Investigation on Forum Destruction

[bamada]

Here are the Early Findings on the RLA investigation on the recent forums destruction:

This is a way-marker post which I have compiled formally for the review of the other members of the Committee and for an interim general release to the public. I'd also like Lanier to read over and give suggestions about other possible lines of inquiry which he thinks might be followed to make these proceedings as fair as possible. The other members of the Committee should vote as to whether they approve of what I have written. If not, they are entitled to compile their own versions and then the whole thread should be released.

Appendix 1 is a piece of one of our conversation transcripts which for me sum up the crux of the problem that we face certainly with one possibly with two of our foremost members. TRF in the below conversation lied about what he was doing. This operation was part of RLA operations. Within the ASE and TPC, the formal documents of each region made that all regional intelligence missions will fall under the purview of the Director of the RLAI - which in this case was Blackbird. This was an insubordinate action.

TRF quite clearly intended to mislead his superior officer (see Appendix 2) and this has quite clearly led to a horrible international incident with people who do not share quite the same desire to thrash invaders until they bleed - this includes members within the RLA itself.

The Red Factions also clearly indicates the involvement of Ketoprofen - in fact Ketoprofen is declaimed as the prime mover of the plan (Appendix 3) and we have evidence from an Admin of the forum in question that one of the IP's recovered by himself from the Control Panel of the forum was that of Ketoprofen. That in itself is very subjective evidence but it should be noted nonetheless.

However the second part of the evidence is disturbing and we should investigate Blackbird and TRF regarding their interpretations of what was said. I've included it as my Appendix 4 so we have it in one place. What is for certain clear is that TRF and Ketoprofen - possibly to a lesser extent - engaged in an effort to gain the trust of and thereby secure the password of an Admin on the invader forums. We're discussing how wrong this is elsewhere so I'll leave it for now.

What confuses me is the order of the events which TRF describes in the second part of the conversation following his reconnection to MSN messenger (the medium through which this conversation took place). I think before any recommendation is made to the Central Soviet we should determine the chronology so that we can be sure we and others understand the situation.

There is also a charge (made, I think, by people who do not appreciate the situation) laid against Xha'dam which we are bound to investigate. I have labelled significant parts of his formal testimony before the Committee as Appendix 5. He quite openly admits to having had an Admin account on the wrecked forum in order to gather intel and survey the damage. Xha'dam says that he did not have foreknowledge of the details of the plan but that he simply knew that a forum was going to be destroyed. I've heard word from outside the RLA that Xha'dam posted on the forum gloating over invaders.

The links are here and here. I think it is a pretty clear indication that these can be dismissed as irrelevant given that even Hrmmm - a figure that has recently been criticizing the RLA ad nauseam about our despicable tactics and whatnot - has had the common sense to realize that Xha'dam knows very well who Hrmmm is (having fought with him at the ADN enough) and that this figure is a fraudster who would like to make the world think even less of the RLA.

I do welcome the submission of any new evidence on this matter.

We are obliged to pass down some form of recommendation regarding Xha'dam. We cannot prove that he knew in advance and I do not think that he did. By the time he did know, there was nothing that could be done in any case - and I think that clears him of any involvement.

We are also obliged to pass down some form of recommendation regarding Blackbird and I think it is clear to all that Blackbird was opposed from the outset to the destruction of the forum - most particularly if it was an RLA operation, something that TRF denies as has been outlined.

I think our motion on these two cases must be to ask the Central Soviet to clear them of involvement.

I am not yet ready to pass down any resolution on TRF and Ketofrofen - nor I imagine are the other committee members. I think now is the exactly right time to bring the pair of them in and allow them to answer all the accusations laid out herein (i.e. in this forum) as they see fit so that we may finally conclude our business.

Appendix 1[/u]

The Red Factions: I'm going out soon but I would just like to point out that if everything is done correctly, RLAI will ahve destroyed another invader forum
The Red Factions: and collected invader IP's.
[e-mail]: I'm away
[e-mail]: Excuse me?
[e-mail]: It sure as hell shouldn't be destroying any invader forums.
The Red Factions: Yes, Ketoprofen and myself, who still happen to have some contacts within good cirlces
The Red Factions: Have seen to the fact that the forums of invaders will be completely erased to the ground if the strings are pulled correctly.
The Red Factions: And the IP's will be us, if we have the time.
The Red Factions: ours*
[e-mail]: No.
[e-mail]: RLAI isn't destroying any forums.
The Red Factions: Can't stop it.
[e-mail]: Who is doing this?
The Red Factions: Can't tell - but you should be aware.
[e-mail]: I want all the information on this.
[e-mail]: No.
[e-mail]: That's not how the RLAI works.

Appendix 2[/u]

The Red Factions: I've told you everything I'm obliged to tell you and everything I'm allowed to tell you.
The Red Factions: Actually wait a sec.
The Red Factions: Ok - here goes. Just checked.
The Red Factions: We have an member of the admin team of Invaders on our side.
The Red Factions: He is going to destroy the invader forums this weekend as per the request of various defender individuals.

Appendix 3[/u]

The Red Factions: Ketoprofen did a lot of the groundwork from NP - asked me for hints, contacts and tactics
[e-mail]: Well, RF, I hate to say it, but it's my job to be a bully.
[e-mail]: Ketoprofen's in this too, eh?
The Red Factions: Yeah, definitly. He's the one who brought up the idea on the discussion table.

Appendix 4[/u]

The Red Factions: First of all - no hacking done. We haven't even entered another account in Invader Forums - the admin logs will show that.
The Red Factions: DM did.
The Red Factions: Yes.
The Red Factions: He was manipulated into giving a new account admin access.
The Red Factions: And payed the price for his naiveity. Shadowlord's former account has been deleted.
The Red Factions: Both of us shared the task-work, did some groundwork and got invaders to share their personal info and passwords - as they do between trusted friends.
The Red Factions: Who, Shadow or DM?
The Red Factions: He gave us access to his MSN account - by revealing his secret question to me AND Ketoprofen!
The Red Factions: And please don't shout that off the rooftoops.
The Red Factions: Incidentally, I gave him mine but he doesn't suspect me.
The Red Factions: We didn't force him - we used our good charms and diagolue.
The Red Factions: And yes, he certainly did not go "here, have a look at my admin account" so he never guessed it would turn out this way.
The Red Factions: We chatted - and I for one ( don't know what Ketoprofen did on his part for sure ) - made sure to direct the conversation along these lines.
The Red Factions: Talked about internet security, the things we liked and that is where he admitted that "curry" was the password to his MSN account.
The Red Factions: Or rather - the backup password.
The Red Factions: Mine was "tacos" I said.
The Red Factions: And that's how we got access to his account. He gave the things to us - he trusted us, tough noogies.
The Red Factions: Hehe.
The Red Factions: No one did.
The Red Factions: No one EVER logged into Shadowlord's account.
The Red Factions: Ever.

[dissconnected - then reconnected]

The Red Factions: Because he was asked to, in the belief that this was done to help finding Shadow and securing the forums!
The Red Factions: Shadowlord has 2 MSN account - one of them was used to convince DM of the good intents of this user. Ketoprofen also made sure ( you'll have to confirm that ) to provide me personal information on him.
The Red Factions: So that I would confirm his ID. And to avoid any charges of hacking - we never logged on to his account on Invader Boards - but DM was asked to "lock down Shadow's account"
The Red Factions: and secure admin access to the new one.
The Red Factions: He upgraded it by his own will and now is not likely to admit what happened.
The Red Factions: He acted like a fool and will be humiliated if what happened comes out
The Red Factions: Ketoprofen also made sure to put pressure on DM through various channels - convince him an attack was imminent, that Shadow was under attack. Logged in sporadically etc..etc..
The Red Factions: and from there, Ketoprofen and the NP did pretty much the rest of the job.
The Red Factions: My MSN is really shitty
The Red Factions: Worthy of note is that DM is probably a defender spy.
The Red Factions: A double agent - don't hesitate to use that.

Appendix 5[/u]

I knew the Invaders board was going to be destroyed as of December 1st. The plans themselves I was not aware of until after the fact.

...

After the attack had been carried out during the period where RF controled the forum, I asked RF to pass me the link and give me an account. He created a seperate admin account for me and I logged into it.

I logged in to determine the extent of the damage done and hopefully gain some intelligence from the board.

[ancientsparta]

RLA Intelligence Oversight Committee Enters Final Stage

[/u][/SIZE]

The return of The Red Factions to the forum of the RLA marks the final stage of the investigation of the RLA into the intelligence fiasco that brought down censure on the organization from across the developed NationStates world. The interrogation of self-confessed prime movers The Red Factions and Ketoprofen will add the crown to an investigation determined to end the global controversy and provide answers to indignant members of the RLA itself.

So far, Committee member EuroSoviets, the General Secretary of the RLA, has published, with the consent of the Committee, interim findings which can be located here, at the lowest clearance setting of the RLA (available to newly registered members for those who wish to take a peek). Happenings in the Committee slowed to a halt during the holiday season but are expected to pick up as soon as Lanier has been replaced as an international observer.

Lanier stepped down amidst the controversy in The West Pacific and released a written statement to the RLA IOC.

"The role which I was graciously asked to fill was to be an outside observer, and though never exactly made explicit, I am sure everyone's expectations were for such an observer to approach the proceedings with complete objectivity and impartiality.

Recently, the ASE, a major part of RLA, condemned The West Pacific for our emergency actions of the past couple of weeks. This is not the place to mount a defense of our decisions, and I will not engage in that debate here. However, having searched my mind, both my thoughts and emotions, I find that I cannot continue to approach this task with the morally necessary absence of bias. Furthermore, I anticipate that because of the same reason, any report I might issue would be seen by many in the NationStates community as problematic at least.

I am saddened over the necessity of this decision. I am grateful for having been asked, and having had no previous interaction with RLA, I can only state that you are a group of intelligent folk with unquestioned commitments to participatory democracy. And, I have no doubt that you are addressing this investigation with thoroughness and in good faith.

I wish you every success, and I look forward to the day when this unfortunate rift can be healed.

Be well
Tony Patterson."

This reporter really has to respect the commitment of Lanier to finding the truth, to the point where he stepped down when he felt his own impartiality would be called into question.

Events in The West Pacific are still unfolding and Socialist Democracy will have a report on that very soon.[/QUOTE]

[bamada]

hmm What happens if I "smite" someone?

[Ness Snorlaxia]

Well, Bamada, the karma of someone goes down.

[Pacdude]

I prefer the 'exalt' button.

[bamada]

This gives me an awful lot of power *grins evily*

[Ness Snorlaxia]

Indeed it does. Your evil grin is appreciated.

(Oh, Bamada, your Hyrule nation, Ferrago, is dead! )