Apparently Paul Vixie sent mail to a mailing list of RBL subscribers and
interested 3rd parties, is seriously considering blackholing NSI for
spamming its customer base.
I don't want to get into whether the RBL is a good or bad thing. I've
used and recommended it in the past, and I understand Paul's position
on UCE.
However, given how NSI manages its registry, and given the number of
systems subscribed to the RBL, this would have an...interesting impact
on NSI's ability to continue to do business.
(I apologize for the formatting. The copy I saw was all one huge
run-on line.)
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 1999 16:02:14 -0700
From: Paul A Vixie
Subject: possible RBL event coming up involving NSI
-------
Blind-Carbon-Copy To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: possible RBL event coming up involving NSI
Date: Fri, 30 Jul 1999 16:02:14 -0700
From: Paul A Vixie
You are receiving this because you are either an interested outsider,
or a staff member or volunteer, or a customer of M.A.P.S., LLC. Note
our new domain name, mail-abuse.org. (The old maps.vix.com domain name
gave some the false impression that MAPS was not a separate company.)
Today we received the letter below from NSI in response to our
repeated attempts to get them to stop sending unsolicited bulk
commercial e-mail to all domain holders. In this letter, NSI implies
that they will sue us for damages and incite entities like Amazon.com
to do likewise if we decide to blackhole them, and then go on to say
that they have no intention of stopping the current business practice
of these which caused our complaints. They are pretty much daring us
to blackhole them. The board of MAPS, LLC will make its final
determination in the next few days, and if we do decide to blackhole
NSI it's going to get ugly. As an interested party, we want you all to
know what's happening.
================================= July 30, 1999
VIA FIRST CLASS AND ELECTRONIC MAIL
Nick Nicholas, Executive Director
Mail Abuse Prevention System, LLC
950 Charter Street Redwood City, CA 94063
Re: Nomination of NSI for Black List
Dear Mr. Nicholas:
Thank you for the opportunity to respond to your email to me dated
July 16, 1999, regarding the Realtime Blackhole List ("Black List")
managed by the Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC. Enclosed is a copy of
a letter I sent today to Mr. James Wagner, President of Hypertouch,
Inc., the complainant who apparently prompted your July 16 email to
me. Network Solutions has removed Mr. Wagner's name from its mailing
list. As noted in the letter, Mr. Wagner could have avoided receiving
the subject email in the first place had he simply followed the
mailing list removal procedure specified in an email transmitted to
him on March 30, 1999. There can be no doubt that Network Solutions
has an existing business relationship with the administrative,
technical and billing contacts for a given domain name registered with
Network Solutions. These people are the principal points of contact
through which Network Solutions transacts business with its
customers. They have been so designated by our customers in their
domain name registration agreements with Network Solutions. These are
precisely the types of relationships that the California legislature
wanted to shield from the restrictions contained in its unsolicited
email statutes. Indeed, the statute's protection of communications
between persons involved in existing business relationships reflects
the state's determination that such communications are not "spam," but
rather vital catalysts to free and open commerce. We are aware of no
law that prohibits companies from communicating with their own
customers. We respectfully suggest that MAPS and any other person
involved in the compilation and dissemination of the Black List adopt
a definition of spam that is consistent with the principles recognized
by California. Any more expansive definition is overly broad and may
unreasonably restrain trade. Indeed, it is apparent that Mr. Wagner's
principal concern about Network Solutions' emails is the competitive
threat they represent to his company's ISP business. Those emails
reference Internet companies that are competitors of Mr. Wagner's
company, Hypertouch, Inc. It appears Hypertouch, Inc. hopes to shelter
itself from such competition by combining with those who control the
Black List and its technology to restrain such competition. If
inclusion on the Black List will effectively block Network Solutions
from contacting 40% of the Internet, as you claimed in your email of
July 29, 1999, MAPS's actions would have severe and irreparable
consequences on the company's relationship with its customers.
Network Solutions has over 5,000,000 customers. Consequently, if you
place Network Solutions on the Black List, 2,000,000 (40%) of its own
customers presumably would be unable to receive important information
from Network Solutions, including invoices and deactivation notices,
possibly leading to the revocation of their domain name
registrations. You should be prepared to accept the consequences of
your actions should a company such as Amazon.com lose its domain name,
and thus its e-commerce business, as a result of having its notices
and invoices intercepted and destroyed. It is difficult to believe
that MAPS would be willing to take such drastic actions based on the
self-serving complaint of Mr. Wagner. Indeed, MAPS's overly expansive
definition of spam exposes MAPS and those who own or control the Black
List to, inter alia, civil claims of: (1) illegal combination in
restraint of trade violating Section 1 of the Sherman Act, 15
U.S.C. ?- 1; (2) unfair competition; and (3) intentional interference
with contractual relationships. Network Solutions will not hesitate to
take all actions necessary to protect its rights and ensure that its
channels of communications to its own customers remain open. I hope
that such measures will be unnecessary and that you will opt not to
include the company on the Black List. p Please advise me of your
decision and do not hesitate to contact me if you wish to discuss this
matter further.
Very truly yours,
Jonathan W. Emery
==============
