Scandal at Let's Japan

[Scooby Doo]

Scandal at Let's Japan

A Nova employee went on to LetsJapan to defend his company. The moderator took his anonymous personal information, tracked him down and sent an email threatening to expose him to his company.

Here is what the moderator said.

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Dear XXXXXXXXXX,

surprised? don't be. I know all about you now. this time the e-mail goes to you. if you ever come back to Let's Japan

I'm sending all this to nova along with copies of your worst posts. see, your contract says you aren't allowed to act as a spokesman for the company, so I especially don't think they would be happy with your process of

(1) propaganda and then (2)
freaking out like some sort of psychopath and then flaming everyone that doesn't swallow your bullshit. so, in addition if anyone from nova calls me or anything else, I will also assume that it is because of you.

go the hell away. get a life while you're at it too.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
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The moderator took personal information and worked with other Nova employees to hunt down an anonymous poster. And there's more...

http://www.letsjapan.org/cgi-bin/dcforum/
dcboard.cgi?az=show_thread&om=680&forum=DCForumID1&viewmode=all

He says:

> I had plans for this farkwit, but I had to make sure, triple sure, that
> I had the right guy. evidence (1) his electronic trail that I could see
> as an admin.

>I got his name, e-mail address (and it ain't freemail), IP address,
> position at nova, and work number.

This is not the first time this has happened. A poster called "Slavemaster" was previously exposed, simply for saying that posters who were unhappy with Japan should "go home". While we may or may not agree with their views, Slavemaster and the Nova employee are entitled to basic privacy.

Posters on the board that disagreed with this policy (Dark Angel and Samurai Jack) were then banned for asking about LJ's privacy policy. Before they were banned they found out that there is NO privacy policy on the board and that while the owner of the board expresses regeret that the moderator made the email public, and regret that the issue has spilled onto other boards, he has still not admitted that threat of exposure of a user to his employer breaches all basic rules of Internet privacy.

Do not post on Lets Japan under the assumption that the site is a safe place to discuss issues. Your identity can, and will, be abused.

This post will be followed by LJ trolls, particularly a user called Webslinger, who will attempt to discredit this post through personal attacks. They will say that I have an axe to grind and try to divert attention from this basic point. These attacks will not change the basic facts that LJ owners condone their moderator's use of personal information to expose voices that dissent with their opinion.

Would any of us post information under our real names? No. The beauty of this form of communication is that we are guaranteed anonymity. Except at Lets Japan, where your private information can, and will, be used against you.

Scooby Doo

[cstaylor]

Would any of us post information under our real names? No. The beauty of this form of communication is that we are guaranteed anonymity.

I always post under my real name. Never had any problems (of course, I don't post on boards like Let's Japan).

[Big Booger]

there is a simple way to prevent that from happening. I use it all the time. It is called a proxy chain. In fact I am using it now. YOu proxy chain through hundreds of proxies to post your posts.. that way every time you post a different IP is used.

But it requires some software, and some know how in setting up IE to use the proxy software. Personally, what I write doesn't concern work too much, and what I say here I can say in public. I find it appalling that LJ doesn't adhere to a nondisclosure or privacy policy.. I think that is rude. They need to make it clear when you sign up as a member that your information is or is NOT private.

I am an admin at another board, and we have a strict policy regarding privacy and personal information. We don't share, post, or reveal personal and private information of our forum members.

What is the FG policy concerning privacy?

[ramchop]

Careful BB, this is the puritan council of Let's Japan you're calling appalling. They'll track you down (not a difficult task as you're the only Gaijin in Inaka) and when they do....

[bejiita]

Ooh, can you smell lawsuit. Letsjapan.org just violated the U.S. Electronic Communications Privacy Act since they're being hosted by in Ohio!

Not only that, they're probably violating the Anti-cybersquatting Protection Act too since they've filed false domain name registration in obtaining their domain name. And yes, US law does apply to all domain names since the name server is stuck in Virginia somewhere.

[Big Booger]

yeah ramchop,
no joke. I am so sorry to all LJ admin and mods... please forgive my attack.. please don't come after me.. I beg of ye!

[GomiGirl]

I just had a quick peep at Let's Japan. It seems like it is just a huge pissing contest.

What is the point of the board? Is it for English teachers to get together and help each other or just slag each other and their companies off?

I think they need a good dose of Rob Pongi to stop them taking themselves so seriously.

"Is there a Dr Rob Pongi in the house?"