--On Wednesday, September 30, 1998, 1:04 PM -0400 "Michael Lorrey" <retroman@together.net> wrote:
> As you all probably know, the list has been receiving a lot of spam over
the last
> few months. The spammers are also apparently sending the same messages to
> individual list members. I have noticed that almost all of the recent
spams have
> included email addresses in the text of the message which are on the
juno.com
> servers. One reason why so many spammers use services like juno is that it
is
> easy to set up an email account, and juno's email is also free in many
areas of
> the country, and pretty cheap in others.
>
> I have contacted juno's 'postmaster' several times in response, but always
get
> canned automated responses, and there seems to be no actions being taken
to limit
> spammers from using juno servers. In response to this, I've started taking
two
> strategies which I suggest others on the list do as well in hopes of
finally
> getting some sort of respose to remedy the situation. They are based on
the idea
> that since juno is doing nothing to prevent spammers from using accounts
with
> them for spamming, that juno is in collusion with spammers who engage in
theft of
> electronic services (i.e. wasting my time and bandwidth). Considering the
volume
> of this theft, Juno can fall under the RICO Act statutes.
>
> Strategy 1: Charge fees: As some on the list may know, I charge a $250.00
fee for
> processing unsolicited commercial email messages. Every time I receive a
spam
> which uses a juno account in the body of the message as a response email
address,
> I send a bill to juno's postmaster for $250.00. Their account balance is
now
> $1500.00. I've given them three days to refuse charges on each instance,
and 30
> days to pay the charges, and will impose a 18.5% finance charge for
balances due
> over 30 days.
What good is this if you will never get paid? They are most likely just
tossing your "bills" in the garbage.
Can you give us the e-mail adress of juno's postmaster? Maybe a good
strategy is for everyone who gets spam from a juno.com adress to forward it
to juno's postmaster.
Does juno.com have a fax number? Maybe faxing them a copy of the spam,
followed by 100 or so sheets of black construction paper (1 sheet ran
through the machine 100 times) would bother them enough to do something
about it.
If they don't have a fax #, they might at least have a 1-800 number, which
could be called several hundred times per spam message. How much does it
cost to receive a 1-800 call?
>
> Strategy 2: I warn juno in each message that they are in violation of RICO
Act
> statues by colluding with perpetrators of theft of electronic services.
> Apparently, there are means of civil redress under the RICO Act, where a
person
> or persons can sue violators of the RICO Act. I am currently researching
what it
> would take to file a class action lawsuit against juno.com on these
grounds.
> Anyone here is welcome to become in volved in this effort. If you are
interested
> in getting in on this lawsuit, respond to me at: rico-lawsuit@lorrey.com.
Please
> provide a zip file with text copies of all spam messages you have received
> related to juno.com to add to the evidence files.
>
> Thanks,
> Mike Lorrey
>