IP Lawfirm Sues Typosquatting Security Researcher 101
First time accepted submitter scottbee writes "A major New York intellectual property lawfirm has filed a $1m lawsuit against domain squatter/security researcher Wesley Kenzie (aka Securikai). Kenzie registered domain names to collect misaddressed email, and then holding companies to ransom claiming he had found security vulnerabilities and would consult for five figure engagements. Lockheed Martin handled it with a simple UDRP, but the Gioconda Law Group decided instead to file a lawsuit for 'cybersquatting, trademark infringement and unlawful interception of a law firm's private electronic communications in violation of federal laws,' along with a permanent injunction. Kenzie had also tried the same tactic against Rapid7's HDMoore, but was shamed out of the domain names earlier this year."
Re:Scummy (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Scummy (Score:4, Interesting)
I've always wondered about this sort of thing. Specifically how useful those disclaimers are at the end of company emails; This email may contain confidential information intended solely for the recipient. blah blah blah. Well the recipient (in the technical sense) is whoever the email is addressed to; bob@company.com or bob@compnay.com are two different recipients. Also, these emails are almost always sent in clear text, making it pretty clear the sender doesn't give a rat's ass about the recipients right to privacy. Yes this guy was being a dick, but I wouldn't call it illegal. I would argue that it's not like moving in next to Mitt Romney. It's more like renting the post box next to his, and people sending mail to mitt romney at the wrong postbox number without using envelopes. Sender's fault.
Of course, to be fair, the domain squatting thing is more like renting thousands of post boxes all over the place, and reading everyone's mail... except it's still all postcards and unenveloped stuff. And he still didn't do anything illegal, since email isn't protected under the second ammendment or the laws preventing post from being opened is it? Before anyone bitches about violation of privacy of emails, they should encrypt their mail. This applies especially to companies, who are in the perfect position to make it easy, convenient and MANDATORY for clients to use public key encrypted email.