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My Web Developer Statoged the Website
Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:58 pm
by Skint
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.
Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 9:07 pm
by Ambush Commander
Stop, before you do anything, backup the database and the files of the website. If need be, you should be able to restore the website to its previous condition. If you don't know how to do this, ask us.
Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 9:16 pm
by Christopher
Yes, make a backup of the database and all of the files. You may be able to do this yourself through your hosting control panel or by coping files with a FTP program. You might want to check with your hosting company to see if the can help you or recommend a developer to you.
Many Thanks
Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 9:19 pm
by Skint
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).
Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 9:42 pm
by MrPotatoes
sounds like she should goto small claims court and fast
Posted: Fri Sep 22, 2006 11:12 pm
by m3mn0n
This might be perfectly legal depending on the contract terms that were agreed upon before the deal started.
Talk to your mother about any written or verbal agreements she made in regards to keeping the rights to the stuff he would make her.
Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 1:26 am
by AKA Panama Jack
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.
Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:44 am
by patrikG
AKA Panama Jack wrote:Please post the name of the developer here along with his company if he has one.
Easy on, PJ.
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.
So don't.
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.
And while you're at it, pay him a visit with a couple of 6-foot friends from the Gym....
Seriously: what counts is that the website will be preserved/restored. Plotting revenge won't do that.
Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 6:36 am
by Maugrim_The_Reaper
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.
Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 10:57 am
by daedalus__
I keep a bat in my closet for situations like this.
I agree that the name of the company should be posted.
If not here, perhaps we can all blog about it. At least then someone could Google for information on this developer and/or his company and perhaps they would see our blog entries.
Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 11:14 am
by MrPotatoes
willful desctruction of someone else's property regardless if there is a contract or not i'm pretty sure is not legal
Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:42 pm
by onion2k
MrPotatoes wrote:willful desctruction of someone else's property regardless if there is a contract or not i'm pretty sure is not legal
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.
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.
Posted: Sat Sep 23, 2006 2:52 pm
by Benjamin
I wonder if she actually received $13,000 worth of programming. I could build one hell of a web site in a year. Fact is, I have been

And it's almost done!! His price is rather cheap though per week.