Nirvanix comment

Prior to the new Unofficial Nirvanix Users blog opening Nirvanix was specifically invited to comment on media reports that it was a Nirvanix employee that deleted millions of users files, but in its reply, did not do so. Today it has emailed alleging the TechCrunch article that reproduced a comment apparently from Charlie Jackson is 'inaccurate and libelous'.

Comments on this blog may refer to these allegations, so please see Nirvanix's response, linking to a longer article on its blog, at:
http://nirvanixusers.blogspot.com/2008/07/nirvanix-comment.html

We are stuffed - message from Nirvanix

I have received the following response from Nirvanix. I think those who suggest this has all been a process designed by Streamload to rid itself of historic customers - many of whom had high data volumes - have a point.

---Message from Nirvanix to Luzo Orbit

Dear Mr Orbit,

theLinkUp (TLU) built their applications using Nirvanix as a back end storage platform, connecting their application to our service through an API. Without the TLU application, and its database which maps users to their files Nirvanix cannot decipher which files belong to each user. The same is true for any application interaction with back end storage and is not unique to TLU.

As has been noted by many TLU users, many cannot either find their files or have found that other TLU files are in their accounts. This isn't a physical storage issue but rather TLU has somehow corrupted their database in the build or deployment of the TLU application. Unfortunately, as we are completely separate companies, Nirvanix has had no control over the build, deployment or management of the TLU application nor will we when it is shut down on August 8th, 2008.

For the benefit of TLU customers, Nirvanix has agreed to extend its data services to TLU, at no cost, so that files that are in TLU system can be retrieved during the period stated on their site. After the TLU application ceases, there will be no way to access the files.
Best Regards,

Jonathan
---message ends


This was the request I sent:

---
From: Luzo Orbit [mailto:luzoorbit@hotmail.co.uk]
Sent: Thursday, July 10, 2008 2:50 PM
To: INFO
Subject: Valuable data held on your servers

Dear Nirvanix,

I understand from John Hood of Mediamax/The Linkup that customer files are stored on your servers.

As The Linkup is shortly to close its service, I ask you to preserve customer files on your servers until such time as customers have been able to download these files.

As you are no doubt aware, The Link Up aimed to transfer files held under the previous Mediamax system, but many files (45%) did not arrive in people’s accounts. They are unable to download these from the Link Up user interface and their only hope of recovering these files is directly from Nirvanix.

This data has value and I hope that Nirvanix will respect this and ensure nothing is destroyed without checking with the owners of the data.

I would be grateful if you could provide a statement and guidance on how people can recover their data for the blogs I maintain for Mediamax and The Linkup users.

Best wishes,

Luzo Orbit.

Nirvanix has our data

John Hood posted a message on yesterday's blog entry: in which he said: "I think the only time we intentionally lied was when we denied being a customer of Nirvanix.... And yes, your files are at Nirvanix. It's now up to them to decide if they want to give you access to MediaMax." (The full message is below).

So they lied.

The Linkup is going offline on the 8 August. We have been told to download files before then. But they will still be on the servers of Nirvanix.

John said that there was a failure rate of 45% in transferring files from Mediamax to The Linkup. The files that have not been transferred are still there on the Nirvanix servers.

Perhaps those servers still have the millions of files that were deleted last year due to operator error.

John said previously: "Nirvanix and Mediamax (parent company of The Linkup) are separate companies that spun out of Streamload. Different investors, different employees, different management. There is no connection."

Well aside from it being a deliberate lie that there is no connection, it strikes me that those who signed up to Streamload have a strong case to require Nirvanix to give them access to their files.

Those that signed up to Mediamax also have a claim, I would imagine because our data is an asset and it surely cannot be held or destroyed by a third party without our permission. The fact that it was entrusted to Nirvanix by Mediamax should not change this fact. Legal advice on this point would be very useful.

It also occurs to me that data protection legislation may help. Under UK legislation you have a right to all data held by a third party in electronic form that relates to you. When I have used this act in the UK, I have been sent copies of materials that refer to me or have been sent to the organisation by me. Would it be possible to use the US Act to require Nirvanix to provide a copy of all data held in our accounts?

I don't have much data on Mediamax - I used it for hosting files for streaming, rather than for archiving or backup. But those with large amounts of data they want back might like to consider getting legal advice on the legal obligations of Nirvanix to return the data. Time is short because possibly they will destroy it after the 8 August deadline proposed by The Linkup expires.

Even without going for an injunction to prevent this, if people write to Nivanix saying they know they have their data and they expect it to be protected and returned it will strengthen the case should it be destroyed. The email address is info@nirvanix.com

We can also try to get fees back from The Linkup. However, someone has posted to a previous blog a message they say was received from John Hood:

---
Thanks for writing. I'm sorry to hear that you haven't been able to access your files. I wish I could give you a refund, but we simply have no money. In fact, the company is several hundred thousands of dollars in debt and will soon be filing for bankruptcy. I thnk you only recourse is to join the company's other creditors in bankruptcy court.

Thanks,

John Hood
Director, Customer Support
The Linkup
---

Here is his message about lying and news that he has left The Linkup:

--- from John Hood
Bash me all you want, but my apology was sincere. I didn't have to do it and I don't work for TLU anymore so I have no ulterior motive. I am not asking for any sympathy. And for the record I've never lied. I simply related what I was told by Engineering. Sometimes they weren't able to live up to their promises but that's true for every tech company. There was nothing nefarious going on. We're guilty of not living up to expectations for the service not of lying. I think the only time we intentionally lied was when we denied being a customer of Nirvanix. That was a Nirvanix demand. But I should also mention here that the companies were entirely separate. I always laughed when I saw Tom Bassett going on about how we were the same company. Not only was that not true, we had a contentious (and that's being polite)relationship with them from Day One.
And yes, your files are at Nirvanix. It's now up to them to decide if they want to give you access to MediaMax.
--- quote ends

John Hood post 9 July

John Hood of Mediamax/The Linkup posted the following message on the last blog entry about the closure of the service:

---quote begins
I just wanted to apologize on behalf of our entire team for the demise of The Linkup. We started this company a year ago to prevent the closing of the Streamload service which was the desire of management after the split of Streamload into MediaMax and Nirvanix. If we hadn't the service would have been gone a long time ago. It started off on a bad note because, due to operator eror, while the company was still Streamload millions or files were deleted. Still we perservered. We built what I think is an excellent product. The problem is not the product but transferring files from MM to The Linkup. There was a 45% failure rate as we tried to upload files to the new product. Therefore we felt it was best to end this situation now. We could have pushed forward but felt that continuing out cry over lossed files would dog us forever. This would hamper sales in the future and prevent us from raising more capital. We didn't feel it was right to resume billing customers considering the massive loss of data. (Yes, PayPal was still sending us money for subscriptions but we stopped directly charging credit cards April 26th)
So as much as we'd like to continue present circumstances prevent it.

Again, my apologies, I wish you success in downloading your files.

Best Regards,

John Hood
---quote ends

It's YOUR fault John Hood disabled comments on the official blog

John Hood of Streamload/Mediamax/The Linkup has posted the following comment to this blog explaining why he disabled comments on the official blog.

I note that NO explanation has been given on the official blog as to why comments were disabled and deleted.

--John hood johnh@thelinkup.com said...

for the record, i turned off comments because it just a constant negative spiral downward. we aren't even advertising for new users so saying that we're trying to avoid scaring them is ridiculous.
the blog was full of bickering between posters and people spreading half truths. to say there a lot of sharing of information is a joke.
to say that there's now no way to share your views is a joke too. i'm going through the names here and a great many of you have my email address and have written me.
another joke and one particularly offensive to me is that you never hear from support. hogwash. we answer 84% of our emails within 24 hours. to say that i drop in and say everything is rosy is also a joke. i gsve accurate information and took alot of abuse in return. i never said anything that wasn't true or sugar coted the facts. finally to say that we're billing people for our service is the biggest joke. we haven't charged anybody in quite some time.
if you guys change your tone and use the blog to make constructive criticism, stop abusing each other and lose the sarcasm i'll turn the blog comments back on.
finally, yes i realize that this migration has been difficult. i can't believe anyone thinks we're doing this on purpose. we're doing the best we can.

---

So there you go people. 'Change your tone'. Mr. Hood has spoken.