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This news just in.
Quote:IGC Terminates Membership of Gambling Federation
VANCOUVER, British Columbia, March 10, 2005 — The Interactive Gaming Council today accepted the resignation of Flaviano Fogli from its Board of Directors. The IGC Board has also terminated, by unanimous vote, the membership of the Gambling Federation, a Canadian company for which Fogli serves as chief executive officer.The Gambling Federation provides services to online casinos, primarily acting as an affiliate network. According to published reports, the company had installed malware (malicious software) in Gambling Federation’s software that players downloaded to enable play at certain casino sites. When installed, the malware prevented the players from accessing three specific casinos that had been involved in an earlier dispute with Gambling Federation.
Fogli said the malicious code was designed to block access to the three casinos that were involved with a former Gambling Federation employee who Fogli alleged had stolen the email addresses of players at Gambling Federation casinos. The affair was discussed on several message boards devoted to online gambling, and Fogli issued an apology in a posting on a forum at CasinoMeister.com. Fogli exhibited remorse for the retributive action taken, something he conceded was inappropriate.
After an investigation of the situation and an interview of Mr. Fogli, the IGC took the step to terminate Gambling Federation’s membership and accept Mr. Fogli’s resignation. It was the determination of the IGC that the actions of Gambling Federation were contrary to the letter and spirit of the IGC’s Code of Conduct and contrary to the best interests of the interactive gaming public and industry.
In a letter to Fogli after the IGC Board of Directors met on March 9, Mark Stone, the IGC’s chair, thanked Fogli for his “openness and candor” at the board’s meeting. Stone told Fogli that, “the Board understands your outrage at the conduct of your competitor. The theft and conversion of property, be it software or email lists, is reprehensible and should not be practiced or condoned by any reputable business. But there are also appropriate means by which to deal with such actions. It is felt that the action by Gambling Federation in this case is not one of those appropriate means.”
Stone added that the actions of Gambling Federation “jeopardized the integrity of the entire industry. The act hasn’t just prevented a competitor from getting a few visitors; rather it has shown the general public one more example of how vulnerable each individual’s computer and personal data are to attack and interception.”
Rick Smith, executive director of the IGC, said the organization had to take an unequivocal stance when confronted with an action such as that of the Gambling Federation. “Causing someone to download intrusive software onto his or her personal computer is totally unacceptable by anyone, under any conditions,” Smith said. “I am saddened that this was done by an IGC member, and I apologize to our many upstanding members and to the online gaming public.”
The Gambling Federation had been a member of the IGC since March 15, 2004. The termination of its membership is effective immediately.
ABOUT THE IGC
Formed in 1996, the IGC is the leading trade association for the international interactive gambling industry with its membership operating or supplying services to most of the reputable interactive sites on the World Wide Web. Based in Vancouver, Canada, the IGC champions’ fair and honest interactive gambling environments. To help parents protect their children, IGC members are encouraged to participate in the self-labeling system of the Internet Content Rating Association. The IGC has developed a Code of Conduct for members, and a program called Helping Hand to assist problem gamblers.
This is an unfortunate turn of events for Gambling Federation. We are going to have to confirm this development then make a decision about their certified status here at CAP.
:dozing:
I have had no experiances positive or negative with gambling federation but I think we will find few if any members of this board who would condone this act.
it definetly is a black mark on our industry, how do you think we should go about discussing this prof? We should make some type of statement one way or the other, I believe this in my opinion the top Gaming Webmaster board and directly involved in the reputation of our industry.
Brian
Confirm what development?
If you’re talking about the termination of their IGC membership, that is the official release which was directly sent to me for further dissemination.
If you’re talking about whether or not they modified the hosts files on players’ computers, that is a fact. And if they claim it’s only been a couple of months, I have proof on my computer in the form of a modified hosts file that says otherwise, since I haven’t installed a GFED casino in at least a year.
No matter what the explanation, their actions have damaged the industry. I don’t see that there is much to discuss or confirm, other than whether or not you will allow them to remain as a certified member.
i wasn’t very clear on my post Spear, I was saying that CAP should take some action regarding this and the sooner the better, we have a reputation as a group as well.
I don’t think this is the type of group that should be Certified by CAP as it belittles the value of our Certification. This of course is up to you prof but that is my 2 cents.
Brian
i think gfed needs to post a response here and talk about it. I am currently promoting gfed and i get alot of downloads from them, however i may pull them because i do agree w/ what was done b.c this is bad for our industry.
Awaiting response…
My thoughts….
It is unfortunate for them that this happened. But, I think it’s great news for the industry as a whole that they were kicked out of the IGC. This isn’t just a little mistake on GFeds part — what they did was highly inappropriate and unethical. If this had gone unpunished, this would open a Pandora’s Box of who-knows-what. The credibility of the IGC and of the industry would go right out the window if this was ignored, or if they were given a mere slap on the wrist.
My opinion on their certification at CAP…. Personally I think they should be decertified. At least for now. Perhaps they will recover from this, hire new management, and turn the whole thing around — anything is possible. But for the time being, I wouldn’t want to continue promoting them as a certified partner.
I think you have to ask yourself, is it still beneficial or “good” to have Gambling Federation as a certified partner? If a new person comes to this board for information, and if they already know about the GFed malware fiasco, what will they think when they see them as a certified partner here? I think the educated people who do their homework would question CAP’s credibility at that point. And obviously we don’t want that. If GFed is blacklisted and badmouthed everywhere else on the net, people will need some damn good explanations as to why they are certified here.
I would chalk it up as an “oops” and move on. Refund their money, etc., and make a statement here as to why they were decertified. If I was running the show, that’s what I would do. Alternately, you could quietly decertify them and move all references to GFed to the Attic.
What does everyone else think? Of course it’s the Professor’s decision, but I’m sure he would like some feedback to help him make the decision.
Have a nice evening, everyone. :cheers:
Brian, I understood what you were saying
You were plenty clear – I was just wondering what Professor meant when he said “confirm this development” – and to his credit he acted quickly – though honestly had I even known that G-Fed was certified I might have pressured him to move more quickly
