Here at RSBuddy we neither condone nor tolerate malicious activities. Recent attacks from Paris have forced us to begin the process of taking legal action. In an ideal world this would be completely unnecessary, because RSBuddy and powerbot would compete strictly based on bot and community quality, but it seems that that is not the game our competition wants to play. We have already issued a few documents and are actively working with our lawyers to make sure that due justice is served.
We have been going through the meticulous process of collecting evidence over the past months to build a solid case. Unfortunately we have been advised by our lawyers not to disclose any of the evidence openly, but sometimes it is beyond our power. Pandaman (aka warefly) was Paris's closest friend and advisor until he felt that what Paris was doing was completely immoral. He had had enough and decided to reveal private conversations with Paris to the public in an attempt to reveal the malicious activities Paris admitted to doing.
We have previously issued the following document to Paris's email and address. Recent activities such as modifying the RSBot software to maliciously modify users' hosts file to prevent them from accessing RSBuddy among other cyber crimes have forced us to pursue further and very serious legal action.
Quote Originally Posted by Jacmob's Solicitors
Our clients have instructed us to write to you in relation to a number of serious matters concerning your actions towards both them and RSBuddy.
We have been instructed firstly in relation to certain statements that have been made by you on a variety of online platforms, including, inter alia, Twitter and www.powerbot.org. The statements to which we refer have been publicised widely and on a general basis, however they are clearly directed at current and potential future users of RSBuddy and the services it offers.
You have stated on the forum pages at www.powerbot.org and also via your Twitter account @rsbotorg that our clients are responsible for the illegal hacking of your website and of causing damage to its members. As you are aware, RSBuddy services players of the online game RuneScape by offering downloadable scripts, as well as advice and a forum for discussion. Fundamental to RSBuddy’s integrity and reputation, as well as that of our clients, is the security and safety of the services and scripts that RSBuddy offers. Indeed, our clients expressly assert on the RSBuddy homepage that all data collected from users of RSBuddy is kept safe and all scripts are reliable.
We set out in the schedule attached a non-exhaustive list of the comments you have published via Twitter making unfounded allegations against our clients and RSBuddy.
The natural and ordinary meaning of the words referred to in the attached schedule is that despite openly maintaining that our clients comply with a strict duty of safety, security and reliability, our clients do not comply with those duties such that the safety, security and reliability of RSBuddy users’ accounts and the scripts that our clients offer are compromised and, further, that our clients are engaged in actions which contravene the Computer Misuse Act 1990 (as amended).
By virtue of their natural and ordinary meaning, the allegations made by you on Twitter and elsewhere are plainly highly defamatory of our clients and RSBuddy in that they portray our clients as being guilty of misrepresentation, hypocrisy and criminal conduct.
Lest you seek to rely on it as a defence, it is already evident to us (as it will be to you) that any defence of justification simply will not succeed. As you can imagine, in a close knit industry such as the one in which you and our clients operate, allegations such as this are extremely damaging. It would have been evident to you that your allegations would be discussed and repeated elsewhere. Our clients have already suffered significant damage to their business as a direct result of you making these allegations.
We have advised our clients that, if necessary, they are able to issue proceedings against you in order to seek to correct the damage that has been done to their reputations. As you may be aware, a company is entitled to bring a defamation action for damage to its reputation in much the same way as an individual. Our clients are determined to see their good names properly and fully vindicated in relation to this unfair and outrageous smear campaign.
In order to avoid any such proceedings being commenced against you, we are instructed to seek the following from you within the next 7 days:-
1. Your full and unconditional written apology (in terms to be agreed with this firm) to our clients over the comments made by you as set out above.
2. Your written undertaking that you will not repeat the same or any similar allegations concerning our clients in the future, again in a form to be agreed with this firm.
3. Your proposals for compensating our clients for the damage that has been caused as a result of your making of these allegations.
4. Confirmation that you will cover our clients’ legal fees in full concerning this matter.
Furthermore, as you are aware, our clients have suffered a number of denial of service attacks on RSBuddy which have taken place between 3 February 2011 and 13 February 2011. You have admitted and accepted in conversations with our clients and third parties that:
a) You know who is behind the denial of service attacks; and
b) That you would be able to ensure that the attacks will cease upon our client paying you the sum of $650.
We would put you on notice, to the extent that it is necessary to do so, that denial of service attacks constitute an offence under the Computer Misuse Act 1990 (as amended by the Police and Justice Act 2006). Under the amended Section 3 of the Computer Misuse Act 1990 a person is guilty of an offence if he impairs the operation of any computer, prevents or hinders access to any programme or data held in any computer, impairs the operation of any such programme or the reliability of any such data or enables any of these acts to be done.
Upon being found guilty of an offence under Section 3 a person shall be liable on summary conviction to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 12 months or to a fine not exceeding the statutory maximum, or to both. Upon being convicted on indictment, the term of imprisonment is extended to 10 years.
We are in possession of audio recordings which evidence the conversations referred to above. Not only does what you say on these recordings amount to blackmail, itself a criminal offence, but such evidence clearly implies that you are directly involved in the denial of service attacks on our clients.
Our client is taking advice from us on the appropriate action to instigate in relation to these matters including, but not limited to, reporting the matter to the police in order that they may initiate a criminal investigation. Our clients are, of course, also entitled to maintain a separate private prosecution.
We therefore await hearing from you with your substantive response to the matters raised above within 7 days of the date of this letter. If such response is not forthcoming, then our clients will be left with no option but to proceed on a more formal basis. In that respect, the above should not be taken as an exhaustive statement of our clients’ rights and remedies against you, all of which are, and will remain expressly reserved.
Yours faithfully
Lee & Thompson
What do you think is going to happen to powerbot?