Hi. I'm Al Iverson. Alex Sandell sent me spam last year. I complained to him about it, and he vanished for a while. Then he sent me spam again a couple weeks ago, and he got busted for it.

Now, Alex wants a truce. I'm not sure how we could have a truce though, when I'm not actually participating in anything.

Consider this letter at the bottom of the page. It's a fairly typical example of the type of love note we get once in a while at the MAPS offices.

Something about it struck me as odd though. From the letter:

Your Mr. Iverson overstepped his bounds substantially by starting a vendetta against this site and neither of you have any right to have done what you have to this young man's site.

What vendetta? The guy sends me garbage I didn't ask for and don't want, even after being told to stop, and he got busted for it. That's the long and short of it right there. I'm a bit confused; what else exactly have I done? Alex seems keen on telling people that I have a vendetta against him. Let me run down what's occuring. Did I post a bunch of garbage all over the newsgroups, insulting him? Oh wait, I got that backwards. He actually did that to me. Did I send out spam even after I admitted that I got busted for it previously? Oh wait, that was him. Did I put up a page calling him a nazi, encouraging people to email him and hassle him about it? Oh wait, sheesh, that was him again. What exactly *did* I do? I emailed his ISP and asked them to cancel his account, per their no-spam guidelines. That's all folks, sorry, there's nothing else to see here. (Except some more info about Alex's escapades, including his past history as a newsgroup spammer and mental problems.)

That's about all I've got time for on this little adventure. Had a lot more to write, but then I figured, who cares? Alex isn't really worth the attention. Heck, the only reason for this web site in the first place is so that the folks Alex are telling to come over here can see that there's two sides to every story.

Here's that email I was talking about above.

Message-ID: <20000129233707.12543.qmail@web125.yahoomail.com>
Received: from [207.172.83.162] by web125.yahoomail.com; Sat, 29 Jan 2000 15:37:07 PST
Date: Sat, 29 Jan 2000 15:37:07 -0800 (PST)
From: Sam <slimer7997@yahoo.com>
Subject: MAPS RBL
To: paul@vix.com

Mr. Vixie -

I was not originally going to speak out in and major form on this matter, but after seeing a few things on favorite sites of mine today, I feel I can sit no longer without comment

What I want to do is question you on a few matters. What I want to do is get some straight answers, which, I hope you'll enough honor to answer for me. I don't want any form letters or propaganda, I simply want information.

I'm not speaking on behalf of any sites or people other than myself, though I will, no doubt, mention an incident or two that I feel were the deciding factors in writing this to you. I don't really believe that one man can make a difference, but I, like, I'm sure, millions or more others, want my voice heard and my opinion counted. I have been fighting censorship for years and this will be no exception.

Now, the way I understand it, your little organization thing is just a private organization that disapproves of spam. As I also understand it, you are not connected in any way to any law enforcement offcials that would give you the freedom you seem to have given yourself.

Let me draw you a picture here: For a long time the internet has been refered to as a community of sorts. For the most part the denizons get along. You know, you have your dank, dark downtown area full of nude bars and peep shows, you have your uptown area full of malls and businesses, you have your suburbs, which is basically your standard everyday users. Let's center in on that for a minute.

Let's say that you and I have have our little terminals or houses next to one another. I have children, or spam, in this case, that like to run free. They go out and have fun, like kids do. Now, let's imagine that they keep running into your yard, like spam entering your mailbox against your will. Tell me, Mr. Vixie, what do you do?

Now, most people would raise a considerable amount of hell to me, and if that didn't work they'd build a fence around their yard. THIER yard. They wouldn't expand that fence to encompass my yard as well and keep my kids inside.

While the intentions of that idea are good, good intentions only take you so far. You keep doing that to keep the neighbor kids out of your yard, you're bound to piss your neighbors off.

Well, sir, that is what myself and your other neighbors here on the internet see you as guilty of. While we appreciate what you wish to do, you're stratching far beyond your constitutional rights to get your way. It's totally unrealistic and unfair to block people's access from entire servers for one miniscule site or user. Which brings me to my next point...

The first censorship example I have for you today is one of my favorite sites, WWW.JuicyCerebellum.COM. This is a situation that went not only awry, but also far out of control. Mr. Sandell was not guilty or spamming anyone and therefor outside of your jurisdiction, such as it exists. He wrote one editorial on the subject, which I'm very sorry to say, is not against any laws, and had far more happy readers than detractors. Your Mr. Iverson overstepped his bounds substantially by starting a vendetta against this site and neither of you have any right to have done what you have to this young man's site.

The internet is a free place, much like this is a free country, and, well, I learned to just deal with it when someone had an opinion that differed from mine. That simply means that we don't agree. It doesn't make me right any more than the other party. You know, sir, when I learned that? Elementary school. As I recall, second grade. This is a good many years later, and I'm pretty sure you're older than me, so why have you not learned it.

You, Al Iverson, and your little blackhole list stepped all over someone's constitutional rights without regard of whether you were wrong. In this democracy, every man has a right to his own opinion. You're allowed yours as much as Alex Sandell is his, but if you differ, leave it at that. You don't have any right to squelch him because you feel you're right. That's against the first amendment, amongst other things, and I'm told by legislators local to me, which just happens to be the D.C. area, that your tactics are illegal.

The 1920s have passed. There are no real gangsters anymore, and that includes you.

Which brings me back to my original point, while you and your organization play tyrannical overlord and ruin the many to get at the few, the poor slobs like myself here to enjoy the internet and what it has to offer are getting screwed.

Sure, spam is a pain, but it's probably worth reminding you that every e-mail box has a delete button. One click and it's gone. I think I'm a big enough boy to handle that on my own. You're not going to be able to stop spam. Not your way. Not without blackholing entire thing and blocking everything from everyone.

You insist you're not doing anything wrong, but you're not allowing anyone to tell you they don't need a hero and defending fiercely this thing you've created. Why such ferocity? I've found that anyone who defends their actions so strongly tend to know they're in the wrong about something.

I had the good fortune to read your responce to Jack Rickard's Boardwatch article. It had one point that confused me. "I have no idea what Mr. Rickard's editorial said, but I know he didn't ask me to participate or explain." You said that. Well, if you don't know what he said in his editorial, what are you defending so hard for?

I'm really sorry, Mr. Vixie. I really am. I don't know anything about you, where you grew up, what you were taught was right. I was raised jewish and I was taught that facism and those that practice it are bad. That's my opinion. I'm a little worried about sending this for fear of an ip trace and a black hole to myself, but if you're man enough to go on a which hunt, then I'm man enough to stand up and say I own a black cat. And I have an opinion. I hope the ten shillings a head the magistrate pays per witch is a good enough friend, sir, because there aren't many other people around who want that job.

So what I want to know is very simple. What are you trying to accomplish? And what is your right to do so in the manner that you have?

Maybe one day you'll find a good cause to believe in and shut down some child bestiality porn sites or something. I'm not afraid of spam, it's never harmed me, why are you so scared?
Sincerely,
Samuel Fagin

Updated 1-30-2000.