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January 15, 2008 USCF Ethics Committee c/o Ms. Judy Misner U.S. Chess Federation P.O. Box 3967 Crossville, TN 38557-3967 Dear Ms. Misner
: Enclosed is
a Code of Ethics of the
United States Chess Federation complaint as well
as an associated deposit submitted in good faith. The complaint is
regarding incidents of behavior which may constitute a possible violation of
a specific written standard of conduct, not about being unethical. I am
hopeful the organization will not tolerate retaliation against any person who
provides information in good faith to the USCF Ethics Committee concerning a
possible violation of any law, regulation, standard, or rule. As Office Liaison to the Ethics Committee, I
want to thank you very much for your excellent and prompt facilitation in
this matter. Sincerely, Wayne Praeder USCF Member ID: 12887461 Attachment Complaint Summary There
appears to be sufficient suspicion to believe that defamatory comments about
others were posted to the Internet under an assumed name by the current Vice President – Marketing and Communications, Mr. Paul Truong (also
previously a USCF Board of Delegates member), which
represents behavior "inconsistent with the principles of fair
play, good sportsmanship, honesty and respect for the rights of others"
as specified in Section 6 of the Code of Ethics of the United States Chess
Federation. Relief Sought Today the Internet still protects the abused and the disenfranchised,
people who go online for help because they can do so in secret. But it also
shields malcontents, criminals and pedophiles. It emboldens the mean-spirited
and offers them a huge audience for spewing hatred and libel. Such
individuals are free to one-up one another in invective and vitriol--haters
who would tone it down if they had to identify themselves. Using anonymity to shield the powerless from
oppression and ostracism is vastly different from letting faceless attackers
run amok without fear of the reprisals and penalties that would punish them
in the real world. If a USCF official engages in such behavior
it represents a very serious matter that can do lasting damage to an organization's governance,
its reputation, its credibility, and its ability to carry out its mission. If
the Committee determines that a violation of the Code Of Ethics Of The United States Chess Federation has
occurred, it is requested that the Committee submit a motion to the United
States Chess Federation Board of Delegates directed towards the current Vice President – Marketing and
Communications, Mr. Paul Truong, which is
consistent with due process for such inappropriate behavior since he was also
an acting officer or representative of the USCF when such behavior occurred. Circumstances Various unsavory posts have appeared on the Internet Usenet
newsgroups under the aliases of "samsloan",
"Ray Gordon", "Jackass Lafferty", "AndrewZito", and "judgementday@clerk.com",
as well as others. These are collectively referred to as "Fake Sam Sloan"
posts. In September 2007, while working as a volunteer web developer and system
administrator for the United States Chess Federation, a number of "Fake
Sam Sloan" posts came to Brian Mottershead’s attention
that were copies of posts that had been made originally in the USCF Issues
forum, but with the wording changed so as to discredit the original poster.
It was apparent that in order to copy these posts, the "Fake Sam
Sloan" had access to the USCF Issues forum, as this is a forum
restricted to USCF members and is not accessible to the public. It seemed to
Brian Mottershead that it was highly objectionable
to use the USCF Issues forum in this manner, and that it was his duty as the
Administrator of the forums to stop or deter that type of usage if he could.
Brian Mottershead wanted to see if he could
identify who the Fake Sam Sloan was, using information in the log files and
the USCF forums database. Since the IP addresses of Usenet posters are public
information, and in the USCF web logs and database he had information as to
the IP addresses of USCF members accessing the forums, it seemed likely that
he would be able to identify the USCF member account that was being used by
the Fake Sam Sloan to misappropriate USCF Issues forum posts for his posts on
Usenet. If Brian Mottershead could develop any
definitive conclusions about the identity of the Fake Sam Sloan, he planned
to bring that information to the attention of the Executive Director. It did
not take very long to establish that the Fake Sam Sloan is indeed the person
who was registered as username ChessPromotion. Exhibit One
recaps the evidence in support of that conclusion. In the Report
please note such impersonated Internet posts that are defamatory of USCF
members or disparaging of the USCF itself such as: From: "Ray Gordon, creator of the
pivot" <raygordon@seductive.com> Newsgroups:
rec.games.chess.politics,rec.games.chess.misc,rec.games.chess.computer,rec.games.chess.analysis,alt.chess Subject:
Did Hal Bogner and Brian Mottorshead
hacked USCF members' accounts? Date:
Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:38:26 -0700 Is it possible for these 2
crooks to hack into the USCF computers? Does this mean that Hal Bogner will do the same with customers of ChessMagnetSchool.com? Can
they steal members' credit card information and rob them? Does anyone know the
answer? From: "Ray Gordon, creator of the
pivot" <raygordon@seductive.com> Newsgroups:
rec.games.chess.politics Subject:
Who gives a shit? Date:
Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:33:50 -0700 Why do you care? Who gives
a shit? The USCF is a piece of shit organization. I'll never renew again.
You all can go blow each other. Ray Gordon It is certainly possible to alter USCF server logs. Typically this would
require 'root' access to the systems involved. However, the same information
can appear in multiple log files and those files can be backed up to tape or
other permanent storage. That makes it very difficult to tamper with the
data. There exists an understanding that the USCF office has
checked on a few details at this point and has found no reason to suspect any
tampering of the log files that Mr. Mottershead had
access to. If necessary, it is hoped the Committee
will agree to ask the USCF office
for such statements to confirm this understanding. Based on
the evidence presented in the Mottershead Report, Dr. Robert Jones, author of Internet Forensics,
O'Reilly Media, 2005, concluded in an independent assessment
that the fake Sam Sloan Usenet postings were sent from the same Internet
connection as the legitimate USCF activity of user ChessPromotion. The close correlation
in time with some of the activity, most notably on 09/19/2007, combined with
the correlation in space, as both activities moved from Texas to Mexico on
09/20/2007, led him to the clear conclusion that a single individual is responsible for legitimate postings under the nickname ChessPromotion and for sending certain fake messages to Usenet groups that appear to
come from others. See Exhibit
Two. As
a USCF ID is attached, the USCF member is solely responsible for maintaining the
confidentiality of their Password, and for all use of the Service under their
User Name and Password. Note the Username ChessPromotion has the USCFId of 12123950 which under the USCF Member Search List
has the Member Name of
TRUONG, PAUL HOAINHAN M. See Exhibit
Three. Note on Sunday, November 04, 2007 in the USCF Executive Board (EB) meeting the
following motion was passed: RB08-022 –
Goichberg – Moved, that the EB
appoints a Board Subcommittee to consider issues related to charges made by
B. Mottershead. The subcommittee is to consist of
Randy Bauer (chair), Jim Berry, Joel Channing, Bill Goichberg,
and Randy Hough. PASSED 5-0. Now that confirmations have been made
and an associated report by an independent party has been made available, it
may be a matter of good process within our organization to
also have the Ethics Committee weigh in on the matter. It appears the evidence
presented is sufficient to establish the fact in question. Thus any rebuttal
is expected to be with actual evidence.
After careful, honest, and impartial consideration of all the
evidence, it is for you to determine if it is probable that the findings of
the submitted reports are correct. Please remember, neither imaginary doubt, nor doubt based on speculation or guesswork is doubt
based on the provided evidence. I therefore request
a judgment from the Committee based on the evidence as to whether or not a
violation of the Code of Ethics of
the United States Chess Federation has occurred with any related
sanctions it deems appropriate |