Methlabs.org Ownership Restored

[news=http://img369.imageshack.us/img369/5161/logostripl9fr11az.gif]Two weeks ago, Slyck reported on the apparent hijacking of the Methlabs.org and associated domain names. According to the SOS press release, a “majority of the Methlabs.org administration and development team have been forced out of their website.”

In addition, the assets of the site, including the Blocklist.org source code and Methlabs.org’s financial donations, were also taken over.

According to Methlabs.org, founded by Tim Leonard and Ken McKelland, an individual named “Cerberius” slowly took control of the site. Slyck contacted Cerberius and received his explanation of how events unfolded.

“D3f (co-founder of Methlabs.org) told me to renew it. I did, and in doing so, it was transferred to my account. D3f said this exactly, “Just checking in guys been working non stop but something needs to be taken care of Blocklist.org has expired and register fly no longer excepts paypal, so someone is gonna have to try and renew it.”

According to Cerberius, there was a revolt on Methlab.org several months after he renewed the domains.

“The other individuals wiped the server of all data. I came online that day and found things had been taken over, etc. There was a revolt, and I was threatened to turn over the domain. Needless to say, I knew nothing of this and was angry”

But this didn’t add up to now restored owner, Tim Leonard. Leonard told Slyck.com that Cerberius was only authorized to renew the domains, not take ownership of the site. After he took control of the site, he was then able to seize the site’s assets.

Over the course of several weeks prior to the hijacking, tensions built within the Methlabs.org community. According to moderators, Cerberius’s philosophy was becoming increasingly incompatible with that of Methlabs. Because of this incompatibility, the administration was moving to remove him from power. The situation came to a head, and the knowledge entrusted to Cerberius was then used against Methlabs to hijack the site.

In the end, Cerberius came to realize this simply was not a fight worth fighting, and agreed to transfer the domains and assets back to Tim Leonard. The transfers took place approximately 1 hour prior to the publication of this article, which has been verified by Tim Leonard and by conducting a “WhoIs” query in GoDaddy.com.

:source: Source: http://www.slyck.com/news.php?story=929[/news]

Excellent!

Phoenix Labs.... but I liked the name Meth Labs. :cry:

Finally...