[cobalt-users] Spam by Communitech?!

[Chip <chip@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Given the recent discussion of the varying TOS relating to sale of
spamware,  I think the following info, while not completely on
topic, is relevent. 

I (and about a half-dozen of my customers) have received spam from the
Communitech sales department in the last week, inviting me to switch my
website to their servers.  I have never had *any* communication with
them prior to this, and from the remove instructions on their email, it's
pretty clear that they stole Network Solutions handle database. So, in my
book, by their upstream's definition, and by their own TOS, it's clearly
spam, and clearly a TOS violation.  It's also, in my book, tacky to
be trying to steal my customers by stealing NSI's lists to get their
addresses. 

I've already sent abuse complaints to all of their upstreams... but it is
unlikely that these providers will cancel a lucrative T3 agreement over
one small incident -- which, in my book, is unfortunate.  

However, there's a better idea I had, based on a suggestion on one of the
anti-spam sites I saw.  I have encouraged Communitech to make a $500
contribution to their local food bank, and to also make a contribution
equal to 25% of the first year's revenues from any business obtained from
their spamfest.  It will be interesting to see what kind of response
I get.  But if anyone else has received a similar mail from them,
maybe pressure from a few folks will encourage them to turn a despicable
act into something positive. 

Here's an abbreviated version of the spam I received (and I got several
copies, with the names of several different salespeople, so it wasn't one
isolated bad apple.)  If anyone wants the whole thing, email me
offlist and I'll forward it. 

Am I reading too much into this, or is this one of the bigger examples of
corporate stupidity that's been observed recently? 

Comments appreciated. 


------------------------------------------

Dear Chip White,

My name is Brently Gasper and I am a sales representative at
CommuniTech.Net.
I am contacting about your exciting website at
www.awhw.com.
I wanted to introduce our organization, CommuniTech.Net 
(http://www.communitech.net).
CommuniTech.Net is a top rated webhosting company, 
servicing over 25,000 websites worldwide, and I have been authorized to
make a
special, one-time offer to you. First, let me give you some
information
about our webhosting plans:

( Selling job snipped) 

My special offer to you is that I can provide you with an extra month of
service on a 
3 month plan, and 3 extra months of service on a 6 month term! Just use
the promotion
code "FREEMONTHS" when placing an order online at
http://www.communitech.net/order/
Finally, we are having a contest throughout the month of
June. If you purchase a 
new webhosting account in June, you will be entered into a drawing for a
brand new 2000 
Chrysler PT Cruiser! More information on this contest can be found on our
website at 
http://www.communitech.net/contest/.

(More promotional crap snipped) 

 I apologize if this e-mail has offended you. If you wish to not
receive any more emails from me, visit
http://offers.communitech.net/remove.php3?handle=CW3162
and I will not e-mail you again. Otherwise, I hope to hear
from you soon!


Sincerely,

Brently Gasper
Sales Representative
b_gasper@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.communitech.net/


PS. CommuniTech.Net also provides dedicated servers on the
Cobalt RaQ, Sun, and Intel 
platforms on UNIX and Windows platforms for as low as $208.53/month. I
would be happy to 
assist you in moving to a dedicated hosting platform and/or answer any
questions you might 
have about dedicated servers!