[WEB4LIB] RE: Blocking email, the complaint

[Dan Lester]

Tuesday, July 17, 2001, 2:27:20 PM, you wrote:
c> Just a bit of trivia on this thread...
c> I did a little digging around on Dow Jones Interactive to see what I could
c> find on either ORBS or CompuSystem, Inc.  What I found makes me think Dan
c> Lester's list is nothing like what ORBS was trying to do.  There isn't a
c> whole lot of information but basically ORBS was an anti-spam site that
c> apparently went a little overboard in its zeal and that is where they got
c> in trouble.

I agree that there is no similarity between my blacklist (I say "mine"
only because I started it and host it.  Many others have contributed.)
and ORBS. They don't perform the same function at all.  The only
similarity is the basic principle that some organizations that own
equipment choose to put limits on how that equipment may be used.
Others don't.

There is no way that the blacklist was causing any harm to the freaky
guy at csimo.com.  It turns out that his mail is provided by
fidnet.com, which I've now blocked, as well as the IP number for
mail.csimo.com.

c> I found very little information on CompuSystem, Inc.  It is apparently a
c> computer store based in Washington, MO, small town about 30 or 40 miles
c> from St. Louis.  The 1998 article I found said, at that time, CompuSystem was a
c> 2,000 square foot store with 10 employees (but it didn't indicate if they
c> were full or part time).  I looked at the CompuSystem website and found it
c> interesting that, if you want to contact them via e-mail, the address is
c> yahoo at csimo.com.  Makes me wonder about the professionalism of the company.
c> But then the little information I found made me wonder about Joe Wolf
c> too...

Their counter on the homepage gives the impression that they've had
over 5 million visitors.  Not that I believe that, either.

There is no question that any of their email customers who wanted to
check their email on the web in some library were harmed, or the
csimo.com business was harmed.

The list has been updated again, and will be on the web in the next
hour.

dan


-- 
Dan Lester, Data Wrangler  dan at RiverOfData.com
3577 East Pecan, Boise, Idaho  83716-7115 USA
www.riverofdata.com  www.gailndan.com  Stop Global Whining!