmonk needs your help!
by jacques (Priest) on Jun 30, 2005 at 23:04 UTC
    It's on slashdot now. The whole geek world will see it. :)
Re: Perlmonk needs your help!
by inman (Curate) on Jul 01, 2005 at 08:22 UTC
    Update: The replies to this node point to the case being genuine. You can ignore this node.

    Is this a hoax designed to get people to donate to a bogus fund? I find myself looking at a web site that fits all of the criteria of a hoax. A great deal of information designed to enrage you (after all it could happen to you) but little in the way of independently verifiable fact. This has a number of parallels with virus hoaxes.

    Has anyone been able to verify the facts through a source that isn't connected with GeeksUnite.net? According to Chip's journal he is enjoying himself in Austria.

      Yeah except, chip was at YAPC::NA and actually announced this in front of an audience of people who knew him.

      The only blog I can find of this is here

      /J\

      Docket Info

      12.40.122.125 resolves to ggate.montcopa.org and montcopa.org appears to be legit (Registered to County of Montgomery).

      So the case at least appears real, not completely sure about the fund yet.

      According to Chip's journal he is enjoying himself in Austria.
      Watch the journal's date: that was 2 weeks ago.
      I'd say he would be too busy right now to write in his journal?
        I'm Chip's Brother. I promise you this is no hoax. My computer was seized as well. Understand that, though it just came to the attention of the community, this is something that started a while ago and though it is troubling we've both made time to enjoy ourselves at YAPC and other times and places that the opportunity presented itself. Legal trouble doesn't mean you can't have any fun or take any time for yourself. It just gives you something to worry about (a lot) during the times you're not enjoying yourself.

        Take action on this or don't. More important is that you don't forget that things like this do happen. Learn from it and protect yourself where you can.

        Thanks to you all for your support.
             - pikus
        "I want to live 'till I die. No more. No less." - Eddie Izzard
Re: Perlmonk needs your help!
by davies (Prior) on Jul 28, 2005 at 20:13 UTC
    I know this is old news, but doing this got HMS a SOS (shoot on sight) listing in the Abusive Hosts Blocking List. There is a Usenet post archived here. I have just done a lookup on 67.132.206.0/24, and as of the time of this node, it's still listed. Poll suggestion - which spam blocklists do you use? AHBL's among mine.

    Regards,

    John Davies

      Hey! Thanks for this, I'm probably a bit slow on the uptake but I hadn't heard of the AHBL before which is a bit crap as I am giving a talk on the (vague) subject at yapc::Europe.

      Thanks again.

      /J\