From: steve harley
On 2010-12-26 21:52 , John Sessoms wrote:
> I did not have an account. Someone else used my email address to create
> an account.
ah, i suppose that's possible, but if you're sure that's the case, there
was no threat to any other account you hold
I did not find out that was the case until after I had already done what
I had to do to protect my accounts without knowing which if any had been
compromised. Gawker would not provide me the information I needed to
determine the threat.
The warning emails were from the 12th & 13th of December, already 10
days old when I got home from my trip.
After I had changed passwords on all of my accounts, I installed
software to download the torrent file posted by the hackers ... because
I could not get any assistance from Gawker.
That's how I finally learned Gawker allowed someone else to use my email
address to open an account on their site.
What I don't have is any explanation from Gawker why they would allow
> someone to create an account using my email address and not verify the
> registrant's right to use my email address.
i don't recall all the sites Gawker has, but some of them have been
around for several years, possibly predating the prevalence of account
verification via email; afaik there is no law that states a website must
verify email addresses used to create accounts; some sites still allow
posting comments with an email address that is never verified
There is however, IIRC, a section of the telecommunications act baring
fraudulent misuse of another persons electronic communications,
including using someone else's email address without that person's
permission.
And in this case, it's not merely the posting of comments, but allowing
someone to open an account with the site using a falsified email address.
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