| Stron w wątku: < [1 2 3 4 5 6] > | Hijacking of our Proz. profile information by Indian site (Mod: ProZ.com staff are working on it) Autor wątku: CJG (X)
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mediamatrix (X)
Local time: 21:33
hiszpański > angielski
+ ...
| Don't let your paranoia get the better of you ... | Sep 30, 2008 |
Claudia Alvis wrote: mediamatrix wrote: Claudia Alvis wrote: This is the information on Whois: domain: translationindia.com created: 28-Jun-2004 last-changed: 24-Aug-2008 registration-expiration: 28-Jun-2009 ... registrant-email: [email protected] Check out this guy's email domain: planetindia.net. That site seems very legit as well, probably another scam. Claudia Alvis wrote:
If you notice, Planet India's contact information in the USA and Switzerland doesn't include any phone numbers, and the Indian phone number doesn't have the India prefix.
The fact that the 'registrant-email' is the sales department of a web-hosting company in no way implies that planetindia.net is not perfectly leigitimate and above-board. It is not at all unusual for a web-hoster to register the domain name of its clients. Nor is it uncommon for people not to include the international code when publishing their phone numbers for 'in-country' readership. FWIW, the Swiss fax number, although missing the code for Switzerland, does have the correct area code for La Locle. Disclaimer: I am in no way connected with planetindia.net. MediaMatrix I really doubt it. Usually, when the registrant information is kept hidden and the hosting provider's information appear instead, ALL the information of the registrant is kept hidden. In this case, the phone number of the registrant and **start of sarcastic tone** Mr. Kesarwani's **end of sarcastic tone** are the same. ...
If I follow your logic, Claudia, then I am also a charlatan and a cheat simply because my e-mail address will appear in the 'whois' data for a couple of websites I built last year for my clients. You need to understand that if a website client does not have a registered domain name at the time they commission a website developer to build their site and bring it on-line, then they probably do not have a 'personal' e-mail address either (they will probably be using an anonymous gmail, hotmail, whatever, address); that is the simple reason why website hosters/developers register the domain name on their client's behalf. It is a standard part of the service sold by website developers. And I would not be at all surprised to find [email protected] mentioned as the 'registrant-email' of many of the prozian websites hosted here on Proz.com.
Before pushing your inuendo about www.planetindia.net any further I suggest you should look at the site. Does it really look like a 'scam' to you?
MediaMatrix
| | | | KathyT 
Australia
Local time: 11:33
japoński > angielski
| Wow! I had no idea! | Sep 30, 2008 |
Well naturally, I, too, checked through the directory for my language pair (JP>EN), and Henry D, you'll be pleased to know they didn't forget you, either!! ;-)
I was #112, but they didn't think I was important enough to have a photo - not even a fake... See more Well naturally, I, too, checked through the directory for my language pair (JP>EN), and Henry D, you'll be pleased to know they didn't forget you, either!!;-)
I was #112, but they didn't think I was important enough to have a photo - not even a fake one! ▲ Collapse
| | | | mediamatrix (X)
Local time: 21:33
hiszpański > angielski
+ ...
| Reality check | Sep 30, 2008 |
Having found a distorted version of my own profile on the pirate site, I guess I ought to be outraged like many colleagues here. But actually I am not in the least surprised that this has happened.
I confess that I’m bemused .
Why?
- Because professional profile data has a certain commercial value.
- Because there are un... See more Having found a distorted version of my own profile on the pirate site, I guess I ought to be outraged like many colleagues here. But actually I am not in the least surprised that this has happened.
I confess that I’m bemused .
Why?
- Because professional profile data has a certain commercial value.
- Because there are unscrupulous people who will seek to profit from that data.
- Because it is exceedingly easy to collect (‘harvest’ as they say…) this kind of data.
- Because, despite Proz.com’s assurances about the protection of data entered here by the site’s legitimate members and users, there is no way to guarantee 100% protection of data that must be delivered to the ‘public at large’ if it is to serve any useful purpose. It’s all very well to make the underlying database inaccessible to hackers – but quite another when the data it contains must be shown to any and all site visitors, on demand, via our profile pages!
- Because, despite what the blurb on this site says, this data has been unnecessarily exposed to ‘harvesting’ exploits, by ignoring a couple of basic rules. Shame on you Proz.com!
How easy is it?
VERY. By its very nature, profile data highly structured and therefore easy to ‘read’ with a simple robot. It’s something that any competent 10-year-old geek could put together in a couple of hours.
That said, the ‘exploit’ by translationindia.com is pretty amateurish. There’s a certain logic behind the use of the same contact details for all 9000+ translators in the system, but the insertion of ‘default’ data in other fields really does give the game away to the point of rendering the whole site unworthy of the attention of any serious potential client – and us as translators.
Could Proz.com staff make it more difficult to ‘clone’ this data?
Of course! And it shouldn’t take more than a couple of days...
What are the other risks for Proz.com?
Well, if we overlook for a moment the minimal ‘commercial value’ of KudoZ data, the fact remains that it would be just as easy to ‘clone’ the entire content of the KudoZ system …
or , depending on your point of view.
The same is true of the forum ...
Don’t get me wrong:
- I do not condone the theft of data by translationindia.com.
- I do, however, believe that the potential for real damage to anyone's freelancer career is slight.
- I believe that there has been no ‘identity theft’ here, merely the unauthorized ‘borrowing’ and ‘distortion’ of an on-line directory.
- I also believe – and this is surely the main point I wish to make here - that this should serve as a ‘wake up’ call to Proz.com staff. I hope to see changes in the system – sooner rather than later - to make such exploits more difficult in the future. A couple of simple changes is all it would take to keep amateurs like translationindia.com at bay...
MediaMatrix ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Can't open the website | Sep 30, 2008 |
A colleague has told me that I am on the list, but unfortunately I can't open the site. I suppose that the Proz staff has taken some actions to close it down. Anyway, I will be checking this site again in the nearest future.
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| I've found you, Irina... | Sep 30, 2008 |
Irina Komoliatova wrote:
A colleague has told me that I am on the list, but unfortunately I can't open the site. I suppose that the Proz staff has taken some actions to close it down. Anyway, I will be checking this site again in the nearest future.
I've just found you, Irina. There are fifteen profiles from Argentina. This is incredible...
http://www.translationindia.com/Resume/Resume1596.html
| | | | Nicole Schnell
USA
Local time: 18:33
angielski > niemiecki
+ ...
In Memoriam | Did they target Platinum members only? | Sep 30, 2008 |
I found a large number of colleagues in my language pair, none of them are non-paying members or corporate members.
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Thanks to the few people who have confirmed to me that my profile was usurped. I tried to access my "profile" on that site, and I couldn't, which is why I asked here. It seems that they are presently cleaning their site of all these profiles, and they are doing a great job at it, too. However, I succeeded in finding a copy through Google. All the graphics are gone now, but all the text remains. I have just made a hard copy print and a PDF of this, as proof. I will explore my legal options.
... See more Thanks to the few people who have confirmed to me that my profile was usurped. I tried to access my "profile" on that site, and I couldn't, which is why I asked here. It seems that they are presently cleaning their site of all these profiles, and they are doing a great job at it, too. However, I succeeded in finding a copy through Google. All the graphics are gone now, but all the text remains. I have just made a hard copy print and a PDF of this, as proof. I will explore my legal options.
In case you would like to go any further in this matter than posting in this thread, I recommend you lay hands on anything on the Web that has your name on it and is, even remotely, associated with translationindia.com's domain name and print it now. The more of us have proof of this, the easier the legal route will be to pursue.
Please, act now! ▲ Collapse
| | | | Andrea Riffo
Chile
Local time: 21:33
angielski > hiszpański
+ ...
| Now I wonder... | Sep 30, 2008 |
... about their alleged client list ..
I see the Chilean Government symbol in their clients' list and, for some odd reason, I do not feel compelled to trust that information...
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| Similar case admitted in Delhi High Court | Sep 30, 2008 |
Coincidentally, a similar case has been reported just today in the Times of India, Page 3. (http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&login=default&Enter=true&Skin=TOI&GZ=T&AW=1222751816968)
Just Dial, a firm in Mumbai, found that a rival firm had stolen its entire database of millions of ... See more Coincidentally, a similar case has been reported just today in the Times of India, Page 3. (http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&login=default&Enter=true&Skin=TOI&GZ=T&AW=1222751816968)
Just Dial, a firm in Mumbai, found that a rival firm had stolen its entire database of millions of phone numbers, and started using it as its own. Just Dial provides phone numbers of various categories of service providers on request.
Just Dial had strict security checks, but noticed last month that a rival had managed to get all their numbers, when they saw that their database was part of a website of a search engine called Info Dial. When they complained to the local police in Hyderabad, a squabble over jurisdiction ensued, and the firm had to file a Writ Petition in the Delhi High Court under the Copyright Act. The Delhi HC found that there was a prima facie case of infringement of Just Dial's database, and granted an injunction against Info Dial. A commissioner was appointed to visit Info Dial's offices and seize computers and other storage media to be used as evidence during the trial. Info Dial has taken its website offline.
Stay tuned for further developments. ▲ Collapse
| | | | | Planetindia.net appears to be a legitimate web designer | Sep 30, 2008 |
I agree with MediaMatrix.
Before pushing your inuendo about www.planetindia.net any further I suggest you should look at the site. Does it really look like a 'scam' to you? MediaMatrix
The planetindia website even has a sub-domain http://cybercrime.planetindia.net/. It does not appear to be a scam.
Should we be tarring everyone with the same brush?
| | | | bububu
Kanada
Local time: 21:33
Członek ProZ.com
od 2006
angielski > rosyjski
+ ...
| Maciek Drobka
Polska
Local time: 03:33
Członek ProZ.com
od 2006
angielski > polski
+ ...
| Resumes removed, including mine | Sep 30, 2008 |
After an appropriately worded message, they replied that my resume had been removed.
And it's true to the extent that the previous URL is not working now. They may have just altered the URL, though.
At the moment, the whole resume directory looks unavailable. May be good news for all of us involved.
Maciek
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Wilmer Brouwer
Holandia
Local time: 03:33
angielski > niderlandzki
+ ...
Would it perhaps be possible for Proz to make sure that any IP-address that is not from a known search engine that tries to read more than say 20 profiles will be blocked and checked by proz.com staff? I don't think many people will need to visit more than a few profiles. Those who do need to visit more profiles can very easily discuss this with Proz. This way it would, I think, be more difficult for someone to do this again.
| | | | | PROZ staff..... | Sep 30, 2008 |
.....anybody out there?
| | | | Marc P (X)
Local time: 03:33
niemiecki > angielski
+ ...
| Did they target Platinum members only? | Sep 30, 2008 |
No - this stingy rusty old iron member was also chosen.
Marc
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