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Brian Dunning lawsuit

Dunning's message is very self-serving. He can barely bring himself to say that he did something wrong, and it's all about how it other people's fault and he's being singled out for persecution. He never apologizes to the skeptical community for the damage he has done to its image. If this is what people are willing to defend, then they are fools.
 
hardindr said:
Dunning's message is very self-serving. He can barely bring himself to say that he did something wrong, and it's all about how it other people's fault and he's being singled out for persecution. He never apologizes to the skeptical community for the damage he has done to its image. If this is what people are willing to defend, then they are fools.
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What part of "Let's be clear: what I did was wrong, and I knew it at the time." are you having a problem with?
 
yup, I do

I do because everything else in it is about how it really isn't his fault, and he's the only one who got charged criminally, and the Feds singled him out, etc. He has to say something perfunctory like that, or else the court might notice and feel that his guilty plea isn't sincere. I don't really believe he's sorry about what he did, or even thinks he did anything really wrong at all.
 
rustypouch said:
Very light, considering the money stolen.

I'd do 5 months in prison for $28 million. I'd even do 15 months for $5 million.
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They did have to give that money back, didn't they? I'm pretty sure they don't get to keep the money.

BTW, does anyone know how "rich" Dunning is after all this? The Skepchick article above says he is rich.
 
Never understood this not going to prison when the sentence is passed. Seems a really strange way to treat a criminal, surely it is more sensible for then to go straight to jail from the courthouse? After all these are not people known for following the rules.
 
hardindr said:
Dunning's message is very self-serving. He can barely bring himself to say that he did something wrong, and it's all about how it other people's fault and he's being singled out for persecution.
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Yep.

hardindr said:
He never apologizes to the skeptical community for the damage he has done to its image.
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Well...I'm not really sure how much of an "image" the skeptical community has outside of the skeptical community. The vast majority of people don't even know we exist.

hardindr said:
If this is what people are willing to defend, then they are fools.
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I don't fault close friends who defend him. I would probably do the same - "Sure my friend got drunk and ran over 2 people, but he's really not a bad guy".
 
zooterkin said:
Depends; did he keep the money?
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Of course not all of it, but I wouldn't be surprised if he kept a decent amount.

Details of the restitution to Ebay weren't released, and the articles also mention how much of the gain was legit, and how much came from the scam.
 
I don't like a lot of things about Rebecca Watson, but that post was very good.

I think it is more than "close friends" who are defending Dunning, at least on Facebook. He must have a lot of "close friends."

People outside of the skeptical community are aware that it exists. People like Dunning make it look bad. Frankly, he needs to go away or be persona non grata.
 
hardindr said:
I don't like a lot of things about Rebecca Watson, but that post was very good.

I think it is more than "close friends" who are defending Dunning, at least on Facebook. He must have a lot of "close friends."

People outside of the skeptical community are aware that it exists. People like Dunning make it look bad. Frankly, he needs to go away or be persona non grata.
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Digital Dan said:
Rebecca wrote:
In my opinion, someone who actually cared about the skeptical movement would accept that he’s a huge liability and step out of the spotlight to find more productive ways to contribute to skepticism.

Wow. The Dunning gets sentenced, the JREF jettisons the forum, and Rebecca Watson retires, all in the same week!
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Assuming there even is a "skeptical community", I doubt 99.9% of the public is aware of it, since no one I've ever spoken to (outside of TAM and Skeptic meetups) knows what a "skeptic" is, until I explain it to them.
 
The Central Scrutinizer said:
Assuming there even is a "skeptical community", I doubt 99.9% of the public is aware of it, since no one I've ever spoken to (outside of TAM and Skeptic meetups) knows what a "skeptic" is, until I explain it to them.
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It's a whole other topic, but yeah, I don't think there is really a skeptical movement. It seems more of a silo, where movements are more ecologic in development. (And have a good message behind them with clear emotional appeal).
 
I'm not very familiar with this guy (I may or may not have transcribed a podcast of his for pay in the past but that's about it).

Aside from the fraud, what I can't get over is the fact that he was asking for donations for his podcast. He was even making hundreds of thousands per year before the fraud. So here we have a guy who absolutely did not need more money than he already had willing to resort to ebegging and stealing to get more of it. And he's never stopped asking for more more more. From what little I've learned about him he strikes me as a consistently greedy and unscrupulous individual, not just a guy who made a mistake.
 
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Anyone know what will become of the money he made through his fraud with eBay? Will it go to eBay? The government? Or does he get to keep it?
 
cornsail said:
Anyone know what will become of the money he made through his fraud with eBay? Will it go to eBay? The government? Or does he get to keep it?
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He settled with eBay for an undisclosed amount. The court can't order additional reparations. It was probably less than the full amount, but I doubt he's really profited from this.
 
If it was less than the full amount then how did he not profit? Legal fees?
 
arthwollipot said:
Here's the statement I've been waiting for.
http://www.briandunning.com/message.html
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Wow, that was a bunch of self-serving BS. I feel dumber for reading that tripe.

arthwollipot said:
What part of "Let's be clear: what I did was wrong, and I knew it at the time." are you having a problem with?
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Are you for real? Read Rebecca's smackdown. The whole thing is a big self-serving nonpology.

My favourite part of Rebecca's rebuttal, that really shows how disingenuous this fraudulent POS is, is this:
I can think of individuals who were affected: honest affiliates. Dunning didn’t “just” steal money from eBay (note: not liking the victim doesn’t make the crime better). He took money that was meant for others. Cookie-stuffing overwrites any previous cookies from affiliates who may have succeeded in getting users to visit eBay, meaning that Dunning would collect commissions that were rightfully owed to honest individuals.
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And it's absolutely true, anyone who is passingly familiar with how affiliate marketing works would understand this. I am sure Dunning knows it too, and is playing dumb because it would otherwise not fit in his "woe is me" narrative.
 
I recall his asking for money pleas on Skeptoid were often stated "so I can work full-time on producing this and similar content." Would that he had done so. But his hobbies got the better of him.
 
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