Consumer Action Group Hacked!

Paul_Varjak

So, some very valid reasons there to go to the ICO and complain about commercial companies, who you paid for a service. Did you in fact do so?

You seem to ignore the fact that on CAG you are on a PUBLIC forum. Anything you write can be ascribed to you. That is why most forums suggest you remain anonymous. That also means using an email address that cannot be traced to you.

You have to accept joint responsibility on a public forum to protect you and your data. These forums are offered free of charge and they offered to you as a privilege, not a right. If you abuse that privilege by abusing forum members and owners then on your own head be it.

You must surely be intelligent enough to realise that forums are nowhere near hackproof. Yet, despite all your complaints that a forum on which you are registered is hacked you go and join another forum with the same vBulletin software, exposing yourself to risk once again, just to air your complaints that you were hacked on a similar forum.

And why did you join that other forum? Because the owner of the website you wanted to complain about also posts there!

You really need to get a grip on yourself.

Mr_MD

Free or paid, data protection is data protection and CAG is owned and run by a limited company. Even if a site is a victim of a hack it's the way they deal with it which is an indicator of their own ability to preach.

There are many companies out their who have obtained my personal details and infact I have seen a convergence of 2 leaked addresses onto the same list and the only way to do that is with the system we both use. I haven't contacted or subscribed to any of these companies services but they are subject to the DPA. That is if they are legit, which I doubt but it is a question of gathering info. When a hack happens the spam or attempted attacks are too generalist with no singular point as the details are posted on illicit sites, if not sold by criminal gangs.

I joined CAG if memory serves as a resource for information and rights and shared experience and hopefully to offer salient advice on situations where I have had a resolution in a dispute.

However, right now on the CAG site I can't gain access to my account because of their apparent zero tolerance policy on criticism, something that was indicated to me in a private message on another forum. I can't even remove or change my profile and my password "expires" every time I change it and when I change it my admin rights to change have been curtailed so I am still open to being compromised. Something which a numpty supporter decided post on another forum for non members to see and you say I need to get a grip?

I think that CAG, especially some supporters are reacting very badly to a genuinely upset although minor member. I also think there are specific people who are coming to their protection that are not there to raise logical argument but to rubbish my concerns in order to protect CAG. In the end it is the actions or CAG or their behaviour which is the indicator. Have they apologised, no have they even contacted me, no are they distancing themselves from the behaviour of certain supporters (MSE has been mild in comparison to the behavior of members of other forums and can be excluded) , No. Is this what is expected of a site that claims to operate in the best interests of consumers, No Is this the behaviour you would expect of some cowboy outfit or borderline fascist organisation, Yes

That's why my argument regarding CAG being hypocrites is very valid as they and you would condemn in a very vocal and major way, any other organisation or supporters acting in the same way.

There is nothing like the bleating of a lamb especially when it has been grabbed. It may be a bit unpleasant and the chickens may cluck in unison but when the lambs turns out to be a bit of a squealing greased pig you have to think again.

Conniff

I take it a donation is out of the question then ?

Mr_MD

Conniff wrote: »

I take it a donation is out of the question then ?

Now that' a funny one :T

I appreciate the irony of the newbie status to boot

PHILANTHROPIST

Re above post re CAG.

I am a complete novice on MSE, but it was recommended to me by some acquaintances who formerly used to post on the consumer site which is the subject of dissent on this thread , i.e. Consumer Action Group (CAG ).

According to members I know who use MSE and CAG there is no comparison. They prefer MSE. Yes, both forums have the usual mix of excellent contributors and whingers, but that's "anonymous" forums for you.

Anyhow, one friend has actively, yet confidentially monitored both sites as well as well as certain other "consumer forums" according to the following criteria :

1) Transparency
2) Willingness to accept new members
3) Attitude and fairness of moderators (inc complaints handling)
4) Degree to which forum is openly or covertly commercial
5) Willingness to allow members to cross reference other similar so called "free forums".
6) Knowledge of contributors
7) Degree of "infighting" between members
8) Tendency for threads to completely go "off subject"


The survey was carried out over 3 months and was completed in mid January 2014. The results have yet to be "published", but I was surprised to hear that CAG came bottom of the list. I understand the survey was thorough.

Based on the above some of us recently joined MSE. Based on first impressions it is not faultless, but on the whole it does appear to be a better site than CAG.

From what I understand and based on the result of my friend's survey it would appear that CAG used to be a good non commercial and friendly and flexible site , but sadly that appears to be no longer the case. CAG moderators such as citizenB, ims21 and conniff (referred to at length in this thread) do appear to be somewhat overly defensive , inflexible and unhelpful.

CAG is not a charity and in reality appears to be commercial enterprise which may benefit from google wordspace income or similar. To make the site appear as a pseudo charity or a not for profit entity donations are sought. MSE is of course a commercial enterprise , but at least it admits to being so.

Such concerns (if true) should be reported to the site's owners at Reclaim the Right Ltd. As the OP says in this thread any criticism of CAG is ignored, regardless of whether it is accurate or constructive. That's a shame as years ago the forum was well thought of. It now appears to have gone stale ; even the web site looks out-dated.

CAG also bans reference to many, if not all, "competitor" sites. One simple example. You can mention or add a link to CAG or say the "Benefits and Work" site on MSE. Try it in CAG and in all likelihood the link will be deleted. What are they scared of ?

The views above have been expressed principally by others and I accept no liability for merely passing on their opinions for the purposes of a constructive debate/ discussion.

stripey71

I had a terrible experience - we helped on a public minded initiative in which the founder of CAG became involved.

He didn't like our work and posted anonymously about our business on his own site (Consumer Action Group). Given the scale of CAG the comment ranked top 4 in Google when you search for our company and the damage caused to our small business was no less than catastrophic.

This is clearly an abuse of position and I'll certainly think again before getting involved/ supporting cause! I would urge anybody is a position of influence to think more carefully about what they do and the results of whimsical action. People inevitably lost their livelihoods.

Paul_Varjak

The fallout from the hacking of the CAG website grows ever bigger. Over the past few weeks I have a number of emails sent to my CAG specific email address with virus-ridden attachments.

bod1467

(Not sure if this was addressed earlier). Could spammers have simply guessed your email address? (Spammers don't always use a list of known addresses - they just bulk-send to as many combinations of characters as they can, to @gmail etc. addresses).

Are most of these emails "Notice to appear"? (I'm getting loads of these too, although to my website's address rather than my Gmail one).

Paul_Varjak

If you read my original post at the start of the thread you will see that CAG was hacked. I am getting the same emails as other CAG members do.