Comments on: Who In The World Is Benjamin Gifford? http://www.popehat.com/2009/10/20/who-in-the-world-is-benjamin-gifford/ A Group Complaint about Law, Liberty, and Leisure Mon, 22 Mar 2010 04:51:35 -0700 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Tim http://www.popehat.com/2009/10/20/who-in-the-world-is-benjamin-gifford/comment-page-1/#comment-70607 Tim Sun, 07 Mar 2010 20:44:23 +0000 http://www.popehat.com/?p=6771#comment-70607 Evony is a fraud in all aspects. They "hire" people or websites to host their ads, don't pay the owners of said websites when time comes, they change IP addresses and owners (who don't even exist), plus they sue someone without revealing who they really are. This whole thing is stupid. I was dumb enough to host their ad on my website. Evony owes me $200 per month for the last 9 months which I will never see. I say they come to the USA and settle it in our supreme court. I know people who work for the companies that Evony stole gaming data from. When I find out who really owns Evony, I'll sue his ass for not paying me, lying, stealing, trying to hack my website (my protection software blocked 35 attempts already this month from the "current owners" IP address for Evony) and for all the same charges they are pressing on Bruce Everiss. As far as I am concerned anybody against me can take sides with Evony and get part of the punishment they deserve! Evony is a fraud in all aspects.

They “hire” people or websites to host their ads, don’t pay the owners of said websites when time comes, they change IP addresses and owners (who don’t even exist), plus they sue someone without revealing who they really are. This whole thing is stupid.

I was dumb enough to host their ad on my website. Evony owes me $200 per month for the last 9 months which I will never see. I say they come to the USA and settle it in our supreme court. I know people who work for the companies that Evony stole gaming data from.

When I find out who really owns Evony, I’ll sue his ass for not paying me, lying, stealing, trying to hack my website (my protection software blocked 35 attempts already this month from the “current owners” IP address for Evony) and for all the same charges they are pressing on Bruce Everiss.

As far as I am concerned anybody against me can take sides with Evony and get part of the punishment they deserve!

]]> By: The people behind Evony — Bruce On Games http://www.popehat.com/2009/10/20/who-in-the-world-is-benjamin-gifford/comment-page-1/#comment-66902 The people behind Evony — Bruce On Games Fri, 19 Feb 2010 06:03:02 +0000 http://www.popehat.com/?p=6771#comment-66902 [...] Dawnseeker. Tamatha Foland,  FoxyBunny also has the job title Vice Development Director Assistant, Thalin Athasian is the Vice Development director and in the real world is Benjamin Gifford and he li... Valkirah is Mike and his title is Evony Liaison Officer. Barish is Grand Chief Systems Admin. And [...]

[...] Dawnseeker. Tamatha Foland,  FoxyBunny also has the job title Vice Development Director Assistant, Thalin Athasian is the Vice Development director and in the real world is Benjamin Gifford and he li… Valkirah is Mike and his title is Evony Liaison Officer. Barish is Grand Chief Systems Admin. And [...]

]]> By: Lee http://www.popehat.com/2009/10/20/who-in-the-world-is-benjamin-gifford/comment-page-1/#comment-50449 Lee Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:46:46 +0000 http://www.popehat.com/?p=6771#comment-50449 I am a student studying computer games design at uni and decided to investigate Evony.com. Just to see what some of these games are like etc. etc. The game is actually kind of cool (found myself addicted and even spent a little money on it). But I started to notice HUGE bandwidth use by the site as I played. I am not the only one either, there are comments on the evony forums about this. This is odd because all of the client info, the animations etc. are all downloaded in one big download at the start. There is no streaming media so I began to wonder what was going on. To cut a long story short I decided to break the law and reverse engineer Evony's client. Not to cheat. Not to rip them off or even to use even a scrap of the code. But just to poke about a bit and find out what was going on, maybe even offer them some ways to improve things. Aside from the fact that the whole thing is very poorly constructed (it is really very beginner coder level stuff. Reminds me of a lot of what the first year students produce for assignments) it contained some very interesting information. Included with the client are 2 peices of tracking software that monitor your web use and which applications you have open while the client is running. These do not install independently on the machine though due to the limitations of flash and do not actually damage anything. But they harvest massive volumes of information. My firewall was blocking a lot of outgoing transmissions and it turns out that these were the data trying to be sent out. So they know nothing about me. lol. However there is a LOT of data coming IN over the ports the client uses. In otherwords it is downloading something into my cache for use later. I have bandiwdth restriction which slows these types of tricks down and I completely clear my cache every couple of hours if I am heavily using the net. I also noticed that all the varanbles etc. are named Civony still and that there are multiple references to UMGE. Even a couple of folders are simply called UMGE, one of these folders contains one of the spyware programs. So I can only guess at where the data would end up if I didnt have a good firewall. There are also commented out sections in the code which contain references to UMGE and Lam himself, though low on details. Thank you for reading this. Lee I am a student studying computer games design at uni and decided to investigate Evony.com.
Just to see what some of these games are like etc. etc.
The game is actually kind of cool (found myself addicted and even spent a little money on it).
But I started to notice HUGE bandwidth use by the site as I played.
I am not the only one either, there are comments on the evony forums about this.
This is odd because all of the client info, the animations etc. are all downloaded in one big download at the start.
There is no streaming media so I began to wonder what was going on.

To cut a long story short I decided to break the law and reverse engineer Evony’s client.
Not to cheat. Not to rip them off or even to use even a scrap of the code.
But just to poke about a bit and find out what was going on, maybe even offer them some ways to improve things.

Aside from the fact that the whole thing is very poorly constructed (it is really very beginner coder level stuff. Reminds me of a lot of
what the first year students produce for assignments) it contained some very interesting information.

Included with the client are 2 peices of tracking software that monitor your web use and which applications you have open while the client is running.
These do not install independently on the machine though due to the limitations of flash and do not actually damage anything.
But they harvest massive volumes of information. My firewall was blocking a lot of outgoing transmissions and it turns out that these
were the data trying to be sent out. So they know nothing about me. lol.
However there is a LOT of data coming IN over the ports the client uses. In otherwords it is downloading something into my cache for use later.
I have bandiwdth restriction which slows these types of tricks down and I completely clear my cache every couple of hours if I am heavily using the net.

I also noticed that all the varanbles etc. are named Civony still and that there are multiple references to UMGE.
Even a couple of folders are simply called UMGE, one of these folders contains one of the spyware programs.
So I can only guess at where the data would end up if I didnt have a good firewall.

There are also commented out sections in the code which contain references to UMGE and Lam himself, though low on details.

Thank you for reading this.

Lee

]]> By: Dave http://www.popehat.com/2009/10/20/who-in-the-world-is-benjamin-gifford/comment-page-1/#comment-49409 Dave Fri, 23 Oct 2009 10:20:13 +0000 http://www.popehat.com/?p=6771#comment-49409 Logistics means he was a friggin pogue and about as dangerous as a packet of limp wet spaghetti....actually...it looks like he ate more than a few boxes of said limp pasta.... Great investigative reporting, first time visitor but certainly not my last time here ;) Logistics means he was a friggin pogue and about as dangerous as a packet of limp wet spaghetti….actually…it looks like he ate more than a few boxes of said limp pasta….

Great investigative reporting, first time visitor but certainly not my last time here ;)

]]> By: Evony suit against game blogger critic, cont’d http://www.popehat.com/2009/10/20/who-in-the-world-is-benjamin-gifford/comment-page-1/#comment-49248 Evony suit against game blogger critic, cont’d Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:00:55 +0000 http://www.popehat.com/?p=6771#comment-49248 [...] at Popehat does some digging, in fact quite a lot of it, about a curious suit filed in Australia. Earlier [...]

[...] at Popehat does some digging, in fact quite a lot of it, about a curious suit filed in Australia. Earlier [...]

]]> By: Nic http://www.popehat.com/2009/10/20/who-in-the-world-is-benjamin-gifford/comment-page-1/#comment-49239 Nic Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:03:56 +0000 http://www.popehat.com/?p=6771#comment-49239 Mr Gifford, from his mugshot, looks like he indeed has background in both the military and logistics industries. I wonder if the Australian Army's Personnel division (I assume that was his military background - to the best of my knowledge, Australians, like Americans, are prohibited by law from serving as mercenaries abroad) would be prepared to comment on his record, rank, and postings? Also, my memory is failing in my dotage, so remind me: Logistics: It refers to moving heavy objects like boxes, right? (amongst other things of course) I am tempted to contact him to find out if he has any background in the criminal justice system, or the penal correction system area. He might be able to provide valuable services to me after all. Mr Gifford, from his mugshot, looks like he indeed has background in both the military and logistics industries.
I wonder if the Australian Army’s Personnel division (I assume that was his military background – to the best of my knowledge, Australians, like Americans, are prohibited by law from serving as mercenaries abroad) would be prepared to comment on his record, rank, and postings?

Also, my memory is failing in my dotage, so remind me: Logistics: It refers to moving heavy objects like boxes, right? (amongst other things of course)

I am tempted to contact him to find out if he has any background in the criminal justice system, or the penal correction system area.
He might be able to provide valuable services to me after all.

]]> By: Bruce http://www.popehat.com/2009/10/20/who-in-the-world-is-benjamin-gifford/comment-page-1/#comment-49191 Bruce Wed, 21 Oct 2009 23:06:31 +0000 http://www.popehat.com/?p=6771#comment-49191 Another mildly ironic twist. The Australian Alliance Party he links to is one of the groups protesting the possible establishment of our own version of the Great Firewall of China. Another mildly ironic twist. The Australian Alliance Party he links to is one of the groups protesting the possible establishment of our own version of the Great Firewall of China.

]]> By: mojo http://www.popehat.com/2009/10/20/who-in-the-world-is-benjamin-gifford/comment-page-1/#comment-49173 mojo Wed, 21 Oct 2009 19:24:17 +0000 http://www.popehat.com/?p=6771#comment-49173 "Hey, I'm not the pilot, genius! I mostly just hurt people and break things." “Hey, I’m not the pilot, genius! I mostly just hurt people and break things.”

]]> By: Grandy http://www.popehat.com/2009/10/20/who-in-the-world-is-benjamin-gifford/comment-page-1/#comment-49158 Grandy Wed, 21 Oct 2009 16:21:49 +0000 http://www.popehat.com/?p=6771#comment-49158 <blockquote>While a military background in problem-solving may be as valued in the gaming industry as proficiency in, say, PERL or Visual Basic, most game industry job postings tend toward the second category. ” I’m trying to figure out how many levels deep this was meant to go as a joke. Either way, well played.</blockquote> I've been wondering too. :P

While a military background in problem-solving may be as valued in the gaming industry as proficiency in, say, PERL or Visual Basic, most game industry job postings tend toward the second category. ” I’m trying to figure out how many levels deep this was meant to go as a joke. Either way, well played.

I’ve been wondering too. :P

]]> By: Help Bruce Defeat Evony | Mogamu http://www.popehat.com/2009/10/20/who-in-the-world-is-benjamin-gifford/comment-page-1/#comment-49151 Help Bruce Defeat Evony | Mogamu Wed, 21 Oct 2009 15:12:58 +0000 http://www.popehat.com/?p=6771#comment-49151 [...] find out how deep this rabbit hole goes check out Patrick’s amazing journalistic work over at Popehat about the entire situation.  Lets all get behind this effort to and show these “gold [...]

[...] find out how deep this rabbit hole goes check out Patrick’s amazing journalistic work over at Popehat about the entire situation.  Lets all get behind this effort to and show these “gold [...]

]]> By: Guest http://www.popehat.com/2009/10/20/who-in-the-world-is-benjamin-gifford/comment-page-1/#comment-49146 Guest Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:39:59 +0000 http://www.popehat.com/?p=6771#comment-49146 I visited the twitter link. Apparently, it's a man-in-the-middle blogspam that takes the first paragraph from your site, then links to your post. It seems safe (wasn't tested with Javascript or plugins), but still... I visited the twitter link. Apparently, it’s a man-in-the-middle blogspam that takes the first paragraph from your site, then links to your post.

It seems safe (wasn’t tested with Javascript or plugins), but still…

]]> By: Chris http://www.popehat.com/2009/10/20/who-in-the-world-is-benjamin-gifford/comment-page-1/#comment-49144 Chris Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:05:17 +0000 http://www.popehat.com/?p=6771#comment-49144 "While a military background in problem-solving may be as valued in the gaming industry as proficiency in, say, PERL or Visual Basic, most game industry job postings tend toward the second category. " I'm trying to figure out how many levels deep this was meant to go as a joke. Either way, well played. “While a military background in problem-solving may be as valued in the gaming industry as proficiency in, say, PERL or Visual Basic, most game industry job postings tend toward the second category. ” I’m trying to figure out how many levels deep this was meant to go as a joke. Either way, well played.

]]> By: Patrick http://www.popehat.com/2009/10/20/who-in-the-world-is-benjamin-gifford/comment-page-1/#comment-49143 Patrick Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:49:48 +0000 http://www.popehat.com/?p=6771#comment-49143 I woke up this morning wondering where the hell all this traffic was coming from and saw the Reddit comments. The only one I thought didn't get it was the Monocle guy. I suppose I should have pointed out that I've enjoyed games myself since the early 80s, when I played Hammurabi and Adventure (or whatever Zork was called before it was Zork) over a unix mainframe connection. Good times. I miss Infocom. I woke up this morning wondering where the hell all this traffic was coming from and saw the Reddit comments.

The only one I thought didn’t get it was the Monocle guy. I suppose I should have pointed out that I’ve enjoyed games myself since the early 80s, when I played Hammurabi and Adventure (or whatever Zork was called before it was Zork) over a unix mainframe connection.

Good times. I miss Infocom.

]]> By: Ken http://www.popehat.com/2009/10/20/who-in-the-world-is-benjamin-gifford/comment-page-1/#comment-49140 Ken Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:45:30 +0000 http://www.popehat.com/?p=6771#comment-49140 In addition to the Evony people, you've now drawn the ire of reddit-reading gamers who don't understand irony, satire, or wit. In addition to the Evony people, you’ve now drawn the ire of reddit-reading gamers who don’t understand irony, satire, or wit.

]]> By: MoriEndi http://www.popehat.com/2009/10/20/who-in-the-world-is-benjamin-gifford/comment-page-1/#comment-49137 MoriEndi Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:26:09 +0000 http://www.popehat.com/?p=6771#comment-49137 I used to play Evony and I got so fed up with how they treated their players and their ridiculous ads, not to mention how they ripped off countless other games, that I quit. I have a request for media release from them (which I did no consent to due to them reserving the right to change or alter my photo or my words as they see fit into infinity) that shows that they are an American Company, but there was quite a delay in getting those papers sent out, perhaps because they were still setting up the shell corporation? I used to play Evony and I got so fed up with how they treated their players and their ridiculous ads, not to mention how they ripped off countless other games, that I quit. I have a request for media release from them (which I did no consent to due to them reserving the right to change or alter my photo or my words as they see fit into infinity) that shows that they are an American Company, but there was quite a delay in getting those papers sent out, perhaps because they were still setting up the shell corporation?

]]>