Well it's official. I've made it: Gregory D Evans has ripped off my work!
Risky.Biz's pal Jericho from Attrition.org recently drew my attention to a book published by Evans and LIGATT Publishing called "Hi-Tech Hustler Scrapbook".
From what I can tell, it's just a collection of news and feature articles written by other people. Three of my articles from years ago made it into Evans' "scrapbook":
"Cyber Terrorism 'Merely a Theory'," November 11, 2003, ZDNet Australia
"Beware the Crime Lords of the Internet," May 31, 2005, The Age
"Computer Crime: Methods and Techniques," June 01, 2005 Sydney Morning Herald
When asked how he could justify cutting and pasting other peoples' work into a book and selling it for $39.95, Evans claimed that he got permission to use the articles he included.
He also says he didn't put his by-line or name on the book, so he's in the clear. Indeed, my by-line remained on my articles as reproduced in his book. You can read his ridiculous ramblings on the subject here.
Anyhoo, I thought I'd make 110% sure that permission wasn't given to Evans to use my articles in his book. I asked ZDNet Australia if someone over there gave Evans permission to reprint my work. Here's the response I received from the house of Z's Editorial Director Brian Haverty:
After checking with the global offices of ZDNet, I have found that the ZDNet content that appears in Gregory Evans' 'Hi-Tech Hustler Scrapbook' was not used with the permission of any authorised employee. If Mr Evans purports to have any evidence of permission being granted, we would very much like to see it.
So, just for the record, Gregory D Evans did not have my permission or the permission of my publisher to reprint "Cyber Terrorism 'Merely a Theory'," November 11, 2003, ZDNet Australia.
If you don't know who Gregory D Evans is, you're in for a fun hour's Googling.
