My Web Developer Statoged the Website
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My Web Developer Statoged the Website
I apolguise for invading the turf. I am not a developer and do not know where to turn. My 70 year old mother has a website that she makes her living off of. Her developer wanted to learn to program and convinced her that he could create her site, so, she hired him and paid him $250.00 week for the past year.
He placed code in the source to randomly(?) delete data after three days unless he physically reset the counter. He did this in case he she ever decided to stop paying him the $250.00 a week. Guess what, his code seems to work.
Stupid yes. Careless, yes. But the woman is 70 years old.
Where can I turn for help to have the code searched/cleaned and who would I contact to prosecute (US Based).
Any information would be very helpful.
He placed code in the source to randomly(?) delete data after three days unless he physically reset the counter. He did this in case he she ever decided to stop paying him the $250.00 a week. Guess what, his code seems to work.
Stupid yes. Careless, yes. But the woman is 70 years old.
Where can I turn for help to have the code searched/cleaned and who would I contact to prosecute (US Based).
Any information would be very helpful.
- Ambush Commander
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- Christopher
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Many Thanks
Not that the information has helped yet, because I have not yet applied it, but thanks. Really, I appericate any information. We are backing it up, and we can reload it, and we can do that every three days until we can either get someone to clean it or rewite it.
Again, I really thanks for the information (it confirms my first thoughts).
Again, I really thanks for the information (it confirms my first thoughts).
- MrPotatoes
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- AKA Panama Jack
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Please post the name of the developer here along with his company if he has one. If he is working for a hosting or web design company and not the owner contact his employer and tell them exactly what he has done. If he is working for someone he has probably done this behind their back and you can probably get him fired and/or part of the money back.
All you have to do is threaten to sue them claiming he was representing their company and added MALICIOUS code to the web site that is owned by someone else. You could probably get him in trouble with the local authorities. You could definitely take him to court and sue him for everything he has taken along with punitive damages for the loss of business.
Contrary to popular belief this type of behavior is 100% illegal no matter what may be in a contract.
Do everything you can to get him into as much trouble as possible. Make his life totally and completely miserable. If he is running his own business try to find out who his other clients are and contact them. You can probably band together and get a really good law suit against him. This is because he is using EXTORTION tactics to keep your business and that is highly illegal.
All you have to do is threaten to sue them claiming he was representing their company and added MALICIOUS code to the web site that is owned by someone else. You could probably get him in trouble with the local authorities. You could definitely take him to court and sue him for everything he has taken along with punitive damages for the loss of business.
Contrary to popular belief this type of behavior is 100% illegal no matter what may be in a contract.
Do everything you can to get him into as much trouble as possible. Make his life totally and completely miserable. If he is running his own business try to find out who his other clients are and contact them. You can probably band together and get a really good law suit against him. This is because he is using EXTORTION tactics to keep your business and that is highly illegal.
Easy on, PJ.AKA Panama Jack wrote:Please post the name of the developer here along with his company if he has one.
So don't.Forum Rules wrote:7. Do not divulge anyone's personal information in the forum - including your own. This includes e-mail addresses, IP addresses, age, house address, and any other individual information.
And while you're at it, pay him a visit with a couple of 6-foot friends from the Gym....AKA Panama Jack wrote:Do everything you can to get him into as much trouble as possible. Make his life totally and completely miserable. If he is running his own business try to find out who his other clients are and contact them. You can probably band together and get a really good law suit against him. This is because he is using EXTORTION tactics to keep your business and that is highly illegal.
Seriously: what counts is that the website will be preserved/restored. Plotting revenge won't do that.
- Maugrim_The_Reaper
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Not sure I follow - I'm with Panama Jack 110%. Posting the name might be a bit much (need proof before publicly assigning blame), but the rest is sound. Calling it revenge is out there. If I fired a developer and their code went belly up in three days potentially costing me earnings then I would chase him through the small claims court and beyond if possible. As far as I am aware, implanting malicious code of this variety is illegal. It stinks, and he should get his just desserts.
Definitely document what contracts and verbal agreements were in place, esp. who holds the code's copyright, for what services was the 250 p/w paid (development or maintenance?), etc. You'll need this before any legal action.
I'll note we only have one half of the story - so take this with a pinch of salt if you will.
Definitely document what contracts and verbal agreements were in place, esp. who holds the code's copyright, for what services was the 250 p/w paid (development or maintenance?), etc. You'll need this before any legal action.
I'll note we only have one half of the story - so take this with a pinch of salt if you will.
- daedalus__
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- MrPotatoes
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Depends if it's willful or not though. $250/week isn't much, so he could just be a very poor coder who wrote something that corrupts the data once a buffer of some sort gets filled, and rather than finding and fixing the problem he manually reset it. Or maybe it was one of the last things he added so he didn't get to even see the problem happen.MrPotatoes wrote:willful desctruction of someone else's property regardless if there is a contract or not i'm pretty sure is not legal
Of course, if he was actually quite good, he could have done this intentionally but made it look like a programming mistake. Either way it'd be difficult to prove it was malicious.