Fwd: MORE ON FREE INTERNET ACCESS

[David J Farber <farber () radiomail net>]

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.