Posts by Tami

@AC - the latest one

In this case, we did nothing wrong, we did not ask for this kid to try to destroy our community. We tried to interest him in positive activities, but he was (and is) simply not interested. He preferred to continue with illegal activities.

As I said above, you all do not have the full facts of the case, you do not know exactly how much damage he caused or how much money he actually cost us.

As to arrogance - my remark was not in any way arrogant. He was warned, he continued to attack, he was warned again, he thumbed his nose at us (in some very nasty ways), and we fought back with the legal system. Why the hell should we have to stand by and let the hard work of a good group of kids get devastated at the whim of some egotistical cyber bully? We even turned his attacks into positive lessons for the community's kids. They learned a lot about security, the law, investigative techniques, how to deal with bullies, how to not give up when everything seems lost - and guess what? Now some of those kids have graduated high school, they are either in college or university studying IT, and some have also gone on to be employed in excellent IT jobs. Another of those kids is in his second year of medical school. Why? Because we didn't give up, and neither did they.

Our community's whole philosophy is that it takes only one open door to change a child's life forever. We kept that door open for them no matter the cost. There have been many times in their lives where ours was the only encouraging voice they had when it came to working in game development or anything computer related, because some parents still see technology as a waste of time. I care about our community's kids - I have probably been more of a parent than many of their own parents have been. I have proof-read homework, I have listened to teenage angst problems, boy-girl problems, and also shared the happy times with them - first dates, passing a tough course, graduation. I have watched these kids grow up and learn their crafts, listened to their hopes and dreams, and offered them an impartial ear (or screen) when they needed one. Why? Because I care, and our community's kids have a passion and a dream for their future, and they deserve every bit of encouragement and support they can get.

Greg chose his own open door as well, and now when it closes behind him it will have a very distinctive metallic ring to it. That was his choice. It was my choice to stand up to him and see this through to the finale. If you want to fault me and my associates for that, that is your choice - maybe one day you will come to the realization that if no one takes a stand, we all lose.

And before any of you "AC" types say I spend too much time online or something silly like that - I work at a computer. It's part of my job - in fact it's part of both of my jobs. I have also raised two kids of my own who have a social conscience, don't run the streets at night, aren't brought home by the cops, aren't in gangs, don't drink and don't do drugs. In fact my eldest is in the process of going through her Royal Canadian Mounted Police acceptance tests, and the younger is an internet radio station DJ who just completed voice-over acting training. Gee, does that sound mobster to you?

A little knowledge...

@Jay - yes, they were and still are protected. That is a legal definition and really nothing to do with whether our servers are protected or not, and whether or not a DDoS attack was directed at pages and files on our sites.

@Edward Pearson - Do you have any idea what our sites are even about? Or the number of kids we *have* helped and given real-life work experience to? Or the number of kids who could easily have chosen the path of Greg King, but chose to do positive things instead? Do you know how frustrating and sometimes heartbreaking it was to the kids involved in running the community and learning how to run a business or career skills these attacks were? They did nothing to deserve the hate that Greg King unleashed on them. It was left to my partner and I as administrators and owners to stave off that hatred and try to fight back via the only legal avenues open to us. If we had fought back otherwise, it wouldn't have been setting a good example to the kids we run the network for, would it? It wouldn't have been fair to those kids if we had just given up, would it? We sacrificed family time, holidays, sleep, and yes money and more time to keep the community going, and so did many of the kids who help run and build the network. Why? Because the majority are better than the few. Why give in to a cyber bully? Would you give in to bully you met on the street?

I wish there was much more that I could say about what Greg did and how we fought back, evaded attacks and such, but I can't as the case is still technically before the courts.

@I.M. Fantom - thank you for your well wishes. We were not issuing a challenge to anyone. I simply told Greg that I had no intention of giving up and that I would see these attacks and the case through to the end. The network and "the KillaNet kids" came first, and if I had to employ the knowledge I have in regards to fighting back, then I would, and I did.

To the rest of you - thank you to those who understand. May the rest of you one day understand as well. There is so much about this case that none of you know, save perhaps the law enforcement officers involved and Dan Goodin, but as a fellow journalist, I am pleased to see that he is following the courtesy of our "off the record" discussions. Perhaps one day the whole story can be told, and you will all see the complete profile of what this particular cyber bully is like. By the way, this is not the only crime for which he has been convicted - this one was "just online and not violent" so before you spend too much time bleeding from your hearts, remember you don't have all of the facts. ;)