Aldo-Pier Solari wrote asking about how to handle commercial
use of academic lists.  I help to run a series of English Language
instruction lists, and we too have had a few run-ins with
commercial interests trying to use our list.  However, we haven't
had many.  Here is our general policy:
 
If the violation is by a commercial publisher who should
definitely know better, we send them a nasty letter stating
in no uncertain terms that this is unacceptable and that
they are being removed from the list for a limited period.  (The
length of time tends to vary depending on the serverity of the
violation.)  Then we add them to the filter= keyword in the
header and remove them from the list.  They cannot re-add
themselves or post.  Any attempts are sent to us.  (Of course,
they could easily add under a new account, but we might get
even nastier if that happens.)  Finally, we post an apology
to the list for the violation of policy, and clearly state
to everyone else what we have done.  This seems to have sent
 a message to other publishers:  try to take commercial advantage
of our list and suddenly you won't even be able to listen in
on the field.
 
If the poster seems to be more naive or a private person making
a buck, we just send a warning, but tell him/her what we've done
to others in the past.
 
This seems to have worked well, and we've had few violations of
our policy since this started.  I think one of the important
aspects is not only taking quick, decisive action, but announcing
it to the list, so others can learn from the policy.
 
Tim Rushing
Assistant Manager TESL-L