Ryanair getting blackmailed

smurfjed

From todays INDO.

[font=Georgia, serif]Ryanair has been given permission by a Los Angeles court to force US communications giants Sprint and Verizon to divulge records as the airline hunts down anonymous Twitter users who threatened to blow up its aircraft and demanded $50m[/font][font=Georgia, serif]

Ryanair has been pursuing the unknown individuals since earlier this year, and launched a lawsuit against them in Los Angeles as Twitter is based in California.[/font]
[font=Georgia, serif]The airline is seeking punitive damages, special damages and costs, but has not put a ceiling on how much it will seek. However, since launching the lawsuit against as many as 100 unknown individuals in February, Ryanair has been unable to ascertain their actual identities.[/font]
[font=Georgia, serif]In February, Ryanair won permission to serve a subpoena on Twitter requesting subscriber information. The responses led to another subpoena being served on Google.[/font]
[font=Georgia, serif]"IP (internet protocol) addresses belonging to the defendants were produced by Twitter and Google," Ryanair's lawyer added in newly-filed court documents. Some of the IP addresses are hosted by both Verizon and Sprint.[/font]
[font=Georgia, serif]The court has now granted permission to Ryanair to serve subpoenas on both telecoms giants in an effort to trace the individuals who made the threats against it.[/font]
[font=Georgia, serif]The judge in charge of the case approved the order, saying there was "good cause" to grant Ryanair's application.[/font]
[font=Georgia, serif]Some of the IP addresses appear to trace back to Pittsburgh in the United States.[/font]

Fair play to Ryanair for pursuing this, but I am rather surprised that the US Homeland Security and FBI didnt pursue this rather than the airline themselves.

galljga1

Eh, what's this about?

Pat Dunne

Here's a link to the article on the independent.ie website http://www.independent.ie/business/technology/ryanair-closing-in-on-culprits-behind-50m-bomb-threat-34693552.html

I genuinely hope Ryanair can uncover the identity of whomever is behind these threats. Would like to get some more detail on this as the article appears to only refer to a civil action been taken by Ryanair. Is there a seperate criminal investigation now taking place?

Pawwed Rig

Was it a credible threat?

galljga1

Is anything on twitter credible?

However, you cannot really ignore the below even though they are probably posted by some highly amusing spotty kids.

“Hey Ryanair Pay $50000000 to VinnieNull.cat or I blow up 15 of your planes”; “hello Ryanair, you have 15 minutes before I commit the biggest terror attack the UK has even seen on one of your planes. Be ready”; and “I HAVE A BOMB ON YOUR PLANE RYANAIR.”

Polo_Mint

Pawwed Rig wrote: »

Was it a credible threat?

If a boards user made them type of threats to Ryanair. Would Boards treat it as credible?

Im 99% sure if Ryanair came knocking, Boards would pass over the IP addresses

Pawwed Rig

Was there a way that the money could have been paid securely?

notharrypotter

smurfjed wrote: »

From todays INDO.




Fair play to Ryanair for pursuing this, but I am rather surprised that the US Homeland Security and FBI didnt pursue this rather than the airline themselves.

Most likely they would have encountered issues around the rights of US citizens vs US government.
probably suited them for a non US airline to tke the lead.

uck51js9zml2yt

Polo_Mint wrote: »

If a boards user made them type of threats to Ryanair. Would Boards treat it as credible?

Im 99% sure if Ryanair came knocking, Boards would pass over the IP addresses

Don't be so cautious
If they got a request from AGS, they would hand it over without question and rightly so.

notharrypotter

Brayan Aggressive Urchin wrote: »

Don't be so cautious
If they got a request from AGS, they would hand it over without question and rightly so.

Slightly off topic but "a request" is very vague.
Would you not prefer that the holder of your data would only release it under specific criteria?
Always a danger that "emergency powers" are retained long after the initial event.

uck51js9zml2yt

notharrypotter wrote: »

Slightly off topic but "a request" is very vague.
Would you not prefer that the holder of your data would only release it under specific criteria?
Always a danger that "emergency powers" are retained long after the initial event.

I assume it would be part of a criminal investigation.

smurfjed

IMHO Boards and any other commercial internet forum will give your details to the authorities or lawyers in a heartbeat, the alternative is litigation which will cost them a fortune.

You only have to look at Pprune and their fear of Etihad to see where I'm coming from.

coylemj

Didn't some guy in the UK lash off a hotheaded threat on Twitter or FB to blow up some airport leading to the social media website giving up his details and he ended up in court?

fr336

smurfjed wrote: »

IMHO Boards and any other commercial internet forum will give your details to the authorities or lawyers in a heartbeat, the alternative is litigation which will cost them a fortune.

You only have to look at Pprune and their fear of Etihad to see where I'm coming from.

You make it sound like handing over details of pilots etc posting about their airline is in the same vein as handing over details of people threatening aircraft. Btw I think an angry customer making a spur of the moment comment like the guy mentioned above is different to people intentionally wasting time through bomb threats.

smurfjed

You make it sound like handing over details of pilots etc posting about their airline is in the same vein as handing over details of people threatening aircraft.

Not at all, its more to do with the threat of expensive litigation.