Grrrr...

[mjmilan]

My girlfriend called me last night to say that her computer had started demanding she pay £29.99 to the wonderful folks over at Platte Media - so I thought I'd have a dig about on the net and see who these people are - and wondered into this site...

Thanks to the admins for the time and the trouble...

Now - from what I read, the idea is that they install a program which slowly and progressively makes your computer harder and harder to use, and brings a load of porn popups on the screen, along with demands to pay the little darlings over at Platte? Do I have this correct?

OK - well as someone who writes computer programmes for a living, I would like to point out a couple of things that may have hitherto escaped Platte's attention...

First of all, I don't believe that my girlfriend has signed on to a porn site... Her sexual satisfaction is my job, not yours, and since I'm not getting any complaints on that front I presume she isn't out looking for extra... I've spoken to her to check, and no - she's quite happy...

She does however have a nephew living with her with access to her machine - so it is conceivable that perhaps he might have subscribed to something... Let us, for a moment, assume that he has... So why do the folks at Platte feel justified in installing software that adversely affects my girlfriend's experience when using her computer. Why the demands to her? The fact is that when you install software like this on a user's machine, you cannot be sure that the person you're hitting is the person you want to hit - even if you have the same user account on the machine...

Next, installing software to inhibit the operation of a machine without the owner's consent in this manner is an offence. Note I used the word OWNER, and not user. Computer Misuse Act, if you're interested.

Oh - just read the post about the chap who hit all this through CeeBeebies.com. I presume Platte that you're going to be ending your association with GetFilmsNow if they're promoting themselves by domain squatting a site for youngsters, given the sort of films you apparently show... And if not, why not?

I'm clearly going to have to spend time sitting at my girlfriend's computer to clear all this up - which annoys me because although I am a computer programmer, it's the HOLIDAYS! I don't want to be sitting in her living room playing with her machine when I could be laying in her bedroom playing with her... So, has anyone got an address I can send *MY* invoice to in order that I receive fair compensation for this? (Professional rates of course...)

mjmilan

[mjmilan]

Look at this idiot...

http://www.getfilmsnowblog.com/


And note he has a comments section on his blog...

Martin

[ForumFriend]

Well, Martin, using tools that are freely available on the web, I have followed up that link and - surprise surprise! - the domain belongs to one of the 'owners' of Platte International, based in the Cayman Islands.

All the more surprising, then, that he refers to Platte as 'Plate'.  Far too excited to spot a typo, apparently!

[mjmilan]

I considered having a look at the whois registration myself, but couldn't be bothered following up on it... When you read that he has, month after month, posted the same old shite about how fantastic Platte Media are, then I think it's pretty clear who he works for...

If he wasn't directly involved with Platte, you'd think Platte would be concerned about being stalked!

Martin

[mjmilan]

Successfully removed Platte from the woman's machine last night - long may  it remain dead as well...

[Stiffed]

mjmillan.... did the same thing myself in November and the icons have not re-appeared. (Providing you have not given them any personal details.)

By the way, why have Platte not posted anything to re-substantiate their position?

Why are they not objecting and threatening members' posts with legal action any more?

You know why..... because they have absolutely no lawful UK contract with a PC owner.

Keep looking here as a "guest" Platte .... very soon you are going to disappear.

Cheerio Platte!!
Disgusted to hear and know of you!!

[mjmilan]

I think I can safely pronounce them dead on my GF's PC - I unregistered and deleted the DLLS, then went through the Registry manually and cleaned all trace of them...

As for Platte's sudden new policy of avoiding legal entanglements, I think they essentially have two problems... One - many people seem to have Platte's stuff coming up without having knowingly subscribed to any service - and it's hard to claim a contract is in place without one of the participants in the contract being aware of it... True, they could go to court and prove their laughable signup procedure credible, but of course there's also a not entirely zero chance that the court would laugh at them, whilst simultaneously finding them on the wrong side of the law themselves, and somewhat arsing up their entire business model...

Another interesting dimension to all this is that their activities are international - different laws in different juristictions etc... Must be an interesting life being a Platte lawyer...

The second problem Platte have is that their software is placed on a machine without any form of consent from the owner of the machine - and any argument that Platte might have with that statement will be nicely dealt with by the fact that the user and the owner are not necessarily the same person... When people configure a computer system, there is no requirement that each individual user will be given their own user account, so Platte can't argue that they're only targeting the person they claim their beef to be with... Whilst it's certainly good practice to give individual users individual user accounts, it's not an obligation, and would be impractical for certain machines (think libraries for example).

Personally, I suspect they're stuffed and they know it...

mjmilan.

Ps. The GF hasn't provided any details to Platte - as soon as she first mentioned it's unannounced arrival on her machine I Googled it to find out what it was - and on discovering they had their very own victims support group, I told her to have no communication with them whatsoever. That remains our position. (But I might send them an invoice for my time...)

[mjmilan]

I've spoken with my girlfriend this afternoon - and apparently the shortcut icon is back...

(not for long though...)

Martin

[Stiffed]

Still no icons re-appearing on my PC since mid November.

I think I did the same as you but cannot remember how I got rid of these parasites but it went along the same lines as the previous post.

I have no idea why the icon came back on your PC (unless you have made further contact with them).

Just do the same removal process again, then do nothing!! If you have contacted Platte since the icon appeared and given them personal details (bad move) then look around this site.

The main thing is..... "Do not worry about this vermine.. they cannot knock your door demanding money from you.... even their Debt Collection Agency are becoming sick and tired! (See Michael Pollitts Site).

[Tomy Tee]

Weather the Rat Plattes have gone or not, what can they do, they have not  Prosecuted any one. and They don’t have a V.A.T. Registration No. and Norwich County Court do not who they are,

So I Advise any new Rat Platte Victims visiting this Forum [Michael Pollitt or MBS Victims Support ] Not to contact them in any way, (They don’t know who you are until you contact them)
Visit the Easy PC Company UK and follow there instructions’ to remove the evil Scam/Virus, ( you don’t have to be computer savvy to remove it I did it in 40 minutes,)
Give your P.C. a full system scan to get rid of all the Trojans and backdoor entry’s  that come in with the Pop up bill.

Write to the Office of Fair Trading, and Trading Standards, Consumer Direct, your local M.P. and the Police/Fraud Squad.

Wait a few days “THEN” Telephone the Rat Plattes  (PUTTING 141 WITHHELD No. in front of there No.) and Plague the Rat Plattes and Gloat on how easy it was to remove there Scam/Virus,
and obviously  tell them in your own words what you think of them.

And so to Master Bateup. Chief Executive Officer, Leeds Office. And
Stanley Hitwat. Chief Executive Officer of Rat Platte International.

“PUT THAT IN YOUR PORNOGRAPHIC PIPE AND SMOKE IT”

Tomy Tee the Rat Platte Buster.

   

[mjmilan]

Yeah, I know...

Don't worry - I'm able to deal with people like Platte Media...