[HumJanenge] MoneyLife: OMG! Impersonation sparks off a war on the Net

Here is an interesting article. Must save it as evidence for when the
cyber police come knocking here. Copy-posting the entire content since
the article has many (defamatory) things to say about this group and
its members and policies. Interestingly though, the moral of this
story is that people using groups should install Anti--virus software

http://www.moneylife.in/article/78/11522.html

"November 24, 2010 02:03 PM | Bookmark and Share
Moneylife Digital Team

Impersonation on the Internet is creating dangerous distrust among
major groups operating on the worldwide web. Now RTI activists
bothered by this problem are taking the matter to the police

Impersonation is not a new thing. For ages, impersonators have been
imitating or copying the behaviour or actions of others. However, when
someone impersonates someone on the Internet and starts sending e-
mails, by posting comments using the other person's name and e-mail
ID, it becomes a serious matter.

Of late, many activists-especially those working on the right to
information (RTI) platform-are finding that their e-mails and names
are being used to send messages and post comments on the Internet.
This is not only leading to misunderstanding but also creating hatred
between the receiver and the sender whose name has been used.
Impersonators are not even sparing deceased members and are using
their names and e-mail IDs. Some RTI activists, including journalists,
plan to file complaints with the cyber crime cell of the police.

One RTI activist alleged that a post on the RTI group contained an
attachment that was a malware (a short name for malicious software,
designed to secretly access a computer system without the owner's
informed consent) or spyware. According to some members who opened the
file, this may have been another attempt to keep track of the online
activities of the activists in this group.

The use of spyware and the impersonation phenomena itself appears to
be a battle for supremacy between some non-governmental organisations
(NGOs). However, asking members of one group to subscribe mandatorily
to other groups and making their e-mail IDs freely available to every
member is not the way groups are operated on the Internet.

There is a specific group, HumJanenge-on Google-which has created a
web of interconnected groups. Therefore, even if someone unsubscribes
from the particular group, he/she continues to receive e-mails through
the interlinked network of some real and some fake RTI groups.

What is more shocking, originally HumJanenge was on the Yahoo domain.
Some time later, someone (he/she is still not ready to reveal the real
ID, yet) set up a group on Google using the same name. This person, or
group of persons acting in concert, decided to share member lists from
the Yahoo group with the Google group. The reason? They claimed this
was being done to create alternates or backups on Google just in case
Yahoo decided to close the groups. This appears false, as neither
Google nor Yahoo have said or hinted at closing any group or groups in
their domain.

When some members tried to log out from the groups, they found, to
their shock, that they were being asked to subscribe to three or four
other groups.

According to informed sources, the 'alleged' impersonation of some
members was a software glitch in early days of HumJanenge Google
group. The emails to the HumJanenge group on Yahoo domain were
forwarded to the Google group. The offending source IDs have been
removed and there is no likelihood of recurrence of this problem, the
sources added.

"Adversaries have been successful in using the 'divide and rule'
policy. Those who want to curb the activities of RTI activists have
been making these insertions deep and cleaving us, very successfully.
In the past 15 days, I have received emails pertaining to accusations
and counter accusations. Deliberate explanations and counter
explanations. Where are we headed in this melee?" asked one member
from an RTI group.

Some possible solutions

The problem of impersonation on the Internet is somewhat difficult to
deal with. It is compounded by the fact that it is not easy to
identify people from the limited interaction on telephone and on the
Internet and verification is dependent on the computer. But there are
a few things those who are bothered by this problem can do, to deal
with the issue, or at least minimise the bother.

For a start, people who have found instances of impersonation should
approach the police and file a case with the cyber crime cell.
Similarly, lodge a complaint against the owner or moderator of the
group with the domain owner-Google, Yahoo, or whichever. Google and
Yahoo have offices in India and the contact details are available on
their sites.

In case one has no way of avoiding such messages or attachments coming
to the group, it is necessary to install a good anti-virus, malware/
spyware detector on your computer. Some effective anti-virus, malware/
spyware removers are available on the Internet free of cost, besides
the commonly used Norton and McAfee computer security systems.
CNET.com lists the following facilities: Top free anti-virus software
- AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition 2011, Avast Free Antivirus; Top free
malware/spyware remover: Malwarebytes Anti-Malware, Ad-Aware Free
Internet Security."