The December “scandal” of the Clark County Chamber of Commerce has re-surfaced. (Covered in December) The Executive Director of Q-Center, Barbara McCullough recently attended a business mixer in Vancouver in which Izad Khormaee (Director of Chamber of Commerce-WA) was a guest speaker. McCullough publicly spoke about her account.
Someone ( Khormaee explains) hacked into their website and through an administrative breach , was able to send a message to 1,400 member emails. The Chamber has tried to trace the IP address but only discovered the hacker(s) was skilled at their task. They used what is called an “onion routing” service. Basically, just like the layers of an onion, the IP address of the originating email was masked in a shell game. By running through an “onion routing” service which happens to be popular via the Netherlands because they lack the strict internet controls found in the US and other parts of the world, the hacker(s) were able to cloak their location.” She stated on the Q-Center’s website.
“The Clark County Chamber of Commerce acted swiftly to affirm they did not send the offending email nor do they in any way support the message that was delivered. Izad and his team should be applauded for pursuing resolution in partnership with locally businesses, elected officials, legal entities and most importantly to sit face-to-face with LGBTQ business owners and answer our questions openly and honestly. I found that quite refreshing. This situation illuminated for many the need to continue changing hearts and minds toward LGBTQ people.
McCullough followed, explaining why this was a good experience.
For those of our readers who are not familiar with this story, the emails below are the original emails that were sent out from Clark Co.
From: Clark County Chamber of Commerce
Date: Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 7:25 PM
Subject: Member Update
To: (Name removed at recipients request)
Dear (Name removed at recipients request)
In order to help maintain the integrity of our website, we ask that all members refrain from posting any listings that reference or involve the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community. We feel that that these businesses and listings have no place in Clark County.
From: Clark County Chamber of Commerce
Date: Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 7:30 PM
Subject: Member Update
To: (Name removed at recipients request)
Dear (Name removed at recipients request)
In order to ensure the integrity of our website, we ask that all members refrain from listing any businesses that reference or involve the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community. We feel the website would be better if such immoral businesses stayed out.
From: Clark County Chamber of Commerce
Date: Wed, Dec 21, 2011 at 8:21 PM
Subject: Member Update – correction
To: (Name removed at recipients request)
Dear (Name removed at recipients request)
Our apologies, please disregard the earlier email and it was send to general membership in error.
Happy holidays,
Clark County Chamber of Commerce
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