Update December 14, 1997: This is rather old stuff but it's still getting a lot of hits so I'm leaving it here.
-Sean
========
Newsgroups: alt.current-events.net-abuse
Subject: Re: zygon.com aka wolfe.net aka moneyworld.com
From: broudy@bcf.usc.edu (david broudy)
Date: Wed, 13 Dec 1995 09:45:22 -0800
In article <4akg4c$7hp@hopi.dtcc.edu>, andy@hopi.dtcc.edu (Andrew
Greenshields) wrote:
- I have been getting this junk email too. I called the company and
- toldthem it was a bad idea. They are new to the internet, at least
- that is what the customer service rep said when I asked him. If you
- have been receive junk email from Fred Sterling, I suggest you call
- Zygon International at 1(800)-33-LEARN (335-3276) and let them know
- that you would not like to receive any more mail from them. Also tell
- them what a bad idea it is to send out this kind of mail.
I got this twice... and as of today (Weds) they are no longer sending out
email according to the harried-sounding kid that answered the phone at
that 800 number. A small victory....
--
* http://www-bcf.usc.edu/~broudy/ *
* freelance web geek n tech writer *
========
Newsgroups: news.admin.net-abuse.misc,alt.current-events.net-abuse,alt.spam
Subject: Spam! ZYGON.COM, Fred Sterli[e]ng, Learning Machine, Wolfe
From: stacey@iapps.com (Stacey Curtis)
Date: 13 Dec 1995 17:05:12 GMT
In article <4ai5n9INNgr@ctron-news.ctron.com>
cristian@ctron.com (Eric Christian) writes:
> I received another junk email from fred@zygon.com today.
> Of course the From address was fred@zygn.com which doesn't
> exist. I've already warned them once not to send me any
> junk mail but they continue. I went to the web site and got their
> 800 number 1-800-33-LEARN. I talked to a customer support rep
> and complained about the junk email and she said she would remove
> my address. I then told her that it was illegal and unethical
> to market in this manner and she said she didn't know anything about
> this. I wish somebody with some time on their hands would push a
> lawsuit through. But until then, for the love of God: DON'T BUY THE
> LEARNING MACHINE! Does anyone else have any further information
> about these sleazy practices, or this company?
>
> Eric
I just did a morning's worth of research. Found out some very
interesting stuff.
People have written gobs of letters into news.admin.net-abuse.misc,
alt.current-events.net-abuse, and alt.spam about the emails
they've been getting from Zygon. Zygon's postings were made
to many newsgroups, as well as to personal email addresses,
using the "from" addresses of Fred.Sterling@zygn.com and Fred@
moneyworld.com. Fred Sterling has also appeared as Fred Stirling,
and has had an email address of Fred@zygon.com. (I sent a "test"
email to him this morning which hasn't bounced, yet, so this
address may be good.)
Mail from Zygon has come from zygon.com, zygn.com, and
moneyworld.com, and has come through wolfe.net, who gets its
access from Sprintlink.net. One poster said his research showed
that they are all in the same building. They are located in
Redmond, WA.
Whois requests for zygon.com and moneyworld.com have
yielded the additional contact names of Brett Thomas
(brett@splatdotsplat.com) and William Newell (willie@
moneyworld.com). I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for
responses from these addresses, though.
Zygon's president is Dane Spotts. Their product is Learning
Machine, which purports to be some kind of psychoactive
intelligence-enhancing instrument. A search for information
about them on several services yielded the facts that they
are blacklisted by the Council of Better Business Bureau's
National Advertising Division (case # 3147) and that on
December 5, 1995, the Attorney General of the state of
Washington filed a lawsuit against Zygon contending
that the product does not work and that it is being
sold as a medical device without approval from the U.S.
Food and Drug Administration. The case has been joined by
three other states, as well as one California county.
See the Associated Press article on December 5, 1995
("Zygon Is Sued By State").
The suit alleges that over 150 customers have requested
refunds and not received them. Most complaints allege
the machines did not work or had broken or missing
parts.
Zygon has several distributors. One is Kimball
Enterprises, located at
http://members.gnn.com/kimballg/zygon.htm.
The purveyer has obviously been contacted about the
spams, since she has a statement on the page that reads,
"We apologize for any 'net' screwups that have been made
by the corporate office and are looking into the matter
immediately!!!!! We are involved with Zygon Marketing as
Independent Distributors, and would never take
advantage of this media platform or newsgroups in any
way."
Another site, MindMax, at http://www.trytel.com/~gmaday/,
lists the Learning Machine in its Yahoo description,
although they don't name the machine depicted on its
page. They do, however, link to a site with information
about the "Mind Machine,"
(http://www.ecst.csuchico.edu/~andrewc/)
which looks just like the
product on the MindMax page. The "Mind Machine" is
purported to be made by Theta Technologies, located
at PO Box 130, Fall City, WA 98024,
Phone: 206-222-6962, Fax: 206-222-7413.
The connection between all of these companies is
obviously unclear, and I have not followed up on
most of these leads.
I did write a polite letter to Mark Dantche
(mark@wolfe.net), Vice President of wolfe.net,
telling him I was writing an article about
Zygon's spamming practices, and offering him
an opportunity to state his position
on Zygon. I revealed Zygon's practices to him in the
short letter, and cc'd Irving Wolfe, president
and founder of wolfe.net.
I quickly received a response from Mark, asking who
I wrote for, and stating, "we provide internet access
to a second party who is Zygons web provider. We do
not have Zygon as a customer of ours in any way.
Much of this confusion has been created because they chose
to move into this building so our addresses look alike."
I replied that I am a freelance writer, and that I
would like to know if they were surprised at the
information I had given them about Zygon, and asked
whether they planned to do anything about trying to
have their service dropped. (Being the provider to
Zygon's provider is still, quite obviously, far from
"not hav[ing] Zygon as a customer...in any way.")
In contrast to the speedy response to my first mail,
I have not yet received a response to my second. My
guess is that because I am not with one of the big
newpapers, they see no reason to communicate with me.
Perhaps Mr. Dantche is consulting with others before
sending a reply, however. Time will tell, and I will
post any new information I receive here.
Stacey Curtis
stacey@iapps.com
(I do not like Spam!)
========
Newsgroups: news.admin.net-abuse.misc,alt.current-events.net-abuse,alt.spam
Subject: Re: Spam! ZYGON.COM, Fred Sterli[e]ng, Learning Machine, Wolfe
From: josh@WOLFENET.COM (Joshua_Putnam)
Date: 14 Dec 1995 22:58:23 GMT
In <4an148$73o@news.cais.com> stacey@iapps.com (Stacey Curtis) writes:
>Mail from Zygon has come from zygon.com, zygn.com, and
>moneyworld.com, and has come through wolfe.net, who gets its
>access from Sprintlink.net. One poster said his research showed
>that they are all in the same building. They are located in
>Redmond, WA.
The address shown in the whois data is in downtown Seattle, not
Redmond, and houses all sorts of telecom providers and ISPs, not
just WolfeNet, Moneyworld, and Zygon. I have no idea where Zygon
itself is located, but having a computer in the Westin Building
doesn't imply any link to any of the other companies located
there -- it's just an ideal building for networking.
--
Josh@WolfeNet.com is Joshua Putnam / P.O. Box 13220 / Burton, WA 98013
"My other bike is a car."
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