Pbpbb has a legal department?

rfeehan · Post by **rfeehan** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 10:16 am

OK can someone tell me if this is legit? I received this email at 1:45am in the morning (central time) which seems rather odd.

To the [email protected] ,

We have a formal complaint that your forum is violating the defomation laws related to our website , complaint number Mur0110/kcamps/45011/01. Please quote this number with any future correspondance.

It is an offence to name a person or orgaisation in a malicious way on a public forum .

I have been informed that niether the individuals or the organisation are involved with your forum and that the individuals who posted comments are moderators or site administrators . Failure to remove offensive comments may result in legal action as well as severence of your forum from the phpbb network .

I trust this matter can be settled rapidly .

Murray Reay

phpbb Legal Services

To explain this there was a post on my site which used the word "girly" to refer to another site. That other site was also upset we didn't have a link to promote them. I attempted in an exchange of private messages with that site owner to rectify the situation and add the link she wanted. IN the end she called me a racist and banned my account to her site. During these exchanges at no time did I take her conversation public but it is now. If you want to read the PM exchange visit my forums. My main concern is who this person is that is claiming to be taking legal action against me and if he really does represent phpbb?

I really don't get this. All this over a link and the word "girly". (which btw I removed from said post).

RMcGirr83 · Post by **RMcGirr83** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 10:32 am

...defomation laws...

Uhmmm, I would think if it came from a legal department they could at least spell defamation correctly.

This one cracked me up as well

...as severence of your forum from the phpbb network .

phpBB has it's own network..and no one told me? I feel like a mushroom.

I would say to Mr Murray Reay "Bring it on beeyotch!!" but that's me.

Post by **KevC** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 10:35 am

They would have written phpBB correctly too with the BB not bb.
I don't think it's real at all.

Acyd Burn · Post by **Acyd Burn** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:19 am

If it does not originate from an @phpbb.com address it is definately not from us. Also, we do not host any forum apart from *.phpbb.com, we also do not provide any hosting service.

Additionally, no, we do not have a legal department. And if we enforce our rights we also add a signature to identify where it comes from (this site and mostly a Team Leader).

And we also do not have a phpBB network.

From the looks of it i think this comes from a free phpBB forum hoster or service provider, and stating "phpbb legal department" by them is highly confusable.

More information on our contacts page:
http://www.phpbb.com/about/contact_us.php

rfeehan · Post by **rfeehan** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 11:47 am

Thanks for the detailed information. I do appreciate it. Right now my urge is to reply to his email with a hearty F* you but so far I have resisted it. I can't believe the behaviour of some people at times on the web. By the way I have been using PhpBB for a couple of years now and it is excellent software I could not run my site without it. Thank you.

R. Feehan

RMcGirr83 · Post by **RMcGirr83** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 12:50 pm

Acyd Burn wrote:From the looks of it i think this comes from a free phpBB forum hoster or service provider, and stating "phpbb legal department" by them is highly confusable.

The email may, based on this, actually be illegal itself.

http://www.expertlaw.com/library/business/fraud.html

The way it reads, at least to me, is the individual is representing themselves as having a relationship with phpBB. Correctly capitalized or not...no offense Kevin.

Granted I'm not a lawyer, but it seems they need to include a statement if they are going to use the phpbb reference that they are in no way related to phpBB the forum software.

phpBB is, after all, trademarked.

The least they could do is have SOMEONE proof read the email before sending it out.

To the [email protected] ,

We have a formal complaint that your forum is violating the defomation laws related to our website (lawyers typically are not "vague") , complaint number Mur0110/kcamps/45011/01. Please quote this number with any future correspondance (vague again, who are you supposed to respond to).

It is an offence (I'm sorry if my fence bothers you) to name a person or orgaisation (organism?, orgai...no such word in the Webster's II dictionary begins with orgai..) in a malicious way ("girly" is malicious?) on a public forum .

I have been informed that niether (uhmmm) the individuals or (if using neither must use nor) the organisation (getting closer) are involved with your forum and that the individuals who posted comments are moderators or site administrators . Failure to remove offensive comments may result in legal action as well as severence (cool, YOU GET PAID!!) of your forum from the phpbb (bad "lawyer", baaaaad) network .

I trust this matter can be settled rapidly .

Murray Reay

phpbb Legal Services

PS. In the US lawyers generally have Esq at the end of their name and "if it smells like BS and looks like BS, it probably is BS". Much ado about nothing. You could ask your host if it came from them and if it did, I would find a new host.

PPS Where's Mr. Steve Maury when you need him

rfeehan · Post by **rfeehan** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 1:29 pm

I noticed all the mistakes too but its always best to confirm ones suspicions before I go after this person. Thanks for the info folks!

Techie-Micheal · Post by **Techie-Micheal** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 4:24 pm

RMcGirr83 wrote:
Acyd Burn wrote:From the looks of it i think this comes from a free phpBB forum hoster or service provider, and stating "phpbb legal department" by them is highly confusable.
The email may, based on this, actually be illegal itself.

http://www.expertlaw.com/library/business/fraud.html

The way it reads, at least to me, is the individual is representing themselves as having a relationship with phpBB. Correctly capitalized or not...no offense Kevin.

Granted I'm not a lawyer, but it seems they need to include a statement if they are going to use the phpbb reference that they are in no way related to phpBB the forum software.

phpBB is, after all, trademarked.

The least they could do is have SOMEONE proof read the email before sending it out.

To the [email protected] ,

We have a formal complaint that your forum is violating the defomation laws related to our website (lawyers typically are not "vague") , complaint number Mur0110/kcamps/45011/01. Please quote this number with any future correspondance (vague again, who are you supposed to respond to).

It is an offence (I'm sorry if my fence bothers you) to name a person or orgaisation (organism?, orgai...no such word in the Webster's II dictionary begins with orgai..) in a malicious way ("girly" is malicious?) on a public forum .

I have been informed that niether (uhmmm) the individuals or (if using neither must use nor) the organisation (getting closer) are involved with your forum and that the individuals who posted comments are moderators or site administrators . Failure to remove offensive comments may result in legal action as well as severence (cool, YOU GET PAID!!) of your forum from the phpbb (bad "lawyer", baaaaad) network .

I trust this matter can be settled rapidly .

Murray Reay

phpbb Legal Services
PS. In the US lawyers generally have Esq at the end of their name and "if it smells like BS and looks like BS, it probably is BS". Much ado about nothing. You could ask your host if it came from them and if it did, I would find a new host.

PPS Where's Mr. Steve Maury when you need him

Here's another one: I trust this matter can be settled rapidly . Wrong adverb. And a space after the last word before the period? tsk tsk tsk tsk.

Roberdin · Post by **Roberdin** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 4:39 pm

"Offence" is correct in British English.

Techie-Micheal · Post by **Techie-Micheal** » Wed Sep 23, 2009 4:43 pm

Personally, I'd like to see the email headers.

rfeehan · Post by **rfeehan** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 3:53 am

He emailed me again. Here is the message and header.

Dear Mr Feehan,

Mur0110/kcamps/45011/01

I assure you I am a legal advisor for phpbb. I would like the email of who you contacted at phpbb thank you.

Now to the matter at hand , please find attached a copy of the phpbb terms of service with the important information marked in red. The accusation is that you have identified the complainant by name on your forum , as this is without her consent and the information is unsubstantiated this forms defamatory content.

This is in breach of your terms of service, see attached. I would advise you to take legal advice if you wish to leave your statement but under phpbb policy, we reserve the right to sever your agreement with us at any time, you are using our forum matrix and any breeches to our agreement will result in closure of your account.

You are entitled to appeal the defamation allegation, please consult your legal advice, advise them they can contact me with any questions. A stay of severence will need to be sent to me if you want the forum to remain open. This needs to be provided to us within 48 hours of the infringement.

Mediation is of course a simpler source and removal of the offending thread with notification will result in cesation of the immediate closure , however your course of action is your decision.

Murray Reay

phpbb Legal Services

Header:

Code: Select all

Return-Path: <[email protected]>
Received: from hrndva-mxlb.mail.rr.com ([10.128.255.83])
          by hrndva-imta04.mail.rr.com with ESMTP
          id <[email protected]>
          for <[email protected]>; Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:35:03 +0000
Return-Path: <[email protected]>
X-Cloudmark-Score: 
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Received: from [65.54.246.150] ([65.54.246.150:29910] helo=bay0-omc2-s14.bay0.hotmail.com)
	by hrndva-iedge03.mail.rr.com (envelope-from <[email protected]>)
	(ecelerity 2.2.2.39 r()) with ESMTP
	id 26/83-07442-6BEBABA4; Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:35:03 +0000
Received: from BAY120-W5 ([207.46.9.168]) by bay0-omc2-s14.bay0.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.3959);
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Message-ID: <[email protected]>
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
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X-Originating-IP: [124.179.17.249]
From: Murray Rae <[email protected]>
To: <[email protected]>
Subject: RE: Cease & Desist order
Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:35:00 +0000
Importance: Normal
In-Reply-To: <BCB3D34B4D4B4D09A52A888E3EE2EB3C@RobPCHP01>
References: <[email protected]>
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rfeehan · Post by **rfeehan** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 4:16 am

Closure of my account? Use of forums? Dollars to donuts this whack job is harassing me because the people on this site (http://tanksandthings.niceboard.net/forum.htm) got pissed at me for refusing to ban a member of my site because he annoyed them on their site. No matter how I tried to explain that he didn't do anything offensive to my site so there was no reason for me to take any action the worse it got. Then they banned me for refusing to remove him. Then these emails started to roll in. His offensive rude behavior that triggered this whole thing was he posted a link with information to our site containing contest information (in a forum they have for such announcements). The ensuing slew of emails initially summed it up as rude behaviour because he rarely posted to their site. I offered to put a link to their site (and did but later I removed it) to appease them and create some good will even though they have no links page where we would get any of the same considerations. From there it went down hill in PMs quickly and they banned me. I didn't use rude language or any slurs/vulgarity etc. My one breach was when I told them to "get bent" because after 5 or 6 of these emails I was done. Then the fake legal beagle jumped on my case at 1:45am.

Since they rent their site I think they are under the mistaken impression I do the same. The stupid part of this is the post she found offensive on our site was removed last night before she banned me. He is still claiming he represents phpBB and is going to prosecute me whatever that means. I guess hes going to kick my door in and unplug my internet? LOL.

drathbun · Post by **drathbun** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 4:43 am

rfeehan wrote:Return-Path: <[email protected]>

That pretty much says it all, doesn't it?

matt1206 · Post by **matt1206** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 5:39 am

What terms of service did he attach that you are supposidly breaking?

Could this person be pretending to represent phpBB be from the company that is providing their free forum?

http://www.niceboard.net/ - click the link to the TOS

http://www.forumotion.com/en/litigation/

You have a juridical or moral problem with a forum ? Fill in its address and complete the form. After validation, an email will be sent to the administrators of this forum.

Is yours a free forum with the same company?

Techie-Micheal · Post by **Techie-Micheal** » Thu Sep 24, 2009 5:49 am

Personally, I'd send a complaint to Telstra in Australia saying you are being harassed by one of their customers and provide the headers on both emails and both emails. Obviously this isn't phpBB.