it's spam. in my humble opinion, paul, they should be warned that they are in danger of being added to the blackhole list...if and only because so many of us DO have to rely on them.
we don't rely on the server they use to send this spam, though. if we have to blackhole that one server, it will NOT affect their registry functions. a little bit of work with "show ip bgp" on a core router will demonstrate that "netsol" and "internic" have different connectivity -- different address blocks, different autonomous system numbers, and different transit connections. fyi, we're now in discussions with their sales/marketing management. they have agreed to stop sending this type of mail until at least the conclusion of our discussions with them. i view this as the best possible outcome, far better than blackholing them. (though that possibility still exists, if they won't change their marketing practices.) now as to whether they own the data they resell, or whether they're abusing public funds or trust, or whether they're trying to take over the internet, hell i don't know any more than the rest of you. but those are not the reasons they'd be blackholed so i don't need to know any more than i do. -- Paul Vixie <paul@vix.com>