Interesting People mailing list archives
Fwd: MORE ON FREE INTERNET ACCESS
From: David J Farber <farber () radiomail net>
Date: Fri, 07 Jan 1994 09:50:56 PST
Subject: MORE ON FREE INTERNET ACCESS To: farber () central cis upenn edu David, I just got this message from our support people. It is the same group that was discussed in your message of 15 November with the text from Communications Week. I thought you might be interested in passing this to the group, sans my name. Forwarded Text of Message: Dear Customers, The following WARNING message was received by our Network Operations area and we are forwarding it for your information. We are taking this WARNING seriously and recommend that you not get involved in the International Internet Association's free account offering. We will keep you advised as further details become available. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Subject: Warning: International Internet Association A company calling itself the International Internet Association, and billing itself as "the largest non-profit provider of free Internet access in the world" has started advertizing in the Washington, D.C. area, and offering free Internet accounts to individuals who will FAX them, amoung other things, a credit card number. As an active member of the Member Council of the National Capital Area Public Access Network (CapAccess), I wanted to find more about this organization that supposedly has offices NOT THREE BLOCKS FROM CAPACCESS. Here's the result of my search for the IIA. 1. Their address, listed as "Suite 852 - 202 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W. Washington D.C.20006", is actually a P.O. box at Mailboxes,Etc. 2. The company lists no in corporation, trademark or service-mark licenses. 3. They claim your E-mail address would be <userid>@iia.org. However: a. No iia.org is listed in the hq.af.mil hosts table b. No iia.org is listed in the acq.osd.mil hosts table c. No iia.org is listed is the INTERNIC 'whois' database d. No iia.org is listed using the INTERNIC 'netfind' Internet lookup In other words, IIA.ORG does NOT, at this time, exist. 4. Although they apologize profusely in the application, they state that "Without receiving a credit card number, the IIA _cannot_ process an account." 5. Although I have left a message on their voice-mail system, I have received no response from them. (they also apologize in the voice mail that, due to demand, they are operating at a 3-week backlog for applications.) I cannot judge an organization in advance. However, I do think it highly suspicious that, to use their propaganda, "The International Internet Association is able to make this service available through generous private donations, and the extraordinary dedication of its membership." I can say that I am not convinced this organization exists, and highly discourage any Internet user from sending information until you make certain that the IIA is real.
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- Fwd: MORE ON FREE INTERNET ACCESS David J Farber (Jan 07)