Bad email from Panasonic :(

So I'm sad to say that I've removed ALL of the manuals and other information that is "Panasonic Sensitive" because I got the below email: Other information is still their, but I have removed the manuals as I don't wanna pick a fight with Panasonic!




Mr. Baldyga:



As the publisher of robsworks.com you have published extensive confidential internal information regarding Panasonic Toughbook Laptop computers. It is imperative that you contact me regarding this, as soon as possible-today! I would much prefer to speak with you directly before I pass your information to Federal Law Enforcement.



I can be reached at any of the numbers below, and I am in my office till 6pm. I hope I hear from you today.





James D. McKay
Group Manager, Corporate Security
Risk and Information Security Management
PNA Governance, Risk and Compliance Dept.


Panasonic Corporation of North America
Two Panasonic Way, Panazip 7i2
Secaucus, NJ 07094
Work - NUMBER LEFT BLANK INTENTIONALLY
Fax – NUMBER LEFT BLANK INTENTIONALLY
Mobile - NUMBER LEFT BLANK INTENTIONALLY
EMAIL LEFT BLANK INTENTIONALLY
Please consider the environment before printing this e-mail

 

just talk to them that you didn't intentionally publish confidential information. good luck with the case

 

Too bad...

I would still give the guy a call even after taking down the info. Be polite, and repentant.

Hopefully it will go no further, and prob. won't.

They probably cruise the net looking for this kind of thing on a regular basis.

Good luck.

 

Sorry to hear that Rob. It is a shame that you can't do that kind of stuff these days. All you were doing is trying to help the ToughBook crowd that hangs out here. I know you simply meant no harm, and am confident that the gentleman that contacted you will understand.

Let us know if you need bail money

 

Ahh that sucks. I wonder why it is sensitive material if they are just service manuals.

I guess they do not want us fixing are own toughbooks. What a shame.

That was all very useful information.

-James

 

Im sure if you take it down it wont go any further. They arent going to be interested in spending the money for their legal department and cout fees and the payroll to process the case unless you are a total idiot about it and continue to be a problem. The email is a scare tactic to gain a simple cost effective solution to the problem, your removal of the material. I think its a shame though that they are so worried about it, every time I've contacted them they arent very helpful with the older toughbook stuff so how are we really supposed to get repairs. Anyways thanks for trying for the community and Im sure this still will still be available person to person, just not publically posted.

 

Rob


Wow, that’s not a good email.

You have done the right thing however by removing the info on your site
I believe they were concerned about service manuals
Everything else is easily avail from Panasonic

Looks to me like they are concerned about a potential lost sales in their service centers
And are working to sensor you

Because of your shameful actions , you must now repent
From now on when you post on the forum
You will strongly recommend that the person seeking advice on how to fix a problem with their toughbook send it in immediately to the authorized panasonic service center


Alex

 

****UPDATE**** I got a call on my cell 12:47PM today (I gave the guy my number). I explained to him that I didn't want any problems, and that I wasn't selling any of the information, which I WASN'T! And have no desire to do so... I told him that. He asked me where I got it from and I told him bit torrent... WHICH IS THE TRUTH, He's trying to track down where it came from, which I TRUTHFULLY DON'T KNOW! He told me that the whole entire file structure was that of Heartland's technicians and I told him that I was familiar with that company as I have ordered stuff from them before, but that's it... But I didn't get this info from heartland, and I told him that... I also told him to not hesitate to contact me again if their are any more issues.

I don't want to do any harm to anyone, and only wanted to put that info out their to help others SINCE PANASONIC DOESN'T HELP ANYONE, as well as the fact that I wasn't selling the stuff!!! The guy said if it were a few service manuals then that would be fine, but not the way I had it... O well.

Thanks guys for the support. Hopefully I won't need bail money lol as I don't intend on going to jail, as I don't intend to pick a fight with Panasonic.

On the side note, he also told me that the Vice President of Operations, and The president of Matsush!ta (stupid spell checker) Electric Industrial Co., Ltd was involved with this... O MAN, WHAT HAVE I DONE!! I COME IN PEACE!!! He also said that if the file structure wouldn't have been like that of Heartland, and it was only an occasional onesey, twosey manuals that that wouldn't have triggered a response like this.

I also told him I was just trying to help everyone with Toughbooks and explained to him that I myself carry around a $5000 Toughbook and explained to him that I only want to spread the word that Toughbooks are the only computers that I would ever use (and have used for the last 6+ years) and would never use anything else. He said that he would be sure to tell the Vice President and the others that are higher up than him.

 

I think they're getting MORE sales because we're the ones trying to buy parts to hack!!

Rob, you should ask them specifically WHAT material is "confidential" instead of just labelling the entire site. I've done that previously and it turned out only to be a few documents containing phone numbers and such - and the agreement was that the document stays up, but phone numbers and such are removed, and future postings of those phone numbers would be removed as well. Then everybody was happy.

The letter is a scare tactic because they want the upper hand. You need to show them you're firm, but willing to work with them to resolve the problem.

Edit: and because you've already told them that you're helping hobbyists with their projects, you should also ask Panasonic what alternative avenues there are to acquire such material that are for educational use, not profit.

 

My employee at my old company today made a good point too... The service manuals not so much, its the SCHEMATICS that they are concerned about because that has the layout as to HOW TO MAKE the motherboards and such... I think thats probably what they are worried about. I might call him and ask if it's okay to put some of the other things back on, but like you said, blur out the phone numbers or w/e...

The other thing too (which I told this guy) was that I've had this info on my site FOR A LONG TIME (3+ months)... and I have... so why now?

 

****.. shoulda gone to your site! what all did you have up there? i know this couldn't be about the service manuals (w/ schematics), that horse left the gate a LONG time ago

 

Thats all it was... really!! And I removed em as soon as I got the email and the guy confirmed that I was fine on the phone, so they were most def hovering over my site

 

They still haven't sent me any emails about my file hosting. So either they ignored my very neglected file list, or my email is broken.

But considering that I've had a CF-28 service manual over a year ago now... I think they are very late in the game of stopping the manuals from circulating.

 

Now that they have targeted you they will be watching you closely. If you really want to continue hosting any other Panasonic content you may want to get their consent in writting that way they can't come after you later and deny they gave permission. Technically all drivers, software and manuals are copyrighted and they would be legally correct to come after you for any such material being on your website.

Good luck-

 

Just clean it up.



ohlip

 

Nuff said...bottom line

 

Or, you could tell him to stick it where the sun does not shine. It would appear that his e-mail constitutes harassment by communication. If the data was copyrighted, at most you would receive from the FTC a cease and desist order. Check and see if the data has a copyrite, if not, he is way out of line. Speaking as a member of law enforcement, I really hate it when someone approaches me and says that they have been told that I was going to arrest them if they did not do (here, you can fill in the blank.) I see this as heavy handed crap with no real reason other than trying to justify their job. I am going to pass the word around to other law enforcement about this issue. This fool just cost Panasonic money.

 

Why don't you invite him to join the forum. Maybe he can help us all in hosting the schemtic diagram of cf-19 and cf-30 coz thats the only series of toughbook that I don't have an schematic with the exemption of semi-rugged and the very old one.



ohlip

 

Shoot Ohlip, I have the SM for the CF-30. Give me a little bit and I will post it for you.

 

I have the schematics too... want em? lol

 

Rob,
This doesn't smell right to me. You are not selling the information. Even if the material is copyrighted, and you can be sure that it is, you may share any copyrighted material you have with anybody you want as long as you don't charge for it. You are not reproducing it, you are just sharing it like libraries do with millions of copyrighted books every day. I'm not suggesting you get into a pi**ing contest with Panasonic, they can bury you with lawyers, the fat cats always win.
If you fools from Matsu****a are reading this, thanks for beating up on a bunch of enthusiasts who don't have deep enough pockets, except through our governments, to buy big lots of your product. If you look around, you will see that most of us start with cheap 2nd and 3rd hand stuff from eBay. You might also notice a lot of us have moved up to new stuff, I now own three separate units which are under warranty. We have been your most enthusiastic supporters, and now that you seem to be interested in sales to the public, an assumption I reach from your television ads, you might not want to pi**us off! I'm asked several times a week about my CF-30 by engineers and others in the marine industry. These people make buying decisions that might get your attention. Would you rather have me talking up your products or telling anyone who will listen what jerks you are. Based on my experience with your computers, I always advise anyone who asks me about flat screen TVs to look into Panasonic. I'll be rethinking that.
CAP feeling grouchy.

 

This incident reminds me of an issue we talked about on the forum a few months ago.
That time an ebay seller used toughbook’s pictures on a caddy swap guide that was posted here and used it in his listing.
I think at that time we all got a chuckle out of his laziness


The Panasonic guy is just doing his job requesting that Panasonics service manuals are not readily available.
I don’t think any of us here are going to put Panasonic service centers out of business by having that info
We use that info in our love of modding the toughbook.
But I suppose that the same info available to a non Panasonic approved service center could cut into Panasonics business

As I said before you did the right thing in taking out the manuals



Alex

 

w00t w00t to this!! that was funny... ANYWAYS... *cough* you know who has the manuals *cough*

 

Hmmmmmm... This fits into the whole, "Panasonic is trying to take over the whole world" conspiracy theory that I have been putting together for the past few months... Only kidding

I've edited my post here as to not stir up a hornet's nest... I am sure that Panasonic was doing this to protect themselves and their suppliers/retailers.

I didn't see the site in question... But as we all know... The stuff we need is always available on the Internet. It's a big, big place out there... But a small, small world if you know what I mean.

 

Well, for me, from now on, when anyone asks me about my TB-30, I will tell them that Dell makes one just as nice for less money.
By the way, is that why I have not seen tbtech posting. He was extremely helpful and I thought guys like him where what Panasonic was all about. I guess not and that is really too bad.

 

Toughbook

The modems are listed in the pricing guide, and it is stated there that

( ***MUST BE APPROVED TO INSTALL***)

You just need someone to approve you

I have been very impressed with the quality of your work on the toughbooks that you sell, and with the toughbooks modded by ohlip

So anyway

I Approve Toughbook and ohlip to install modems

When your talking to that girl again, you can state to her that you are APPROVED:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

Alex

 

Hey, just caught this thread. You know, nothing like a multi-chapter PDF file anonymously circulated around the internet and mirror from countries who do not comply with cease and desist orders.

 

Rick and Rob,
Now I'm really getting aggravated! If Panasonic/Heartland have really pulled the plug on parts sales to legitimate first purchasers of their products, I think they are breaking the law. These people have projected sales this year of $95 Billion. I don't know what your sales were this year, but any suggestion that you should be on their radar as a competitor is absurd.
"Group Manager, Corporate Security
Risk and Information Security Management
PNA Governance, Risk and Compliance Dept."
This guy probably hangs around Seacaucus with a Sig in a shoulder holster looking for spies. There was nothing on Rob's site that any serious competitor of Panasonic couldn't get on the web in a few minutes. Anything not on Rob's site could be reverse engineered by a competent R&D department without breaking a sweat. I think we have an over active keystone cop trying to look good. Much worse, we have a huge corporation leaping into action to discourage a group of ENTHUSIASTS who love their product.
I suppose most of us have seen the BMW ad where they point out that its not their fault the Three Series has a cult following who modify their product in myriad ways. They don't seem to mind that most of the cars and the after market parts netted them not one cent in direct sales. Imagine the big three in Detroit trying to suppress NASCAR in its early days! I'm not suggesting we're at that level, but we do put a good face on the brand, we do, in some small way, increase the resale value of their product, we do consume parts. If you're surprised that the big shots in the US auto industry flew their tin cups to Washington in corporate jets, don't be.
CAP, no longer grouchy, now aggravated!

 

Calm down... Calm down... It sounded like the main problem was that something on the site was stated exactly like Heartland did on their webste... Or maybe some internal document or something like that... I'm waiting for clarification on that one.

As far as part sales... I know they won't sell us modems anymore... I'm sure they will sell us the little stuff to keep the machines going. Either that or buy the parts used.

I'm still not sure exactly what to think or feel about this... I guess it will depend on my next parts order, how it is taken, what is declined and what else happens.... I'll keep everyone posted... Though it may be a while before I order again.

 

Capt... I feel your pain believe me. But I think the more we talk about it the worse it will get. Not to sound like an alarmist but I am sure that some out there are watching this, what is said and how we react to it. Let's just let it go for now and see what happens.

The members of this site are some of the nicest and knowledgeable people that I have ever met. I am sure that between us all that not only can we solve any problem but we could also most likely come up with just about any part needed.

I am very glad that there are regular contributors to this forum. When I got here back in May of 2007 there were few posts about Toughbooks. Since the Toughbook modding craze started, this place has grown significantly and we have attracted A LOT of talented people. I appreciate the people who not only pitch in to help others with their problems but also post new-found hacks and mods... Let's just keep our eye on THAT ball.

I'd like to close this thread. I don't see any good coming from us talking this one to death. If anyone has any issues about that please PM me.