mainsleazespam.com: Heroes and Villains

Heroes and Villains

Inspired by 2004 Award to Steve Linford of spamhaus.org Fame.

March 5, 2004. Happy 10th Anniversary, Spam.
Two Names and a Day that Will Live in Internet Infamy.
Spam's Tenth Birthday Today
"Ten years ago today, spam as we know it was born. On 5 March 1994, a message was posted to some Usenet newsgroups by a law firm called Canter and Siegel, advertising their services for the U.S. Green Card lottery. It sounds mild enough today, but at the time that move and its follow-ups provoked increasing outrage across the Net. Many were appalled that "netiquette" - the unspoken rules that hitherto had maintained order in cyberspace - had been breached, sensing perhaps that things would never be the same again."

Internet Service Providers' Association's
Names Heroes and Villians of the Internet.

    From http://www.theregister.co.uk. February 20, 2004.
    Steve Linford and Spamhaus were crowned the Internet's heroes of 2003 at the Internet Service Providers' Association's annual awards ceremony in London last night. ISPA said Spamhaus was chosen "for educating people about spam, endeavouring to thwart spammers and urging the US to reject the opt-out approach to spam legislation".
    Verisign was named and shamed as the year's arch wrongdoer. The industry poured scorn on the company "for their presumption that they own the internet and the domain name system hijacking scandal", according to an ISPA spokesman.
         Spamhaus crowned Internet heroes of 2003

    [Ed. Note: Both awards richly deserved. Linford's spamhaus.org has been a leading light and a shining example in the anti-spam community for years. And Verisign, referred to by most who understand how bad its actions have been over the past few years as Verislime, deserves this award in spades. I think this was best summed up in a post to http://www.f@#^company.com last year, in which the question posed was, "How do you know your office colleague is on the phone with Verisign? The answer: "He or she is yelling at the top of their lungs 'you M$*!#%(F&#*(@*^ C(*&S*&#&@#' into the phone's receiver."
    My staff and I at my place of employement have certainly felt like doing so many times. In the process of moving the registration of domains for my employer from Verisign last year, they tried to claim we had not paid the most recent year. Of course we had full receipts and documentation we had indeed, in advance, signed, sealed and delivered. But we wasted a week while Verisign tried to extort an extra pitiful $35.00 out of us to complete the transfer. They finally backed down and the transfer was completed. I also moved my SSL certificate from Verisign in October of 2003 to a company in no way affiliated with Verisign, for these reasons. A well deserved reward for Verisign that recognizes their current reputation among those who understand the Internet and keep it working from day to day.]

       Petition Calling for ICANN to Cancel Verisign Root Domain Contract