We discovered last week that Dario Betti is sending private emails to TADSummit and TADHack sponsors. Claiming I am lying about the MEF. Everything I’ve posted is backed by public documents and corroborated by leading messaging experts. It’s all public and verified / corroborated, it’s the truth, unlike Dario’s private email.
This post ‘MEF: A case study in one lie leads to another‘ explains what is happening. Is Puja lying about her treatment by MEF? Are leaders in the industry, Robert Vis, Kevin Graham, Daniel Gill lying? Are all the documents I quote falsified? The answer is a resounding NO! I remain shocked MEF sponsors can tolerate such cognitive dissonance.
But back to the podcast. Johnny opens with his Don Dario impersonation, that I’m doing the wrong things by posting on the reality of the industry, and naming names.
If a CPaaS company is stealing from its customers, to not name them condones customer theft. AIT (Artificially Inflated Traffic) must be stopped. 1000%+ price rises through creating a monopoly is wrong. Urgent change is required to bring honesty and integrity back to CPaaS, it was there when I started TADSummit and TADHack, but at present it has severely diminished.
Johnny gave his explanation about why TADSummit is important and has such a large audience. Johnny joined TADSummit because his CEO, Rick Joyce, thought the foreign ownership of TCR (The Campaign Registry), including links to China, was a security risk.
On Rick’s qualifications to raise foreign ownership concerns:
- Rick was the chairman of the telecoms law practice for Venable, Alston & Bird, and Joyce & Jacobs. Highly distinguished telecom law firms.
- Rick is the former chief counsel for the US Coast Guard, and has the highest security clearance.
- Rick is uniquely qualified to understand the risks of foreign ownership.
Rick did not give a xenophobic dog whistle, as claimed by Eric from Commsrisk and Latham Watkins. Rick warned America about what became its largest hack of the PSTN, 18 months before it happened.
Johnny shared from Stephan Heller (VP BD, TCR), through a mutual friend, that the TCR sale fell through. Likely because of issues of TCR’s uncertain role in RCS.
Johnny highlights the current investigations into companies operating in the US with links to China. The FBI and CISA (Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency) are urging American to use secure end to end communications like Signal or WhatsApp. Communications in the US are a mess, most people are ignoring the advice, except quite a few lawmakers.
We then broke down Dario’s Misogyny claim.
Reviewing the facts:
1) Puja was invited to a MEF panel.
2) Eric Troutman (a partner at her law firm) reviewed public FCC filings from Latham Watkins and also Rick Joyce. This is part of Eric’s job, and his review is good.
3) At short notice the MEF panel was cancelled without explanation. Normal business practice would be a call immediately from Dario to Puja, apologizing profusely, and to offer another panel or presentation slot.
4) Puja was angered at her treatment by Dario and organized a protest. Well done Puja for standing up for herself.
5) Dario is recorded on video at the protest lying, saying Puja was too busy to attend.
All these facts are presented on the TCPA World blog.
Key Points:
- Troutman Amin are a well-respected and highly influential law firm, they’ve published extensively on this incident. There is no excuse for MEF sponsors to not know the details.
- Some people have dismissed Puja’s protest because they think it is staged. Your opinion of the protest does not matter. Puja organized a protest because of how Dario dismissively treated her, and worse lied about why she was not there. Please respect Puja, she is telling the truth.
- I was not involved in this incident. I link to the TCPA World posts, as we should all support Puja, given her terrible treatment by Dario.
We then move onto the hit piece by Eric from Commsrisk on Rick Joyce’s post The Campaign Registry and Foreign Ownership: A Matter of National Security. Please see Rick’s qualifications above on why he is uniquely qualified to understand the risks of foreign ownership. Eric was wrong, the claim of a xenophobic dog whistle stands in isolation to his prior work.
This year Eric Priezkalns received funding for Commsrisk from the MEF, and a directorship for anti-fraud and integrity.
That directorship ended a couple of weeks ago in disagreement:
- On Eric’s Twitter account he posted that he is still paid by MEF, but nothing on Commsrisk is endorsed by MEF.
- As mentioned previously as director of integrity for MEF, Eric made a post about the bodily fluids and an ex-president of the US.
- On Eric’s exit from MEF he told Dario on Linkedin to F#@& Off.
All this behaviour demonstrates an organization teetering from gross over-reach (accusing Rick Joyce of a xenophobic dog whistle is wrong) and poor leadership.
Johnny apologizes to James Williams and to the MEF employees, after Kevin Graham had a word with him 😉
Johnny then gets into a full rant, it’s fun, and most importantly true.
Dario contacted one of the TADSummit / TADHack sponsors, and a person who liked TADSummit posts could potentially lose his job based on Dario’s lies.
Urgent action is required.
