Gandi Bar - Tag - Spam

Top Spammer Put Behind Bars

Ryan — Thu, 31 May 2007 16:38:00 +0200

As you can read in the Spamhaus News, Robert Soloway, one of the world's most prolific spammers, was arrested yesterday by United States federal agents after being indicted by a federal grand jury on charges of identity theft, money laundering, and mail, wire, and e-mail fraud.

For those that follow the latest developments in the tug-of-war between spammers and anti-spammers, the announcement of Robert Soloway's arrest is welcome news. The putting behind bars of Mr. Soloway will definitely reduce the amount of spam received, and will serve as an example to other spammers, that such activity does not go unnoticed and unpunished.

Spam does not come out of the blue - indeed, there is a person behind each and every e-mail that is sent out, and these people are not beyond the arm of the law.

While Spamhaus and Gandi are working together in this fight against spam and providing the very information that law enforcement needs to protect your inbox and identity, you can also play a role.

By complaining to the registrars and web hosts that allow their services to be used by these criminals, and by contacting your local political representatives to encourage them to take action against spam and spammers, you too can be responsible for reducing the amount of unsolicited junk mail in the world.

I don't know about you, but having the absolute need for anti-spam filters on my e-mail accounts to putting iron bars over the windows of my house. Wouldn't it be nice if when "you got mail", it was actually from someone you hoped to hear from?

CNET: Gandi protects your domain!

Ryan — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 15:19:00 +0100

Case 1. January 24th, 2007:

Fyodor woke up to learn that GoDaddy suspended his highly-popular domain, seclists.org, without warning because of content posted in one of the mailing lists that his site archives (more).

Case 2. January 19th, 2007:

Website designer "X" received a telephone call from Gandi informing them that the site of one of their clients was hacked and being used as part of a phishing scheme; this call was followed by an e-mail telling them where the file was so they could delete it, which they did within the hour.

Spot the difference!

In this game of "spot the difference", it is clear that host "X" was lucky to have their domain with Gandi! Rather than just pull the plug on the domain, Gandi took the time to visit the website, attempt to contact the company, verify the whois information, and finally, contact the webmaster.

The company, and their customers, whose website was fortunately registered through Gandi never even knew there was a problem. We were able to work with the webmaster of the site to remove the illicit content with discretion, which also helped the company increase their online security.

This discretion and respect of the people behind domains is what has led CNET to name Gandi as one of the two registrars that "...offer(s) the most extensive guarantees against unnecessary domain name suspension."

(Read the full CNET article here: Survey: Are domain registrars free-speech friendly?)

Victim vs. Victim

It is a real challenge to balance complaints of domain abuse (spam, phishing, etc.) with the rights of domain name owners, but Gandi steps up to the challenge with confidence. With a minimum amount of effort it is easy to see if a domain is in line with ICANN regulations (eg. correct whois data) and our sales contracts. But of course, when we do something, it is not with just a minimum amount of effort!

We go out of our way to prevent the domain name owner from being a victim as well. This is assured not only by carefully examining each complaint on a case-by-case basis, but also by discussing the problem with the people behind the domain (if they can be contacted via the whois data) and to thus to resolve the problem discretely and with respect.

Gandi fights back against domain abuse!

Ryan — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 15:51:00 +0100

If you have been getting less spam in your mailbox recently, it may be due in part to our strengthened anti-spam efforts!

The usual way of preventing spam from getting into your mailbox is through mail filters and anti-spam software, but everyone knows that this only puts a band-aid over the wound. As a registrar, however, we are in a privileged position to take more active measures against spammers, identity thefts, and other fraudulent online activities when the domain is registered with us, by actually suspending the abusive domain!

We're not trigger happy...each case is very carefully examined and well documented before any action is taken, so unless you are a spammer, fear not!

There are three main conditions that determine whether or not we take action against a domain:

1. If the whois data is not fully accurate and verifiable.
A major element of our ICANN accreditation is our obligation to provide the appropriate registries with correct and up-to-date information concerning a domain's contacts and owner. Our General Sales Conditions underlines this in section 3 and 16, where our customers agree to provide reliable information as a prerequisite to using our services.

2. If the customer uses our services for illegal, fraudulent, or prejudicial activity
Domains registered with Gandi must be used in accordance with the rights of third parties (copyrights, intellectual property rights, personality rights, etc.), and current applicable laws and regulations.

For example, Gandi does not tolerate activity that is morally objectionable or that poses a threat to public order, that spreads Computer Contaminants (Viruses, Trojans, etc.), and/or that engages in fraudulent activity such as Identity Theft.

3. Evidence of spamming activity
We are very attentive to complaints involving unsolicited bulk email that originated from one of our domains, and take quick action if the UBE complaint is justified...

Why the increased vigilance? Gandi now manages over half a million domains around the world, and continues to growing at a wonderful rate (thanks to you)! With this strength comes an ever greater responsibility to the global community to ensure that everyone's personal rights are respected, and that human dignity is upheld.

By taking an clear and decisive anti-spam position, we help uphold your rights, while setting a good example.

Imagine a spam-free world!...