[next] [prev] [up] Date: Thu, 07 Dec 95 02:44:49 -0500
[next] [prev] [up] From: Alan Bawden <Cube-Lovers-Request@ai.mit.edu >
~~~ [prev] [up] Subject: Magazine Spam

So I thought it was time to send you all an update on unwanted magazine
advertisements that have been broadcast over Cube-Lovers about once a week
for the last few months. Here's the final story.

First off, there is absolutely -nothing- that I can do IN THE SHORT TERM to
stop these advertisements. Internet electronic mail was not designed to
prevent unwanted advertising. As things are set up now, Cube-Lovers is a
simple mailing list, so anybody, anywhere, can send mail to Cube-Lovers and
you all get it.

It turns out that the source of the advertising we've been getting is a
fellow named Kevin Jay Lipsitz <krazykev@kjl.com>. I've written directly
to Mr. Lipsitz politely asking him to remove Cube-Lovers from his list of
advertising targets (it was hard to be polite, but I was) -- but Mr.
Lipsitz apparently doesn't answer his electronic mail. Actually, I doubt
he even -reads- his electronic mail, because he is a well-known Spammer,
and probably gets hundreds of complaints a day delivered to his address.
(For those of you new to the Internet, "Spamming" is the technical term for
the kind of advertising Mr. Lipsitz engages in.)

I really doubt that Mr. Lipsitz's technique has sold any magazines to any
of -you-, but I suppose he gets enough suckers to make it pay, and he's got
no motivation to bother removing Cube-Lovers, since MIT is paying for the
resources that he's using to reach you all. So we're stuck with him. At
least we're stuck with him until I can get the filtering technology in
place to cut him off. Which I wanted to avoid, because I have better
things to do with my time, but now I have no choice. So relief from Mr.
Lipsitz's magazines is on its way eventually, but probably not until
you've seen several more copies of his advertisement -- sorry.

By the way, here's more information on Mr. Lipsitz. You'll notice that he
has his own domain name: KJL.COM. They don't give you a domain name unless
you provide a mailing address and a phone number, so the following
information is publicly available from the NIC:

Kevin Jay Lipsitz (KJL-DOM)
   PO Box 120990
   Staten Island NY  10312-0990

>Domain Name: KJL.COM

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Lipsitz, Kevin Jay (KJL2) krazykev@KJL.COM
718-967-1234

Record last updated on 25-Aug-95.
Record created on 20-Apr-95.

Domain servers in listed order:

NS1.ABS.NET                  206.42.80.130
NS2.ABS.NET                  206.42.80.131
NS1.NET99.NET                204.157.3.2

If you want proof that this is the guy, you need only note that the address
given here is the -same- as the address for ordering magazines given in all
those advertisements. The phone number is in the same area code and
exchange as the Fax number he sometimes gives. (Although the fact that the
phone number ends in "1234" makes me suspect it is bogus -- I don't think
think the NIC tries to -verify- any of this information.) Notice that
ABS.NET provides the domain service for KJL.COM. You will find that
ABS.NET is no more interested in answering your mail than Mr. Lipsitz is.

Finally, I urge you all -not- to respond to this message in public. If you
have further thoughts on Internet advertising, electronic mailing list
administration, or clever acts of revenge, you can send them to -me-, but
don't CC your message to Cube-Lovers as a whole. The whole point here is
to keep Cube-Lovers relatively free of off-topic mail. As the list
administrator I get to send out occasional administrivia such as this
message because I do actual -work- to keep the list running.

- Alan (Cube-Lovers-Request@AI.MIT.EDU)


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