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ASPWebHosting.com Is Spam Friendly. Direct from CTO David Kopacz (CEO is Stacy Kopacz)

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Northern Virginia Homes - FRANKLY REAL ESTATE Inc

I was attempted, as I have successfully done in the past, to contact an ISP to report a spammer on their network.

In this instance I was emailing David Kopacz, the CTO of ASPWebHosting (CEO is Stacey Kopacz) regarding one of their clients that has a website on ASPW... network. This client has a felony conviction for hacking into servers and served jailtime, but that isn't the point (yes they hosted the website when he was convicted).

Anyhow, I had several emails with David Kopacz. He was extremely hostile. Nothing like I have seen ever before when reporting a spammer. Most ISPs are grateful. David was not. David was extremely rude, condescending and even pointed to his "CONFIDENTIAL NOTICE" and said he would sue me if I used anything from his emails, even if it was the truth. 

Here was his email:

"I noticed that in addition to your hints of blogging your twisted version of my response, you also deliberately removed our confidentiality note from the bottom of my emails addressed to you.

 

I urge you to use extreme caution if you choose to blog about our company or anything I have emailed to you.

 

We will not hesitate to use all remedies available via our federal justice system to stop the disemination [sic] of private communications,  slander and libel."

 

Litigation is expensive. Govern yourself accordingly.

 

 

Sincerely,

David Kopacz, CTO
Rational Certified Developer, MCSE+I"

And here is the idiotic Confidentiality notice that somehow he thought meant that I was under contract with him to keep our emails private. He isn't very versed in Internet law. I can show you more of his legal threats if you wish to see them.

"CONFIDENTIALITY NOTE:
The information contained in this electronic transmission is PRIVILEGED and CONFIDENTIAL information intended only to be viewed by the individual, entity or entities named as recipient(s). You are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copy of this communication is strictly prohibited and a violation of your service agreement. If you have received this communication in error, please notify ASPwebhosting.com, LLC immediately by electronic mail or by telephone and permanently delete this message from your computer."

Anyhow, I am getting sidetracked.

Bottom line is ASPWebHosting
1) DOES have a problem with spammers sending emails via their network= GOOD
2) DOES have a problem with using spam to advertise a website on their network= GOOD

But here is where they FAIL and in my opinion makes them "SPAM FRIENDLY"
3) Straight from David Kopacz: "Scrapping emails and selling the list IS NOT a violation of our terms of service, if that is what he is doing."

So there you have it. You can make your own conclusions as to whether they are SPAM FRIENDLY.

This website that I reported has over 1 million emails of Realtors, and even their website claims: "All of our email addresses are what we call "soft" opt-in, in that they were collected from publicly available sources", ie they were scrapped and their mass emails are unsolicited. In my book that is SPAM.

While I maintain those emails are NOT from a public source (a bait email was planted in a PRIVATE database), that doesn't matter for this discussion. All that matters is that ASPW is ok with hosting what I call a spammer.

If you are a spammer, you might consider their services!

Everyone else, I beg that you not associate with those that facilitate spam and are so hostile against those that report them.

Thank you for your time,

Frank

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FRANK LL0SA Esq.- Northern Virginia Broker .:. FranklyRealty.com
Northern Virginia Homes - FRANKLY REAL ESTATE Inc - Arlington, VA

I also sent to David Kopazc an email regarding their terms of service that states: 

" It is contrary to ASPwebhosting.com policy for customers to use our servers to effect or participate in any of the following activities: To send unsolicited mass e-mailings, bulk mail, spam or UCE;"

 

What does it mean "to effect" or "participate in?"

Does hosting a website that sells 1 million emails so the advertiser can spam, not participation?

That website also offers their services to send out the spam. But as long as it doesn't go through ASPW, it is 100% fine. 

Nov 23, 2010 04:53 PM
Anonymous
What?

I have been a long time customer of aspwebhosting, and I'll be honest... your comments just don't add up.

I have read their Terms of Service (link) and it sounds like David is right... you mention a site that publicly says their emails were gathered from publicly available sources... Ok, so nothing illegal there (heck, we could all probably get the same info then.. it's publicly available)...  Since when is gathering email address SPAM in and of itself???  Obviously, I gather, someone is then selling a list of publicly available info on their website.. again, nothing illegal there.. if someone else buys that list, and uses it for SPAM, isn't the SPAMMER the person who buys the list and actually sends the spam?  I could also (Safely) venture to say the lists that are sold have more info than just email address, yes?  So I could buy the list to spend postcards to.. but that isn't technically spam... business lists are available from HUNDREDS of sources online, and many include email addresses these days.. you do know it is 2010, almost 2011, right?

Gathering a list, and selling it isn't illegal... but you are saying aspwebhosting promotes spammers, because they host a company who sells a list???

I know firsthand aspwebhosting will not tolerate spammers, so if you have a problem, and received spam from a customer hosted by them, report it to them... provide email headers showing one of their other customers sent spam, in other words, verification, and they will do something about it... without that, it's just your rant, or totally unrelated.  A friend of mine actually had his account cancelled by them, for sending spam (he's not that bright, and thought it'd be ok to email a half a million people an ad to his website).  So I don't see them as a "spammer friendly" service, they just keep my website online.

I've followed your blog for a while (my father is a realtor), but after (what I feel) is moronic ranting post, I'm done.  Best of luck.

Nov 24, 2010 11:11 AM
#2
FRANK LL0SA Esq.- Northern Virginia Broker .:. FranklyRealty.com
Northern Virginia Homes - FRANKLY REAL ESTATE Inc - Arlington, VA

I love annonymous posts. They are so funny.

They also hosted a website that was selling illegally obtained data. The person went to jail for it. Is that not a violation of their terms of service?

And while the site claims to take the data from public sources, my planted email was only in a private database. And a search for that private email only showed up in 1 public place... and that is the website of the spammer that they host.

Spam is unsolicited email. Whether gathered from public werbsites or not, it is still spam. By hosting a company that sells these emails, they are furthering and contributing to spam.

Thank you for your gutless and annoymous post.

Nov 24, 2010 12:00 PM
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