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newsletter://mv.com
October 2002
New DSL/V offices opening soon
A few months ago we got some information that DSL/V would be available
in some new towns in NH by the end of the year. (These new towns are
listed on our web site, and we told you of them a few newsletters ago.) We
have a little more up to date information about the new deployment, but it
is only quasi-official so we won't change the web site until we get more
concrete information. However here it is:
The word is that two of the new towns, Berlin and Hampton, are
expected to be turned up by December. These are the two towns that were
expected first, but the December date is a couple months later than the
original official projection. The other 17 new towns, originally expected
to come on line in December, are now expected very early in the first quar-
ter of 2003. (Those towns are: Conway, Franklin, Goffstown, Hanover, Jaf-
frey, Lebanon, Littleton, Meredith, North Conway, Newport, Plymouth, Plais-
tow, Penacook, Peterborough, Seabrook, Suncook, and Tilton.)
Elements of SPAM
In previous newsletters we have brought up the subject of SPAM, mainly
in the context of what we are doing about it and what you can do about it.
Perhaps overlooked in that kind of talk is just exactly what SPAM is: who
is behind it, why it's done, how it's done. We thought some of you might
want to know a little bit more about that. Note that entire books can be
written on the subject; what you see here are just a few paragraphs about
the issue from our perspective.
What it is: Some people think of SPAM as the email equivalent of
telemarketing, with some stranger interrupting you to try to sell you some-
thing. We take a slightly broader perspective, and believe that SPAM
doesn't have to be commercial in nature, and that it consists of any
unwanted communication that views you simply as an impersonal target. The
name "SPAM" of course derives from a Monty Python comedy sketch where every
food offering consists mainly of Hormel's meat product "spam", and the word
"spam" is repeated over and over.
Who does it: Pretty much anybody who has figured out that they can
send millions of emails cheaply without suffering any consequences. You
can infer a lot about the nature of spamming by observing that most spam-
mers try to hide their tracks, or use forged email addresses, or use a sub-
ject line that disguises the nature of the message, or these things and
more in various combinations. You'll also note that you seem to get most
spam at night or on holidays, in other words when the sender is least
likely to be caught. A noble cause, it isn't.
How they do it: Most reputable Internet companies, at least in the US,
will not harbor spammers for long, so spammers have to take that into
account. A typical spammer will sign up for an ISP account that they can
get immediately, perhaps even a trial account, and send out a load of
messages overnight. It does not matter if their account is shut off as a
result -- temporary accounts at some places are easy to get.
The spammer also does not want to be tracked or monitored, so typi-
cally will not use the mail server provided by the ISP that they are using.
Instead, they send their mail through one or more mail servers out on the
Internet that will accept mail from anyone and deliver it to anyone. Most
ISPs that are concerned with spamming have long ago made sure their mail
servers can be used only on behalf of customers: the server will accept
mail from a third party to a customer, from a customer to a third party, or
from a customer to another customer. A mail server is considered to be an
"open relay" if it will accept mail from a third party and deliver it to
another third party. Spammers maintain lists of these open relays and make
heavy use of them. Most of these open relays turn out to be overseas, in
countries such as China and Korea -- that's why if you look closely, a lot
of the SPAM you receive appears to have come to you from a foreign source,
but in reality it was probably sent from the US to an open relay in the
foreign country and then on to you. Foreign countries are picked because
that's where open relays are found -- and it doesn't hurt that it's very
difficult for you to complain to them. (We will be offering you the abil-
ity to refuse mail that's come from various foreign sources, or that's come
from known open mail relays.)
Why does it keep happening: Because it works. It's sad but true. It
costs virtually nothing for a spammer to get a temporary account, send out
hundreds of thousands of email messages, and then have their account termi-
nated the next day. If the return on spamming is greater than the $25 or
so for the account (if in fact anything was spent), it works. Think of it:
if just one or two people respond positively to a large mailing, the effort
has been a success. Unfortunately we see all too many people who on one
hand despise SPAM, but on the other have looked positively on a SPAM mes-
sage (or on a company known to engage in spamming) because they like the
product.
Because it works, and because the reward/cost ratio is so high, many
people believe that one anti-spam tactic has to be to make the cost higher
to the spammer. A necessary part of raising this cost would be via legis-
lation and enforcement of criminal penalties. There have been anti-spam
laws passed at some levels and proposed nearly everywhere, however there in
most cases they face a well funded pro-SPAM opposition that either derails
the legislation or makes it ineffectual. Another tactic to raise cost is
for ISPs' terms and services to include stiff penalties for SPAM incidents
and even for actions that help facilitate SPAM (such as having one of the
"open mail relays" discussed above).
Why SPAM is worse than postal "junk" mail: They really are the same
thing. The essential difference is that junkmail costs more to send, so
the sender takes a little more care in trying to figure out who gets it.
So to a degree, junkmail is self-limiting. Because of the cost, junkmail
tends to be better crafted and represent more legitimate products, and the
sender does not need to hide their true identity. If junkmail cost virtu-
ally nothing, you'd be inundated with that. Or, rather, the issue probably
would have been dealt with long ago.
What to do: Don't buy from spammers. (Of course this is a little like
tilting at windmills -- even if we can convince everyone in the state of NH
never to buy from a spammer, those people out there in the rest of the
world who do will guarantee that spammers will still target you.) Don't
communicate with spammers, even to tell them to remove you -- that just
lets them know that you are there. Encourage people you know to be more
like you, and use an ISP that is not SPAM-friendly. If you feel motivated,
write to your state and federal representatives and suggest that you'd like
to see some anti-spam legislation that has teeth -- and not the watered-
down stuff that merely requires a spammer to put something in their subject
line before they can harrass you. Don't believe pro-spam arguments that
tell you somebody has a right to bother you -- it's your mailbox. Don't
listen to arguments that want to define the damage by SPAM in terms of how
much money it costs you to get your email. And please, do be patient with
us while we work on our mail software that will help you take better charge
of your own inbox.
Specials
We did a remarkably bad job of publicizing our last round of specials
-- to the point where they never really even made it to our web page. So
what we're going to do is repeat them as if they are new:
Colocation: Through the end of the year we are offering a special on all
new server colocation. Pay the basic setup fee, and get your first two
months colocation free!
DSL: We're pleased to continue the DSL specials through Dec 31, 2002. When
you order DSL/V and purchase the modem through us, we'll take $80 off the
modem price. When you order a new DSL/C account, we'll apply the normal
$100 setup fee to your usage charges.
DSL modems: don't want to buy a DSL modem? You can use one of ours for a
small monthly fee. See our web page for details.
Back to school: A student registering a new dialup account will receive a
50% discount on charges through Dec 31, 2002.
The NHISPA
Although there are a number of independent ISPs in New Hampshire who
directly compete against each other, most of us get along quite well and
even cooperate in some ways. Perhaps the competitive friendliness is a
side effect of working so close together in a fairly small state. At any
rate many are members of a statewide organization. The NH ISP Association
(NHISPA) was formed in the spring of 1999 to help deal with common issues
-- mostly political and regulatory in nature. (MV Communications was a
founding member and has been an active participant in the organization).
The NHISPA has grown to have a real presence in representing ISP issues at
both the state and federal level. It has also held a fall conference each
year for the benefit of its members and other attendees. Representatives
of MV attended the 4th annual conference held in Manchster in early Octo-
ber, where we heard some interesting speakers on the subjects of security,
law enforcement, federal regulation affecting independent ISPs, SPAM
issues, wireless technology, issues affecting open access at libraries, and
others.
You can find its website at http://www.nhispa.org/
MV Communications, Inc. PO Box 4963, Manchester, NH 03108 (603) 629-0000