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Convicted Tax Fraudster Sues CNBC for Defamation, Says He's Not a “Hacker”

posted by Fnord666 on Sunday November 25 2018, @12:16PM   Printer-friendly
from the I-am-not-that-kind-of-crook dept.

upstart writes:

Submitted via IRC for SoyCow1984

Convicted tax fraudster sues CNBC for defamation, says he's not a "hacker"

Daniel Rigmaiden wants the world to know that, while CNBC's American Greed television show may have portrayed him more than two years ago as a "hacker," a "recluse," and more, he is none of those things.

Earlier this year, Rigmaiden sued NBCUniversal, CNBC's parent company, and an Arizona Republic journalist shown in that episode, accusing them all of defamation.

Rigmaiden wants unspecified damages and also a permanent injunction that would stop further distribution of the episode, which is currently available on Amazon Video for $2.99.

Lawyers for CNBC have tried to get the case dismissed, and the two sides will face off in a Miami-Dade County courthouse on Monday, November 19.

In actuality, Rigmaiden is a man convicted of tax fraud who became a privacy activist—he has become something of an icon in surveillance-law nerd circles.

"Plaintiff did not use black-hat computer hacking to steal money from the IRS," he wrote. "Plaintiff used computer software to automate the process of filing fraudulent tax returns and collecting the refunds. The IRS was not hacked by Plaintiff, and Plaintiff otherwise did not use black-hat computer hacking to facilitate the tax-refund fraud scheme."

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 25 2018, @07:55PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 25 2018, @07:55PM (#766250)

    that "hackers" should be careful when they do their tinkering to avoid blowing fuses.

    I don't disagree with the rest of your post, but this proves what, exactly? That tinkering is by definition unethical? I'm sorry, but fuses are part of a safety system and it is perfectly acceptable to run into safety boundaries when experimenting. To use a car analogy, this would be similar to pointing to the car manual section on seatbelts and using that as proof that all car drivers are maniacal killers. Or to keep within the realm of experimentation, the statement "medical students should be careful when practicing with hypodermic needles to avoid hurting patients" does not imply that all doctors are sadists.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 25 2018, @08:49PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 25 2018, @08:49PM (#766267)

    ......

    I am 99% sure it was about not blowing fuses in dorms or a lab where other people are working. Not some "save the fuses" PC movement.

    When you are doing side projects without supervision it is preferable that the dean or whoever not get bothered and shut it down.