Confidential Information being shared from bogus account

[Vigilance]

I have been posting some to this thread: http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?p=2610191#post2610191

Today I received a private message from a clearly bogus account that began like this:

Hello! We noticed all the discussion on Enworld about the rpgnow change. For the
record, we have attached the email that rpgnow officially sent to us last week
about this change (see below), in case you have not seen it. Please understand
that we must keep our identity private, in fear of retaliation from rpgnow.

It then went on to provide me with a complete confidential email from RPGNow intended for the eyes of vendors only.

If a Mod would be kind enough to contact me via email I would be happy to forward the email to him and/or provide him the user name used to send the private message.

My hope is that the IP of offending party can be used to determine his or her identity.

Chuck

 

[Michael Morris]

IP's of PM's aren't logged. Further, PM forwardings can't be validated. Even further, it is a violation of US and Florida state (where the ENWorld server is located) privacy laws to use admin access to pilfer through PM's for any reason as they are labelled as "private".

 

[Vigilance]

IP's of PM's aren't logged. Further, PM forwardings can't be validated. Even further, it is a violation of US and Florida state (where the ENWorld server is located) privacy laws to use admin access to pilfer through PM's for any reason as they are labelled as "private".

The IP of the user account can be verified though couldnt it?

This is someone violating privacy, not looking to be violated.

Chuck

 

[Michael Morris]

If they've made a post, yes -- but IP addresses can be forged and they are somewhat unreliable as a means to ascertain ID.

 

[DanMcS]

Besides which, RPGnow sending email to a bunch of people and labelling it confidential isn't very binding. Unless they have a cast-iron contract that vendors sign when they join up that states that all communications from RPGnow are confidential, then just slapping "confidential" in the title of an email has no weight. I'd like to see this "confidential" thing, actually.

 

[Vigilance]

I am very confused by the (non) reaction to this.

I am trying to be a good citizen here and I realize this isn't the end of the world.

But I have seen Mods come down with more of a vengeance when someone called a poster a moron- this guy is TELLING ME he's trying to circumvent the system and share confidential business information and there's nothing that can be done?

Chuck

 

[Vigilance]

Besides which, RPGnow sending email to a bunch of people and labelling it confidential isn't very binding. Unless they have a cast-iron contract that vendors sign when they join up that states that all communications from RPGnow are confidential, then just slapping "confidential" in the title of an email has no weight. I'd like to see this "confidential" thing, actually.

Well maybe if you're lucky you'll get an illicit PM too.

 

[Psionicist]

Illicit? Sharing someones e-mail is rude but it's defenitely not illegal, unless a paper (NDA, contract etc) has been signed. I doubt this is the case.

 

[Vigilance]

Illicit? Sharing someones e-mail is rude but it's defenitely not illegal, unless a paper (NDA, contract etc) has been signed. I doubt this is the case.

Pardon me- I forgot to consult my thesaurus and a legal dictionary before I used the word illicit.

NO I am not advocating tracking him down with police dogs ok?

Chuck

 

[Michael Morris]

To be blunt, we cannot verify the contents of a PM without breaking Federal and state law. Unless we can verify the contents, we cannot legally take action. The only way around this is to secure a court order. Importantly, if you believe this fellow is breaking the law then any evidence you present or we acquire on your behalf must be legally acquired -- if we search the database without a court order for this message then the message will not be admissable in court.

To sum up - I'm sorry, but private messages are just that -- private. If you don't want to receive a PM from a given user put them on your ignore list.