FirstNET, an Edinburgh-based ISP, is suing Nike in the courts of
Scotland and possibly the US, claiming unpaid fees and damages in
connection with a hacking incident on the web site of the
sportswear giant.
In June last year, hackers succeeded in diverting all Nike’s web
and e-mail traffic to www.s11.org, a site for activists protesting
against corporate greed, via FirstNET, using the redirection
service of the ISP.
FirstNET is claiming £25,000 plus VAT and costs in connection
with its efforts to restore web and e-mail service to the Nike
site, which included handling over 1.25 million requests during a
46 hour period and involved forwarding a substantial amount of
e-mail for Nike to an alternate address so that the S11 group would
not intercept it.
FirstNET is seeking to enforce payment of its outstanding
invoice in Scotland’s Court of Session, the sum sued for
representing what it says is a reasonable charge for the work
involved.
Managing Director of FirstNET, Greg Lloyd Smith, indicated that
his company would pursue a separate action for damages in the US
against Nike for its negligence in failing to provide adequate
security on its site. Explaining that a web site can be an
“attractive nuisance,” a principle recognised in US courts, Mr
Smith said:
“Much the same as a swimming pool in your back garden, such a
potential danger must be protected at all costs in order to prevent
damage or loss to others. The fact that Nike failed to ensure
adequate security measures for their web address caused
considerable damage to our company and denial of services to our
on-line clients. Nike should be held responsible for all resulting
losses.”
Mr Smith added that when Nike registered its domain name with
Network Solutions Inc., it would have agreed to the registrar’s
terms and conditions. “The second condition makes it clear that the
party registering the name is responsible for the security of the
web site. Nike didn’t even have the most basic security on its
site.”
