Re: The Whole ACADEMY AWARD Pre-List Deal And What Really Happened

Ahhhh... It's amazing how a story like this can get as out of control as it seems to have gotten. I've sat back and watched article after article get the story completely wrong... even after talking with me.

First off, I never hacked into anything. I wouldn't even begin to know how to do any hacking. Not only that. But the source that provided me with the alleged list... Well that person also never hacked into anything. In fact... Well, let me start at the beginning.

Sunday Afternoon-Evening I received my first email from my source. This email was sent to not only me, but Matt Drudge as well. And this is what it said:

"*** INSIDER INFORMATION! ***

As of February 12, 2000, the Academy Awards nominations have been narrowed down to the attached list.

(Please note that there are slightly more nominations in each category, because the vote counts are very close in those categories, and recounts are being finalized right now.)

An updated list will be sent as soon as possible, if available before the 5:38am announcement on Tuesday morning."

This email had that big mass of text that I printed after the nominations on Tuesday: CLICK HERE TO READ THAT BIG MASS OF TEXT.

Having read that gigantic ton of text, it seemed as though it might possibly be some sort of preliminary press material created by the Academy, So I wrote the source back with the following: "What can you tell me about the source of this info? How did you come by this? Please answer asap."

To which, the source responded with:

"I happen to have access to one of the computers at the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & Sciences, where they are keeping tabs of all of this stuff in an UNPROTECTED, MULTI-USER FileMaker Pro database. Totally open to the world, if you know the IP address of the computer! (It's currently offline as I type.) The text file is in pretty shabby shape, I know, but it was the best I could do -- I had to export the information very quickly.

I only wish that:

1. I would have gotten it sooner, instead of just the day before the "official announcement."

2. I already had the "finalized list" of 5 nominees per category, instead of this preliminary list.

Hope this helps you out somehow!

See ya,"

At this point, I contacted some folks to begin to help me to research the information in that giant hunk of text. We went over every name... checking their credits to make sure that they indeed did belong in the possible nomination lists. Then I pulled some Reuters/Variety/Hollywood Reporter stories about the nomination process, and found the press release stories about how the nominations in SPECIAL EFFECTS and SOUND EFFECTS EDITING had been narrowed down to... well, the names and films that were listed in that big text.

I had a friend that claims to know the tech side of things pretty well take a look at the I.P. Address that this stuff allegedly came from. I wanted to be assured that it did come from an Academy Server or Computer. And this person assured me that it did. HOWEVER, IT DID NOT! And this was the key mistake that allowed the material to be printed.

I then had one more additional correspondence with my original source. And this is what it had to say...

"Hey Harry!

The database is back up and running!

You'll need FileMaker Pro to see it for yourself. Go into FileMaker Pro 3.0 or 4.0 or 4.1 (not 5.0), and change the network preferences to TCP/IP. Then, quit out of FileMaker Pro and re-launch FileMaker Pro. Then, pull down from "File" to "Open..." Click on "HOSTS"... specify that IP address... choose oscar_nominations.

(Sorry I couldn't export the titles of all the films at the time, and you had to subsequently go through all of that research!! Great job, BTW! The system was shutting down, and I had to do a very quick export of the fields that I could get a hold of within just a few seconds!)

It turns out that this is the database earmarked for the Oscar.com webmaster -- she's getting ready to export this info and upload it to the oscar.com web site tomorrow morning. I certainly hope they haven't been feeding her database red herrings, or else I'm gonna be pretty damn embarrassed for snooping around their machines!"

By this time the story was up. After spending about 7 or 8 hours researching the list, confirming every name on it to make sure it was correct, the confirmation of the server, and with that, I felt quite confident that what I had was some sort of advance promotional material for the Academy that they prepared with preliminary information.

Then of course on TUESDAY morning the Oscar Nominations were released, and I looked like a complete moron. Exhausted and a bit angry, I hastily posted the real nominations and went to sleep, completely confused and tired, and suddenly uncertain as to what exactly the original list was or from whence it had came.

SO what really happened?

Apparently what happened was this. It turns out that the I.P. address was not a computer within the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, though it had been represented as such to me. Turns out that the computer was a home unit of someone working on ABC.Com's team preparing for Oscar Coverage that next morning who was completely unaware (just as I was) that a cable modem creates a two way street from your computer into the internet.

The original source completely believed (it seems) that he had found an Academy computer, but in reality it was just some poor guy or gal’s home computer with a cable modem. When I posted the list, both myself... this original source (who was a first timer) believed the material was valid. It was not. The source wasn't someone within the Academy or a guy with ABC's team... he was just some guy out there that thought he found something really cool, got excited, overstated his material, and sent it to me and Matt Drudge hoping to share his discovery.

I then went about to confirm the information. Spent hours doing research on the names, and then had someone with tech experience try to identify the 'alleged Academy computer' and this is where the ball was dropped... as it was wrongfully identified as being an ACADEMY COMPUTER, when it was not.

So, as it stands today, there was never an attempt on an Academy computer. The nominations were never in any danger. And both Price Waterhouse and the Academy can sleep well at night knowing that at no point was there any failure in their security. Meanwhile, at my end I have to find someone who can correctly identify the location of an I.P. Address so something like this never happens again, and so stories based upon the identity of a computer will no longer run on my site, as it seems... I don't have the adequate resources to correctly identify and validate them, though I thought I did.

And yesterday I talked with the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts And Sciences, and told them my side of the story and it seems that until the story is correctly told in the media, we both kind of have pie on our faces. Contrary to Roger Ebert's belief that there was 'hacking'... there was none. Contrary to the belief that I was my own source on this story... I was not. What happened here was faulty research... plain and simple.

And personally, I'd like to offer an apology to the Academy for getting them all tied up in this nonsense. Overall, the most frightening aspect of all of this is not that someone claimed to have the nominations early... or that I believed that they were truthful... BUT RATHER... That if you have a cable modem... You need to have some sort of FIREWALL or other type of Security software so someone on the web can't just have access to your computer. And that's the scary part of all of this. If you know where to get this software, I'd be very interested in it for myself. This is pretty scary to me.