On Jul 26, 2013, at 10:04 AM, Patrick W. Gilmore <patrick@ianai.net> wrote:
Suggestion: Put tagged addresses and, if possible, phone numbers in your ARIN whois and other public records. When someone emails that address or calls that number, make sure you put them on a "never buy from" list, and they know it. Write them a physical (form) letter, explaining why, and make it public (web page, blog, whatever. If even a small percentage of people did this, many companies would change their practices. _Especially_ Internet companies.
And please ARIN me on your letter... We do send fairly nasty letters on occasion citing the Whois terms and conditions, this is done when it is clear from complaints that parties are mining Whois or the mailing list for spamming, but we need to know it is going on. (We also do have artifacts in the database which sometimes lets us occasionally catch this on own, but most reliable are reports from folks who know the email and/or phone abused only occurs on their Whois entry.) Thanks! /John John Curran President and CEO ARIN