OnPoint by Keith Ng

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OnPoint: The Whaledump Saga: Scooby-Doo Edition

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  • B Jones,

    I recall there was some debate with the Hollow Men etc over whether Brash's mail was acquired via a leak or a hack. Hager's always said it was a leak. The outcome was broadly the same, but the law treats hacking and leaking differently.

    Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 976 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Brislen, in reply to Matthew Hooton,

    David Fisher has a good piece on the police's response: "Handling of Slater grip stunned cop" however the Herald site is refusing to serve the story up at the moment.

    Amusingly it gives me an error message with an APN logo.

    Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 200 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Paul Brislen,

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    On the subject of Right Wing Nutters, I see the cops have finally charged a Stratford man for George Taiaroa's murder - one might guess this was the suspect noted some years ago.

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to B Jones,

    Hager's always said it was a leak.

    and Police found no evidence of anything else. Nats still hate admitting they had internal factions leaking.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to Matthew Hooton,

    I hope someone could point to another (less concerning reason) complainant Slater got better service from the police

    Because somehow he had more personal influence over senior cops? I do not find that reassuring.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Walter Nicholls,

    Note Herald site is still giving assorted error messages - The APN-branded one, 503 (internal server error) and just plain not responding to requests. No doubt the Herald IT people are on to it and it will settle down in due course. (It's probably a cluster of web servers of which only one/some are down)

    North Shore, Auckland • Since Jul 2008 • 42 posts Report Reply

  • Kumara Republic, in reply to Walter Nicholls,

    Note Herald site is still giving assorted error messages – The APN-branded one, 503 (internal server error) and just plain not responding to requests. No doubt the Herald IT people are on to it and it will settle down in due course. (It’s probably a cluster of web servers of which only one/some are down)

    Apparently that’s down to the Jonah Lomu death story overloading the servers.

    The southernmost capital … • Since Nov 2006 • 5446 posts Report Reply

  • Rich of Observationz,

    Classic Mr Ng!

    Back in Wellington • Since Nov 2006 • 5550 posts Report Reply

  • FletcherB, in reply to Matthew Hooton,

    I hope someone could point to another (less concerning reason) complainant Slater got better service from the police than complainant Brash?

    Perhaps the Police, (similar to myself, and other people or organisations), change their response after receiving negative feedback from earlier actions/inactions?

    West Auckland • Since Nov 2006 • 893 posts Report Reply

  • lprent,

    Nice article Keith.

    Cameron Slater is one of the stupid and trusting malicious douchebags I have ever run across. He seems to believe anything that someone tells him if it fits his pre-existing delusions about him at the centre of his paranoid wee universe. Rachinger was quite clearly scamming him by telling him what he wanted to hear. I still have difficulty understanding why in the hell Slater took so damn long and expended so much of someone else’s cash figuring that out.

    Those who chased the story were wary as hell,

    Indeed, as was everyone at TS especially me when this started popping up on twitter.

    But for all the reasons not to believe Ben, he had hard evidence to back him up: Screenshots of messages and emails between him and Slater.

    Which was what finally convinced me that it looked like Slater had entered a conspiracy to commission the crime of illegally accessing my servers without permission. It caused me to expend a number of days laboriously scanning local and remote log files to see if anyone had actually managed to break into the backend of our site or my servers .

    But what is more concerning is that the police appear to have treated an email asking for information by Rangi Kemara to Nicky Hager as if it was probative evidence. Those requests for confirmation of identity float around between people in the local social media all of the time. We do it specifically to identify people doing identity theft and to find out if proffered information is worth pursuing.

    In the 8 years of being the sysop at TS, I can’t think of an instance from people that I have contacted/been contacted where I have ever been refused confirmation or where I have denied confirmation. Not even from people that I actively disagree with or been in conflict with at the time. It is just something to do to deal with phishing of all kinds. That the police apparently don’t understand that social dynamic on the local nets is rather appalling.

    Since May 2008 • 15 posts Report Reply

  • william blake,

    The different responses from the police are probably down to having different cops running the investigation. In the Brash leak a reasonable cop thought yep that was probably a leak, in the case of Dirty Politics, the top cop probably hates Hagers' guts and may well have put his career in a cul de sac as a consequence.

    Hager has never been attacked on the content or substance of his books.

    As for scamming Slater: Well I'll be Fucked!

    Since Mar 2010 • 380 posts Report Reply

  • william blake,

    Attachment

    http://thespinoff.co.nz/03-11-2015/politics-a-kick-back-against-government-intolerance-an-interview-with-nicky-hager/

    Careful scrutiny of the first image may give a partial clue as to the true identity of raw shark.

    Since Mar 2010 • 380 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    Yeah they must have sold 1000 of those shirts as a fundraiser for Nicky, I still find I have to explain mine

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

  • poffa,

    Call me paranoid but for some reason I'm having a hard time accessing this site since the story appeared. I'm not in NZ.

    auckland • Since Jun 2007 • 31 posts Report Reply

  • Rich Lock,

    I hope someone could point to another (less concerning reason) complainant Slater got better service from the police than complainant Brash?

    They lost a tug-of-war contest with him (from 0:17)

    back in the mother countr… • Since Feb 2007 • 2728 posts Report Reply

  • Alfie,

    Juha Saarinen looks at the ballsup of the police raid on Hager and points out the inadequacy of the expert they employed to search Hager's devices.

    The Police asked both Twitter and Google for information but they both said, 'come back with a warrant.' So the cops didn't bother. Likewise Vodafone and TradeMe.

    Rawshark used Tails -- a Linux OS on a stick which leaves no trace of activity. But still the Police insisted on viewing Hager's temporary Windows files, just in case. In case what?

    For all the money NZ spends on electronic surveillance, you'd think they might be able to find techs with a touch more nouse than the Keystone Cops.

    Dunedin • Since May 2014 • 1440 posts Report Reply

  • izogi, in reply to Alfie,

    From that link by Juha Saarinen:

    As part of cloning of one of Hager's laptops, the police took a photo of it to record the information on the screen. This was apparently because the police needed internet access because they didn't have a 3G/4G mobile data connection with them. You'd think that a mobile data connection would be standard issue so that the police don't have to obtain internet access via the systems they're investigating.

    I don't fully understand the flow from taking a photo to needing internet access, but if it's true that Police needed to use Nicky Hager's internet connection, from the evidence they were supposedly investigating, to facilitate their own investigation, that's insane.

    Wellington • Since Jan 2007 • 1142 posts Report Reply

  • John Farrell,

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 499 posts Report Reply

  • nzlemming, in reply to william blake,

    Careful scrutiny of the first image may give a partial clue as to the true identity of raw shark.

    Much as I love Mandy, I don't think anyone would seriously suggest she had the technical nous to hack Slater, least of all her.

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report Reply

  • nzlemming, in reply to John Farrell,

    Court rules Slater is not a journalist:

    The judgment revealed the phone conversation had been made by Blomfield's former business colleague to Blomfield, and recorded without his knowledge by self-styled justice campaigner Dermot Nottingham, an "associate" of Slater.

    If Nottingham was not the "former business colleague to Blomfield" surely he has broken the law relating to recording conversations that you are not a part of. Paging Mr Edgeler!

    Waikanae • Since Nov 2006 • 2937 posts Report Reply

  • william blake, in reply to nzlemming,

    Mandy is a woman of many talents, but you are a true friend for running interference.

    Since Mar 2010 • 380 posts Report Reply

  • william blake, in reply to John Farrell,

    Court rules Slater is not a journalist:

    Court rules; if you poke a pig it will grunt.

    Since Mar 2010 • 380 posts Report Reply

  • Sacha, in reply to nzlemming,

    Dermot Nottingham, an "associate" of Slater

    Good to have that on the record, given recent conversations about how certain photos made their way online.

    Ak • Since May 2008 • 19745 posts Report Reply

  • Paul Campbell,

    isn’t using someone’s internet connection without permission theft of service …. wont it effect evidence gathered that way, fruit of the poisoned tree and all that

    I can’t believe cops don’t have cell phones

    Dunedin • Since Nov 2006 • 2623 posts Report Reply

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