Mario:
 
Mario Rups <[log in to unmask]> said:
 
> As long as IAF remains free, they are *not* using the info for commercial
> purposes, are they?
 
From: http://www.iaf.net/advertisinginfo.htm
 
| Advertising Rates
|
| Advertising rates are based on volume of ad impressions.
|
| Volume          Price per Ad    Total Price
| 10,000              .03             $300
| 100,000             .025            $2,500
| 1,000,000           .02             $20,000
|
| We offer a 15% discount to all recognized ad agencies
 
Nah... I guess your right, they're doing this just for personal
pleasure... nothing commercial here. :-)
 
> Second, although they cannot copyright the INFORMATION, they *can*
> copyright the compilation, which is exactly what they have done.
 
I guess so... I had not thought of it this way.  However, usually when
your name is going to be published somehwere, like the phone book example
you gave, they tell you in advance and give you the option not to publish.
 
I called the number on their advertising page (770-751-6721) and got
connected to a voicemail system... no humans involved. If you don't get a
response from them (I don't expect you will) regarding having your name
and address removed, I suggest you begin contacting their advertisers to
advise them of the improper methods used to build their database without
the consent of listed parties.  Currently, there only appears to be one
advertiser:
 
Internet Security Systems, Inc.
2000 Miller Court West, Norcross, Georgia 30071
Voice: (404)-441-2531
Fax: (404)-441-2431
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
Web: http://www.iss.net
 
I called and spoke to a woman who said that the President of the company
(I think she said his name was Bruce Newnan) would call me back on this
after I related that I was not at all happy with the conduct of the
company they were supporting with advertising revenue.
 
I think it is work noting that when I used their service to backward
search for [log in to unmask], it came back with:
 
  1.         Name: John Smith
           E-mail: [log in to unmask]
      Last update: 11/09/95
 
     Organization: Innovative Insights
          Address: 715 Newport Hollow
                   Alpharetta, GA 30202
                   USA
 
I would not be the least bit surprised if these separate places are one
in the same, but if the iss.net business is truly a independent
operation, I just have to believe they would be concerned to find they
were in bed with some local yokel who had just stolen 3 million names
from lists and now the managers of those lists were now royally peeved
and would sooner allow their system to explode before they'd buy a
security system from someone advertising on IAF.NET.
 
I doubt this can be fully turned around, but this is one of the the most
serious threats to privacy on the Internet that I have seen come along and
these folks are actually going to make money off it!  We do not need to
make it easy for them by just rolling over and going back to sleep.
 
Cheers
 
Mark Hunnibell                  Email: [log in to unmask]
KIDLINK Gopher/WWW Coordinator  http://www.connix.com/~markh/index.html