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Spamhaus Responds To Spammers' Lawsuit
ShaiHulud-23 writes "A suit was recently filed by EMarketersAmerica.org, a fledgling secret organization of spammers, against the Spamhaus Project, (and other anti-spam sites) seeking to prevent the publication of the anonymous plaintiffs' IP addresses in the Spamhaus Block List (SBL). The suit requested a response from the named defendants, and Spamhaus director Steve Linford has provided one, dismantling the spammers' case point by point."
Should be "defendants"
Also, here's some amusing dirt on the lawyer who filed the suit (and registered the EMarketersAmerica domain.)
General Geekery
They're used to fighting spam...not a slashdot...so here's the cache. Google Cache
Well, having delt with one spammer in particular (yes, listed by Spamhaus), I'll just say they are very open liars. This individual said -- and I wished I'd been recording the call "for quality assurance purposes" :-) -- Spamhaus was a company run by one of his competitors. We had to mute the phone for a few minutes. They insist they are not sending "spam" -- even tho' I have spam reports from every batch of crap they sent.
Make sure you make your feelings known about spam to the originator of this lawsuit, lawyer Mark Felstein.
:~ :~,_
FELSTEIN & ASSOCIATES, P.A.
Attorneys for EMarketersAmerica.org, Inc.
555 South Federal Highway, Suite 450
Boca Raton, Florida 33432
(561) 367-7990 Phone
(561) 367-7980 Facsimile
mark~ EMarketersAmerica.org
BY
Mark E. Felstein, Esq.
FBN: 192139
----- In Your Cubicle No One Can Hear You Scream...
How can spammers sue anti-spam list maintainers?
In the US, you can file a suit for anything. You risk countersuit and charges for frivolous lawsuits for filing blatantly false and harrassing lawsuits, which is what happened in this case.
EMarketersAmerica.org claims in their suit, among other things, that:
- Spamhaus and SPEWS are run by the same people.
- Steve Linford's brother, who lives in Italy and knows nothing about Spamhaus, is one of those people running both sites.
- Spamhaus has an office in the US.
- Spamhaus sells products.
- Spamhaus' products "destroy" and "intercept" legitimate email transmissions.
- Spamhaus has *appropriated* IPs belonging to EMarketersAmerica member organizations for their own use and profit. (Tell me, how on Earth do you do that? I want to steal MS's block...)
They make many other false statements, but those are the doozies.
These are people who make their living by digitally date-raping whoever they can find. (And, yes, I use that word... please, I get emails about enlarging my member on a daily basis, and I'm a WOMAN, for crying out loud. At least send me breast enlargement ads instead.) They have no compunction about breaking more laws by filing a frivolous and false lawsuit in hopes that it will scare someone off.
The good news is, Steve Linford, if he has the time and money to do so, now has an excellent countersuit, which could make a lot of those spammer's documents public record. Big ifs, but stranger things have happened.
Don't you wish your girlfriend was a geek like me?
The SpamCon Foundation has set up a legal fund to aid spamfighters that need legal assistance.
The defendants of this particular EMarketersAmerica suit also benefit from and endorse this fund.
Not to secret organization.... the South Florida Business Journal has been doing some digging on EMarketersAmerica and have a good story on them at: http://southflorida.bizjournals.com/southflorida/s tories/2003/05/12/story1.html
According to the information the FL. Bar Ass. has on Mark Edward Felstein, he was only admitted to the bar in 3 yrs. ago. If you are currious, click the Find a Lawyer" and see for yourself.
Too bad he's going down such a low path so soon in his carear.
What changed under Obama? Nothing Good
The other key point in the document is that the Spamhaus Black List (SBL) blocks spam at the destination, not the source. This is a nice implementation of the "you're free to say whatever you like, but I'm free not to listen" aspect of free speech, which is often used by spammers to justify their annoying practices.
Go straight to the source! Eddy Marin 621 NW 53rd Street Suite 135 Boca Raton, Florida 33487 T: 561-999-9850 F: 561-995-8791 Toll Free: 877-317-1568 E-mail eddy@oneroute.net
This is left as an exercise for the reader.
Thinking back to the Alan Ralsky incident...
i ca.org
;)
Emarketersamerica.org
555 South Federal Highway
Suite 450
Boca Raton, FL 33432
T: 561.367.7990
F: 561.367.7980
www.emarketersamerica.org
admin@emarketersamer
Not suggesting anything at all, really.
A reverse lookup at Google states:
Yvonne K Kemeny, (561) 997-9008, 4601 NW Boca Raton Blvd, Boca Raton, FL 33431
Either you've mistyped the number or you're playing some sort of game. Moderators -- stuff like this should be checked out first.