About The FlyingHamster Site and Me
,It is with some regret that I am posting these personal developments on FlyingHamster. As many of you know, this site was started as an adjunct to the weekly newsletters that were done on Spywareinfo. With the speed of news, it was felt that the visitors of Spywareinfo would be best served if there was a daily posting of the news concerning the internet, privacy and security.
In brief, that is how this site came to evolve. Unfortunately, the editor of Spywareinfo has abandoned the site for periods of time. This has occurred with alarming frequency. The last time I have heard from Mike Healan, the site owner, was on September 6, 2006. The front page of the site remains stopped at that point in time. The reason is that Mike Healan retained the passwords to the site controls and never passed along this information to anyone before leaving the site.
As part owner of the Spywareinfo site, I have worked to cope with some of the problems of the site in Mike’s absence. This has been time consuming and stressful . Recently, it has come to my attention that there are accusations of my mishandling of the site funds and there is an attempt to take over the site. I have had my access to the Spywareinfo Forum restricted. Not only have such actions being taken against me. This has happened to others, including Tom ‘Coyote’ Wilson. Tom was one of the original members of the Spywareinfo group when the site was started.
Since my access to the Spywareinfo Forum has been restricted and defamatory statements made about me, I have had no other recourse except to initiate legal proceedings. There is documentation from Mike Healan that I am part owner of the site. The actions to restrict access are, in essence, deplorable. It simply angers me beyond description and, therefore, I have retained legal counsel.
Further, I cannot have such nonsense about me stated on a site on which I have work for years and years. I realize the implications of such statements when I seek a professional position in the work force.
The legal action has necessitated my seeking additional work to address the initial litigation costs. I am forced to allocated my time to not going into serious debt. As such, I am taking a hiatus from posting the news and editorials on FlyingHamster. - Let me say that I do this with some regret. The visitors to this site have been incredibly loyal and supportive. I cannot tell you how much that has meant to me. I thank each and every one of you who has sent in a story and contributed. I know that some people click onto this site and stay for the day or the evening. I know that this site reaches remote corners of the planet and bypasses some attempted censorship restrictions on the part of some governments. And I will miss my daily interactions with the people who say “hello” daily through the Meebo service.
Contrary to some statements made on Spywareinfo, this site does not generate a lucrative income. That, like many other statements, is far from the truth. The purpose of this site was to be efficient and allow the site visitor a quick access to the news and sometimes to a short editorial. The site was designed to move people along. This was to the detriment of generating income, which would have meant finding ways to make the visitors stay longer and longer. As you know yourself, not many people click on the Google ads. You have not done so lately and that is understandable. This site was not done to generate income - it was done as an adjunct service to a site I believed was doing some good.
Where this site goes now remains to be discussed with the site designer and myself. I just don’t know at the moment. I really hope to be back in some form or other. For now, I am digging out the fabrications and deceit that have been perpetrated on Spywareinfo. Let me give you an example - When I was attempting to purchase the forum software for Spywareinfo, I was not successful in completing the transaction from my location. Since it was needed urgently, I asked this person at Spywareinfo if she could do so and I had funds sent to her via PayPal. This was funds generated through the FlyingHamster site. The funds were transferred to her by the site designer because donations and income initially go to him to pay off the bills. The forum software was bought and then the person, who did the purchase, stated that she bought the software. There is no mentioned where the funds originated. It is stated that she bought and paid for the software. Such behaviors are scurrilous and simply dim. There is documented proof that the funds were transferred and received. Such are the confabulations and distortions. And that is only one example. There are many such twists - and my postings on the forum site have been ‘edited’.
One would have expected better behaviour from a retired person. When asked in an open chat room whether she wanted to settle this in a civil manner, I was offered fifty dollars ($50.00) to go away. This was stated before other members of the security community who found the behaviour rather odd.
This matter has been depressing, as well as stirring the ire of many - myself and others in the security community. To my friends in the security network, thank you for your support and the wisdom of your comments. To my site designer, thank you beyond measure. Words cannot express the appreciation for the long distance hand-holding and help through this. And to the visitors to FlyingHamster, it is only “au revoir” - see you again.
Catherine Forsythe
