Lily Allen Said To Be Suing Apple Over Her Hacked Laptop... But Details Are Scarce And Hazy

from the huh? dept

Wed, Sep 22nd 2010 2:29pm — Mike Masnick

Reader technofear was the first of a few of you to send over variations on the story that Lily Allen is allegedly suing Apple to force the company to help her figure out who hacked into her laptop. At least that's about all I can figure out from the various press reports. I've read about a dozen at this point, and all of them are incredibly vague. There's a hacked laptop. There's a request to Apple, which was refused, and then there was a "lawsuit." While I'm not sure how UK law works on this topic, if it were in the US, it sounds more like a situation where she's seeking someone's IP address, and is filing for a subpoena (or something like it) to compel Apple to reveal certain information which may identify who was involved. That's not quite "suing Apple," but again, the details are vague. It's also not clear what "hacked her laptop" means... or why Apple would have the details. Is there anyone out there who has actual details beyond the absolutely awful press reports?

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Filed Under: hacking, lawsuit, lily allen
Companies: apple

34 Comments

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Dark Helmet (profile), 22 Sep 2010 @ 2:28pm

Obviously...
...someone hacked her computer and posted infringing mixtapes to her blog, over which she was basically villified by the entire interwebz filled with people who just want everything for free and infringe on everything because they're dirty smelly raporists.

Who did the hacking? I'm pretty sure it was Mike Masnick's army of hackers, also known as MMAH, which, ironically, when pronounced phoenetically is the same half-retarded noise I make as my brain goes limp when listening to anything Lily has to say.

....this means something, I'm sure of it. I just can't figure out what the hell it is....
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- A Dan (profile), 22 Sep 2010 @ 2:35pm
  
  Re: Obviously...
  "Mike Masnick's army of hackers, also known as MMAH"
  
  Does that make anyone else think of Harry Potter?
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  - Dark Helmet (profile), 22 Sep 2010 @ 2:37pm
    
    Re: Re: Obviously...
    "Does that make anyone else think of Harry Potter?"
    
    But without any gingers....
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    - Anonymous Coward, 22 Sep 2010 @ 3:06pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Obviously...
      How do you know there aren't gingers?
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- Anonymous Coward, 22 Sep 2010 @ 3:16pm
  
  Re: Obviously...
  Having noticed your name in just about every comment thread on this site that I've ever read, I decided to click on your profile to see what the deal was. You've commented on this site over 3,000 times? Seriously?
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Dark Helmet (profile), 22 Sep 2010 @ 3:25pm
    
    Re: Re: Obviously...
    I'm a comment bot.
    
    ...just keeping the thread going...
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    - Hephaestus (profile), 22 Sep 2010 @ 4:51pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: Obviously...
      Dude you got me beat by 1000 comments. I really have to comment more ...
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      - Dark Helmet (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 5:31am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Obviously...
        It's easier for me, because I'm a comment bot, not a real person.
        
        You are....only human....
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        abc gum, 23 Sep 2010 @ 5:41am
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Obviously...
        The Comment is strong with this one.
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  - jsf (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 7:02am
    
    Re: Re: Obviously...
    Compared to a number of places I frequent online only 3000 posts would be considered a slacker. And yes I am a slacker on all those sites. ;-)
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- Brian (profile), 22 Sep 2010 @ 7:49pm
  
  Re: Obviously...
  Well obviously we have us a hacker in the interwebz!
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angal2, 22 Sep 2010 @ 2:52pm

I can't help but wonder why the original article felt the need to mention that she's pregnant.

Unless...the baby is a super-genius and figured out how to hack Lily's computer from inside the womb.

Case closed.
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- Dark Helmet (profile), 22 Sep 2010 @ 2:55pm
  
  Re:
  Lily's child is probably capable of a great many things, but being a super genius, not so much.
  
  ....also, understanding the internet, not so much....
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- Anonymous Coward, 22 Sep 2010 @ 2:58pm
  
  Re:
  Maybe because otherwise nobody would notice because of her size.
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trilobug, 22 Sep 2010 @ 3:02pm

Screw b-days I'm getting old.
I think Lily Tomlin is awesome...oh wait, who the fuck is this?
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crade (profile), 22 Sep 2010 @ 3:27pm

Probably that is all the information that anyone has. Lily claims her laptop is hacked, has no evidence, probably tried to go to the police with nothing but empty accusations, then called apple and wanted their tech support to magically unhack it, or pull evidence out of their magic hat to help her catch the perpetrator or the alledged hack, and got pissed when they told her she was off her rocker.

By the way, am I supposed to know who the hell this is?
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- crade (profile), 22 Sep 2010 @ 3:29pm
  
  Re:
  Wait wait, that must be Tim Allen's wife right?
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- interval (profile), 22 Sep 2010 @ 4:21pm
  
  Re:
  "By the way, am I supposed to know who the hell this is?"
  
  That's what I'm talkin' about.
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  - interval (profile), 22 Sep 2010 @ 4:31pm
    
    Re: Re:
    UK Pop Singer. Interesting suit considering she could actually hire a consultant or two to get her the same information Apple could provide. I guess she wanted Apple to provide her with free IT consulting. I don't particularly care to line up with Apple on anything, but in this case were I Apple I'd probably have told her the same thing. Do people like her have any idea how the real world works?
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- Marcel de Jong (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 3:58am
  
  Re:
  Might she have been affected by the Twitter bug? And assumed she was the only one?
  
  Allen seems very computer illiterate to me. So I wouldn't be at all surprised if it turns out she opened an email attachment of one of those "funny" emails, that happened to have a payload for the Mac in it.
  
  And now she claims that she's been hacked, and wants Apple to sort it all out, because, you know, Apple knows everything that happens to any Apple computer. Steve Jobs has a special Lily Allen screen that shows him what's going on with her Mac.
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hmmm, 22 Sep 2010 @ 3:34pm

Actually her laptop WAS hacked..you want proof? just listen to one of her songs..there is NO WAY IN HELL, anyone with an IQ even in double figures would release such mindless, pointless drivel to the publi....oh wait nm....
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Ben, 22 Sep 2010 @ 3:44pm

Who the hell is Lilly Allen?
And why would anybody care about her psychotic spasms?
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Sep 2010 @ 3:51pm

what?
Why even post a story about something you don't have full grasp on?

/get off my rss feed.
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- crade (profile), 22 Sep 2010 @ 4:00pm
  
  Re: what?
  Why not? It's fun. Otherwise I wouldn't get to imagine how Lily's adventure with Apple went.
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- Mike Masnick (profile), 22 Sep 2010 @ 4:46pm
  
  Re: what?
  Why even post a story about something you don't have full grasp on?
  
  Er. Many reasons.
  
  (1) This is a discussion site, and as I've said countless times, I post about what's out there in order to kick off a discussion and learn more. It's quite common for me to ask folks if they know more. I've probably done it half a dozen times this week.
  
  (2) This story is being reported widely (Google News shows hundreds of stories) and all of the reporting seems confused. And they all reported it without having much of a grasp on the subject. At least I pointed out where it doesn't make sense and asked for people to fill in the blanks. The rest of the press just pretended they knew what was going on when they clearly did not.
  
  /get off my rss feed.
  
  Your choice, but if me asking questions makes you dump the RSS feed, well, good luck to you.
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ChurchHatesTucker (profile), 22 Sep 2010 @ 4:27pm

It's simple
Her computer was saving copies of all her stuff without getting her explicit permission.
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Rufus Boy, 22 Sep 2010 @ 5:23pm

By By Lily Allan
This is soooooo funny. She clearly thinks she is "rich" and Apple will be intimidated. HA! What a joke. How much money is cash does Apple have these days? $52 Billion was it? No only will their team of high priced lawyers destroy her in court, they will counter sue, on the grounds that her making these claims, and the claims being reported all over the news services, is slander against Apple, and will create the impression in peoples minds that Apple is selling a product that: 1. Is easily hacked. and 2. Apple is unwilling to provide any assistance to people. When Apple is finished with he, she'll be living in a caravan!!! HA!
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- Hephaestus (profile), 22 Sep 2010 @ 5:52pm
  
  Re: By By Lily Allan
  "When Apple is finished with he, she'll be living in a caravan!!! HA!"
  
  I say we add insult to injury. We should send her a refrigerator box, a mail box with her name on it, a map to a park in the UK, and forward her mail to that park address.
  
  Big Ole Grin...
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Anonymous Coward, 22 Sep 2010 @ 7:46pm

Lily Allen the dumbest person you ever known!
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Karl (profile), 22 Sep 2010 @ 11:13pm

The Sun?
It appears that every single story on this subject is using this article in The Sun as their only source.

That article's total length is a mere four sentences.

And the last of those sentences was just the typical, snarky comment that British tabloids use as a "punch line" to the story.

So this is kind of like saying UFO's are real, because the Weekly World News said so.
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- PaulT (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 4:55am
  
  Re: The Sun?
  Yeah, I came here to say this. When the article linked starts "According to The Sun", you really should accept that facts will be thin on the ground...
  
  For Americans, this is a newspaper that made its name with page 3 girls (topless girls, usually close to the age of consent in the same issues where they attack paedophiles) and bingo games. Think the New York Post with more boobs (and yes, it's also a Murdoch product).
  
  Journalism is not what you'll find there, although it's not quite as shamelessly tacky as the Daily Star or the Sunday Sport.
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abc gum, 23 Sep 2010 @ 5:45am

Some kids will do anything for attention.
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Anonymous Coward, 23 Sep 2010 @ 7:27am

UPDATE!
I found a very insightful source... http://perezhilton.com/2010-09-20-lily_allen_suing_apple_to_catch_hacker
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- Tom Landry (profile), 23 Sep 2010 @ 4:11pm
  
  Re: UPDATE!
  Perez Hilton is due for another fist to the face.
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