On May 1, 2005, Shawn Cain sent this objection to the presence of his domain names in the Rhyolite Software, LLC list of unwelcome domains and IP addresses. He wrote
I have never engaged in spam. Perhaps you should consider domain spoofing before posting someones domain as being a spammer. You have 10 days to remove this slanderous entry from your website or face legal action. Thanks, Shawn Cain
Perhaps Mr. Cain should consider the other responses to legal threats among these web pages. Such threats have two main effects. The first is to publish whatever caused the original addition to the Rhyolite Software list of unwelcome domain names. The second is to make any and all email from the person or organization making the threat unwelcome. Any legal communications between litigants must be conducted by lawyers. Direct email is not allowed, and that implies that the domain names of the people or organizations that make threats must be added to the Rhyolite Software, LLC list of unwelcome domains.
Mr. Cain does not say which domain names he objects to being in the Rhyolite Software list of unwelcome domain names, but as of April 30, 2005, Mr. Cain's name was associated only with lire-francais.com. His name is not uncommon, but that he says something about a domain name implies that he is concerned with lire-francais.com.
Lire-francais.com was listed because of this unsolicited, unwanted bulk advertising mail or spam. (That is a dccm logdir file.) Judging from the Google NANAS record for lire-francais.com, that was a substantial spew of spam. While some "domain spoofing" might be involved in that spam, there is no apparent spoofing or forgery of the lire-francais.com name. The spam came from roadrunner.nf.net but claimed to come from ss01.net, which appears to be one of Scott Richter's OptInRealBig domain names. That might or might not have been "spoofed" or forged, but my guess is that it was indeed forged. The message-ID in that spam might have been spoofed, because there is no apparent connection between forfamily.net and those responsible for the spam. It is possible that the people responsible for that spam were using images at lire-francais.com without permission. Even if that is true, mail from Internet pharmacies has never been welcome at rhyolite.com.
When that spam was sent toward rhyolite.com on February 18, 2004, the whois record for lire-francais.com included Mr. Cain's name. As of May 1, 2005, that domain name is registered via the Domains By Proxy service for hiding the true owners of domain names.
In February, 2004, the DNS servers for lire-francais.com included avlmed.com, which is why that domain name was added to the Rhyolite Software list of unwelcome domain. At that time, avlmed.com was registered via Domains By Proxy's service.
In May, 2005, 4LESSHOST.COM and AVLMED.COM provide DNS service for lire-francais.com as well as i-collect.com. All four domain names are now registered via Domains By Proxy.
On May 1, 2005, http://avlmed.com/ was an order page that says "Buy hydrocodone prescription Overnight avlmed.com." (The links in that copy of the avlmed.com web page have been intentionally broken.)
Mr. Cain's possible involvement in Internet drug sales and any spam become irrelevant to the presence of his domain names in the Rhyolite.Software, LLC, list of unwelcome domain names with that legal threat.
On June 12, 2005, at about 19:00 MDT, Shawn Cain telephoned. According to my notes made during the call and immediately after we said goodbye and hung up:
As far as I know, Mr. Cain is right that the spam did not come directly from one of Mr. Cain's IP addresses. My guess is that it was sent via a trojan proxy or spam zombie infesting someone's personal computer. If my guess is accurate, I have no way of knowing the origin of that spam.
I mentioned that many senders of unsolicited bulk email use SPF records and that I have read that a vendor of anti-spam appliances believes that most mail with valid SPF records is spam.
Spam is seen by many people including me as any unsolicited bulk email regardless of business or other relationships. I do not know whether Mr. Cain has ever sent any spam. I do know of some spam advertising drugs that used images via a domain name that Mr. Cain says he owns. The advertised drugs are similar to drugs offered for sale on another domain name that Mr. Cain apparently owns. A third party might have sent the spam, but there is no way for me to know whether that is true. Even if that is true, that spam and Internet pharmacy business that Mr. Cain appears to be in would have made mail from his domain names unwelcome at rhyolite.com.
I hope that is not true. Notice that the .tw, .cn, .biz, and .info top level domain names are in the list. As stated in the list, spam is not the only reason for entries. Each page of page of the Rhyolite Software, LLC list of unwelcome domains. currently and has for years started with something like:
Mail from the following 11401 domains is not welcome at rhyolite.com as of Sun Jun 12 14:19:51 MDT 2005, because of objectionable mail supposedly from, about, or otherwise associated with them and sent to mailboxes for which I'm responsible. The objectionable quality of the mail is often but not always that it is unsolicited bulk email or spam. Legal threats are also objectionable. Mail from some domains is unwelcome because the owners of those domains appear to be aiding senders of objectionable mail with services such as DNS. (emphasis added)
I offered to correct any errors. As far as I know, everything in these web pages about Mr. Cain or his domain names is true. I do not know whether Mr. Cain is responsible for the spam sent in my direction. I know only that Mr. Cain now owns a domain name that appeared in the spam and seemed to own it at the time the spam was sent. Perhaps the previous owner of the domain name or some other third party forged that spam for some reason. Assuming that is true, what Mr. Cain says is a pending legal action against Rhyolite Software, LLC, requires that all communications be through our attorneys. That and consistency with other entries require entries for Mr. Cain's domains in the Rhyolite Software, LLC list of unwelcome domains.
I said that I would be happy to correct any errors in these web pages
As I reminded Mr. Cain, that sort of legal threat requires that all future communications between us be conducted through our attorneys. It makes any and all email from Mr. Cain or any of Mr. Cain's enterprises or domain names unwelcome at rhyolite.com. Mr. Cain's must communicate with me only through my attorney.
Later on June 12, Mr. Cain tried to mail another objection By chance I noticed the dccm logdir file noting the rejection.
Is this your correct contact info so I can have you served. Nice House. I'll post your personel details on the web also. Perhaps then you will understand how dangerous it is to have your personal details posted in a public forum. Now we will both have to worry about some nut case showing up at our homes. Not only have you endangered our businesses, but both of our families. Do you realize with the information you've published about me and the info I'm going to publish about you, someone could steal our ideniities, and completely ruin both of us. I am guiltless in all this. I do not own an online pharmacy, I advertise for epilot a publically traded company. You have been wrong in everything you've written. I have never spammed anyone. You have published my name and my web addresses on the internet with no factual basis. I hate spammers, but I also hate liars
That text is followed by what looks like the result of an online search. Out of consideration for Mr. Cain's concerns about publishing public information, I have censored the names and addresses of neighbors. I do not understand how re-publishing public information might endanger anyone. As far as I know rhyolite.com web pages currently contain only Mr. Cain's name, a city name, and some of his domain names, which do not seem to me to be "personal details."
In that mail message, Mr. Cain said he does not own an online pharmacy. Perhaps the domain names that he says he owns and that advertise drugs are advertising for his clients, or perhaps he has some other reason to advertise drugs. Mr. Cain mentions "epilot", which I assume is epilot.com. or Interchange Corp of Laguna Hills, California. There have been reports of spam that involving that organization than can be seen in the Google NANAS record. I suspect some of that reported spam was sent by clients of epilot.com and third parities instead of by epilot.com. Because some online advertisers do include unsolicited bulk email among their tools, mail from professional online advertisers is a priori unwelcome at rhyolite.com. However, that is irrelevant, because Mr. Cain's legal threats make all mail from him unwelcome at rhyolite.com. Any communications from him should be from his attorney to mine.
Mr. Cain evidently feels something in these web pages concerning him is wrong. I do not know what might be. I correct errors when I hear of them.
Other questions are answered in the list of objections about entries in the Rhyolite Software, LLC list of unwelcome domains.
Contact vjs@rhyolite.com but not this spam trap.
