OIG Hotline, I share herewith my communications with Newfold Digital, which is the parent company for Register.com, Domain.com, and many other web hosting platforms.
I do not believe it represents a legal action for Newfold Digital to deny my data deletion request on the basis of my continuing to possess active domain names corresponding to my legal name, my book titles, etc.
My understanding is that the California Public Records Act allows active customers of goods and services to lawfully request deletion of their data.
Raising suspicion of FBI involvement in this case is the invitation on the part of Newfound Digital to file a complaint. The last line of this company's July 11, 2023 email reads as follows: In the event that you wish to make a complaint about how we process your personal information, please contact our Data Protection Office at privacy@newfold.com.
Why would a company invite a customer to file a complaint? And where have we seen this before?
I recall clearly the manner in which Wells Fargo banker Mr. Pedram Ghaderpanahi filed a complaint in my name on May 23, 2023, despite my express request that he not do so.
Further, every customer service representative for Wells Fargo to whom I spoke over the phone appeared to be enthusiastically suggesting that I file a complaint against the Bank concerning its handling of my privacy request.
At that time, I made clear to everyone in writing that I had denied Mr. Ghaderpanahi's request to file a complaint on my behalf, and further, I asked that all complaints against Wells Fargo in my name be immediately withdrawn.
Why did I make this effort, and why am I now taking care to explain to Newfound Digital that my communication does not constitute a complaint?
Because the California Privacy Act allows companies to retain customer data if they have a reason to believe a given customer may take legal action against them in the future.
In other words, if a company unlawfully denies a customer's data deletion request, and the customer responds by filing a complaint about that denial, the company can now claim that the presence of the complaint serves as justification for their data retention. The company may point to the complaint as evidence that it may be sued by a given individual in the future; therefore, all of his or her data may be aggregated and disseminated indefinitely.
But what if that data includes AI-generated photos and videos co-opting the customer's likeness to depict her committing acts about which she has no knowledge?
What if that data includes AI-generated audio in which the customer's voice is threatening others?
What if that data includes privacy violations such as wrongfully filmed intimacy between a loving husband and wife?
And what if all of the above can be disseminated from an "aggregating company" such as Newfold Digital at the instruction of the FBI?
In that case, no one has a right to privacy at all. And further, no one has protection against ongoing defamation as perpetrated by FBI personnel and affiliates whenever they so desire.
It is perhaps worth mentioning that I have seen this gambit extended by one other company: Netflix.
Netflix refused to fulfill my data deletion request under the California Privacy Act, because I was still their customer.
In response, I immediately deleted my Netflix account, and made it clear that I expected my data deletion request to be upheld.
In the case concerning Newfold Digital, the matter is more complex. If I were to relinquish my ownership of domain names such as thegodfatherconversations.com, nothing terrible would happen.
(Note that I purchased this domain name when I was regularly posting information regarding falsified law enforcement reporting for anti-democratic objectives on a blog entitled, "The Godfather Conversations." Despite the heading, I have never knowingly had a conversation with a "Godfather.")
But if I were to relinquish my ownership of lanemacwilliams.com, anyone could acquire it as his own, and begin posting disinformation under this heading without my consent.
People do, quite understandably, wish to preserve their online presence as a truthful representation of who they are and what they stand for.
Somehow, we need to reclaim the right of law-abiding Americans to own their own likeness, the encroachments of AI technologies notwithstanding.
Facebook should not own the photos and the posts reflecting the daily lives of its users. That ownership must be retained by those whose lives, through images and words, are depicted in that online forum.
Alongside this, the FBI must be prohibited from aggregating and disseminating defamatory information regarding law-abiding "targets of interest" through its recruitment of a shifting series of third-party contractors: banks, credit card companies, social media companies, web hosting companies, the Library of Congress, utility companies, etc.
In so doing, the agency is attempting to keep its hands clean while actively preying upon those who resist its attempts at totalitarian control over the social, economic and physical lives of the law-abiding American public.
The FBI's continual "recruitment" of partners in its defamation schemes must be, in every instance, disallowed.
Members of the American public cannot keep up with the FBI's systematic violation of their privacy rights through its stratagems of moving defamatory disinformation from one digital holding location to another, all perpetrated under color of law.
The agency simply needs to be stopped from recruiting third-party contractors for this purpose.
Further, when the FBI's third-party contractors fail to honor data deletion requests, they need to experience meaningful and immediate ramifications -- those that affect their bottom line.
I would welcome the OIG Hotline's intervention with Newfold Digital in insisting that this company honor my data deletion request.
I will post follow up communications here.
In gratitude for your attention to this matter,
Lane MacWilliams
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Email sent to: lanevh1@gmail.com. From: noreply@onetrust.com, on behalf of Newfold Digital, Inc. Date: July 11, 2023 at 10:47 AM
Re: (Request ID: 6CMYY4YBD8) Request cannot be completed
Dear Lane MacWilliams,
Your request cannot be completed at this time.
Hello,
Thank you for your data subject rights request.
As you may be aware, the right toe erasure of your personal data under the law is not absolute and applies in certain limited circumstances. We are unable to process your request as further described above.
Upon review of your account, it appears that your account is still in an active status. Accounts that are in an active status are not eligible for erasure.
Once your account is closed, we would like you to be aware that requests for erasure are subject to our data retention policy as noted in our Privacy Notice. Our notice specifies that we will retain your personal information to provide services to you and as otherwise necessary to comply with our legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. We will retain your personal information for no more than seven years following the later (sic) of the date on which you terminate the use of our services.
In the event that you wish to make a complaint about how we process your personal information, please contact our Data Protection Office at privacy@newfold.com.
Regards,
Privacy Center
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Email sent to: privacy@newfold.com. From: lanemacwilliams@gmail.com. Date: August 23, 2023 at 11:29 AM
Re: Fwd: (Request ID: 6CMYY4YBD8) Request cannot be completed
Dear Newfold Administration Team:
I am currently standing as a whistleblower of FBI malfeasance in the form of the FBI's perpetration of knowingly falsified law enforcement reporting against the law-abiding American public. The FBI has created, aggregated, and disseiminated, often through the use of contractors and third parties such as Newfold, knowingly false and defamatory information concerning law-abiding Americans who have been wrongfully designated "targets of interest."
Newfold oversees domain names I own under both Register.com and Domain.com.
My request for data deletion under the California Privacy Act was rejected by Newfold, as you see from the email below, because Newfold states that accounts that are in active status are not eligible for erasure.
In general , the California Privacy Act is intended to ensure that data involving California customers not be misused in any way, shape, or form.
It is not meant to deprive Californians of access to the same products and services that other Americans freely exercise.
I continue to stand as a whistleblower of the FBI's falsified law enforcement reporting, and this is my active and ongoing choice, as well as my priority. As such, I need to ensure that knowingly false and defamatory information wielded by the FBI and its affiliates, as well as information involving unwarranted privacy violations by the FBI and its affiliates, not be missed by the FBI or its affiliates in an attempt to discredit me.
What can I do to ensure that the domain names I possess through Newfold do not open the door to FBI abuses in this regard?
Can you please provide me with options which will protect me from the misuse and dissemination of material wielded by the FBI and its affiliates?
Is there a way in which my accounts can be designated as currently inactive, while still allowing me to retain my domain names? (I own the domain name associated with my legal name, lanemacwilliams.com, for example, which I would like to retain.). While I am happy to delete the domain names I possess under Domain.com, the domain names I own under Register.com include my legal name and the titles of published novels, which it would be best for me to retain.
Please assist me in assessing the choices available to me at this time.
Please be apprised that a copy of this communication will be shared with the Office of the Inspector General Hotline of the U.S. Department of Justice, due to the fact that this Office is currently investigating the FBI's perpetration of falsified law enforcement reporting for anti-democratic objectives.
Please understand that this communication does not constitute a complaint, but rather a polite request for assistance from the management of Newfold Digital.
Thank you for your support in this matter.
Lane MacWilliams
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