[ insider_reports_insider ]
Podjacked! Or Not?
John Stith
Staff Writer
2005-12-05
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
A story SecurityProNews did last week and one that is floating around the Internet now regarded a possible new security threat regarding podcasts and more specifically feed systems. A young man, Erik Marcus accused Podkey.com of hijacking his podcast feed and holding it for ransom. It turns out that may not have been the case.
 | | Another Side to the Pod Jacking Story |  |
As with any story, there's always another side. The other side is surfacing now and George Lambert, the owner of Podkey.com has a decidedly different story to tell regarding this apparent cyber crime or lack there of.
I received an email from David Lawrence, a DJ with a national radio show, suggesting the original portrayal by us and a number of other places was incorrect. He had talked to Lambert and will interview him this evening. He also posted some of his information on Colette Vogel's blog.
Then, another blog by Paul Puri, called the "Unsigned Podcast Network," posted correspondence he's had with Lambert. The correspondence included emails running back and forth between Lambert and Marcus.
According to the emails, it looks as though Marcus requested Lambert pull all remnants of Marcus' Vegan.com and his EriksDiner podcast from Podkey.com, which Lambert did. There were a number of key words tied to the podcast and they were pulled too.
Once pulled from Podkey pulled the feed, traffic dropped by about 75%. Marcus promptly requested Lambert to reinstate the feed and all the keywords and things went downhill at that point. Lambert explained his version of the situation to Marcus:
Dear Erik - apparently we have a misunderstanding.
>>
>>While it makes me happy to think that your show is doing so well, and
>>while I am sorry that you lost your traffic, I am unable to accept
>>your terms. If you would like to be in my index, you must accept MY
>>terms.
>>We have never made any explicit submissions on our keywords to anyone
>>but our opml directory is parsed routinely by other services.
>>
>>
>>Pointing to your rss feed for those keywords is an explicit courtesy. Our
>>index has credibility based on my work to make it highly visible, and
>>therefore credible.
>>
>>However, for some reason (that totally escapes me) it has not occured to
>>you that your show benefits from the credibility and convenience that
>>has been created as being part of MY INDEX.
>>
>>I removed your keywords per your request, but remember vividly, that
>>I went out of my way to insure that I had met your request.
>>
>>Someone on your behalf, (I presume you, but am not sure) requested use of
>>those keywords, and I have never asked you for a thing.
>>
>>You may use that same process to re-request those keywords - however using
>>my service is subject to my terms, which are very simple.
He went on to say that Marcus never asked about service or benefits or anything like that. He proceeded to discuss his terms in the email and offered to let him set up a new account or license keywords for long-term use. He also requested Marcus call him to discuss the matter further. The posting also said Marcus had not responded to phone calls.
At this point, it would seem the ball is back in the court of Erik Marcus. The Unsigned Podcast blog showed disdain in the way Marcus has handled the situation. Back Vogel's blog however, some commenters claimed to have had the same types of problems Marcus claimed to have had.
Lawrence's interview with Lambert will be tonight and hopefully, some of this can be resolved. The other issue though is that the potential to hijack podcasts and other feeds is out there. It means one must be vigilant in making sure the feeds aren't victims of cyber criminals and denial-service attacks. While this appears to be some type of business dispute between Marcus and Lambert, the problems is still out there will happen eventually. Bloggers, media and other media that use RSS feeds to syndicate the material on the net will be in for a rude awakening.
About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
More insider_reports_insider Articles
Insider Reports RSS Feed
|
|
iEntry 10th Anniversary
RSS
Archive
