--On Tuesday, May 07, 2002 6:04 PM -0400 Andy Dills <andy@xecu.net> wrote:
<...> Now, MAPS has filed a lawsuit against a former employee. Why? Because he might interfere with their ability to make money by giving away something for free that they charge for!
Your premise is inaccurate. Gordon had stated that he would be selling "his" DUL, not giving it away. MAPS has no objection to Gordon starting (or selling) his own dial-up list. We do object to Gordon copying internal MAPS files, and the database to his system, *while still an employee* and calling them his own. Regardless of claims to the contrary, there *is* no contract, There is an email discussing the future *writing* of a contract, and further mail from Gordon saying he didn't want to get into details. The matter was never discussed again, nor was a contract ever written. Despite this, MAPS returned to Gordon the data he came with. Again, despite the fact that no contract exists, MAPS also offered to let Gordon keep a copy of the database he had, and even use it to seed his own list, providing he sign an indemnity agreement just like any other entity with a copy of our data must sign. We also agreed to letting him continue to use the term "DUL" Gordon refused to sign that agreement. In lieu of signing that agreement, Gordon digitally signed a document stating that he had destroyed the data and other information he took from MAPS servers. Four days later, MAPS received email from *Gordon's attorney* stating that since the digitally signed email was not "executed" it was not valid, and there was no such data. Gordon admitted to two parties in email that he had a copy of the DUL, current as of the day he left MAPS. Gordon did offer to drop the issue if MAPS would pay him for every contract it writes. Data and other copyrighted material that had been created by MAPS staff (including but not limited to Gordon) had been removed from our system, without our knowledge or consent. The person in possession of the information refused to sign basically the same contract as all subscribers sign, and notified us, via an attorney that he would not honor his own digitally signed certification that the data had *already* been destroyed. Precisely what other course of action could MAPS take?
So, you who subscribe to MAPS: When will you be cancelling your subscriptions? It's no longer about stopping spam with them, now it's about money. FWIW, the other blacklists out there are just as good. I particularly like njabl.org.
For those wishing to actually *read* the filings before passing judgement: http://mail-abuse.org/dul_info/ -- =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Margie Arbon Mail Abuse Prevention System, LLC Director of Operations margie@mail-abuse.org http://mail-abuse.org