Henry Dog 123 and Online Security

Oh dear, it seems as though Henry Dog 123 has got her knickers in a twist and exposed her inexperience of online forums.

It has been posted on AOL message boards, that I privately told someone I believe Henry Dog 123 to be Aunt Phil. That is an opinion - one shared by many others - in the same way that McCann supporters have questioned my identity, even though I am easily traceable and have a long history of posting information that easily identifies me.

Let's take a look at Henry Dog 123's attempt at damage control. I have highlighted the good bits!

"When I had eventually waded through these emails and visited dear old Mikes blog I was absolutely gob smacked to find that not only has he posted a link to one of my posts on here, he is inferring that I am in fact Aunty Phil in disguise, my partner thinks I should be flattered and take it as a compliment that out of all the people posting supportive comments about the McCann’s he should find mine interesting enough to be singled out for special treatment, I don’t see it like that I’m afraid, what he has in effect done is give every lunatic on the planet access to my email address whilst inferring that I’m Phil McCann, bit like giving someone’s mobile number out, I don’t know if it would constitute an invasion of privacy and I will be taking advice about that as I’m not that knowledgable about things of that nature but even if it isn’t a criminal offense it is most definitely a moral one."

For one thing, I did not give access to your email address to anyone - you did. You posted to an online public forum that can be accessed by all - and listed your email address.

Twit!

I think you will find it is included in several posts.

Henry Dog 123
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I would be interested to see how information you yourself made public, can be considered an invasion of privacy. If you click on the email link, Outlook Express will open up and lo and behold - there is your email address. That is the whole point of having the email link!

Incidentally, do you realise that by drawing attention to this matter you have to use your own words, in effect given every lunatic on the planet access to my email address, as well as other personal details?

McCann supporters have posted links to my blog, (for which I am very grateful) and lo and behold, the blog contains my email address - in fact, if you search previous posts, you will find two.

In other words, you are accusing me of invading your privacy by providing a link to a post on a public forum containing your email address (which you chose to make public), while your supporters have done exactly the same with me!

Apart from your Gloria Swanson drama queen act and self-righteous indignation, you once more put your hypocrisy on display for all to see. "even if it isn’t a criminal offence it is most definitely a moral one"

No it isn't a criminal offence. However - issuing physical and psychological threats is. I am not sure about the UK but Australia has a specialised unit to combat online threats. There have been many successful prosecutions here, in the UK and in the US.

Considering you are so concerned with morality, would you like to come on to this blog and explain your feelings about the morality of physical threats made by those allegedly supporting the McCanns, to those who do not? I have a number of well documented instances of such threats - including emailed threats to myself and my non-existent children.

In fact, I will address the issue of online security and online harassment at the end of this post and give some tips on how to deal with it.. After nearly nine years of newsgroup flame wars, it is an issue I am familiar with.

"I will now probably have to think about changing my screen name or in fact my account with AOL, I’ll have to take advice on that and see which is the best way to handle it and will let those I trust know the new details."
Oh God, I can see you putting your hand to your forehead like a 1940s B grade actress and pretending to faint. Why would you need advice on a perfectly straightforward decision? Just change the damn thing for God's sake - it's not a major event like losing a child.

Do you need to form a committee every time you get out of bed? Maybe next time you will keep your information private - and not make it publicly available. It was your decision to make your details public - not mine.

"The other disturbing element here is that I placed a comment on his board probably about six weeks ago telling him what I thought of his sarcastic remarks and some of his references towards the British press, he also thought those comments were worthy of a mention in his blog so I must have hit a nerve or something, I haven’t really had a good look at his site but he doesn’t single comments out very often so I have obviously upset his ego a bit for him to feel it necessary to try to put me in my place."

It's funny how many McCann supporters make comments about my site while at the same time admitting they haven't had a good look at it. How do you decide to vote - toss a coin?

Hit a nerve? I find you amusing - nothing more nothing less. More importantly you are a text book example of the way Team McCann have tried to manipulate public opinion and failed through sheer stupidity and inexperience of online campaigning. Yes, in the past there have been people who have hit a nerve - but those were experts, online street-fighters - you are not.

For those of you who have received threats - and there are many including myself, remember that all such threats are illegal. If I wished, I could quite easily copy the Message Source Details included in each email, and send it to the alleged offenders ISP. Most ISPs take such matters seriously. I have been involved in newsgroup flame wars far worse than anything the pro McCann amateurs can come up with, and in several cases, I was successful in the offenders ISP discontinuing service to that person.

I know many readers are new to debates such as these, but if you are threatened and wish to take action, first approach the person's ISP. The ISP will need the Message Source details. To access these details in Outlook Express -

* Click on the email
* Click on FILE and then Properties
* You will see two tabs, click on DETAILS
* On the bottom of the new dialogue box, you will see "Message Source"

And that's it. Copy and paste these details and send to the person's ISP. The Message Source will also give you the person's IP address, which can easily and legally be traced by using a site such as http://www.ip-adress.com

A few further tips -
If you are experiencing online harassment, tell the offending party that his/her communications are unwanted and insist that he/she stops. Don't respond further and don't return the harassment. Leave a hostile situation by logging on or surfing elsewhere. Keep a copy of this as evidence.

Log all evidence at first notice. Download and retain all relevant e-mail for any subsequent police investigation. Ensure you have saved copies on disk.

Contact the site administrator of the stalker's Internet Service Provider (ISP) or, in the case of e-mail, the system from which the stalker is mailing you. Often sites have an address called postmaster@[ispname].com where problems can be reported.

If the stalking persists, contact the police. Make sure you have concrete evidence (e.g. downloaded messages, chat room transcripts or web page URLs).

Never forget that whatever is being read by an email recipient/internet site can be read by others.