American Politics Journal

Net Nazis: Born to Lose
How a Rogue 'Net "Police" Organization Is Hobbling Efforts to Stem the Tide of Junk Mail -- and What to Do About It
by Morrie Friendly

Friday, July 14, 2000 -- NEW YORK (APJNS) -- When a rogue and unregulated online organization called MAPS attempted to launch an electronic "blackhole" attack last month against American Politics Journal East Coast ISP, Atlantic Internet Technologies (http://www.exit109.com) of New Jersey, they had little idea that their conduct would put them on the radar of political junkies across the nation.

Our article on the original attack, The New Net Nazism Resurfaces, drew hundreds of e-mails, by a wide majority supportive of the position of American Politics Journal.

The good news is that the draconian tactics of MAPS failed completely -- the best they could "coerce' our owners and editors into doing was to do what they have done all along: run a confirmed opt-in e-mail list.

And this is MAPS' failure: the use of heavy-handed, guilt-assuming, bully-boy tactics worthy of Goebbels. The result: they have done little to stem the rising tide of unsolicited e-mail, and may in fact be hurting the effort.

The best and most successful strategies -- and one that wins the approval of many ISP managers -- are not coming from ersatz "grassroots groups" but from a new generation of e-entrepreneurs who are developing software-based methods of filtering, rerouting and eliminating spam at the ISP or mail server level. Many show tremendous promise, ranging from SurfAssured's "Chinese Wall" paradigm to Spamcop's rigorously-vetted process of blocking known abusive e-mail sources.

In an interesting development, American Politics Journal has learned from contacts in the U.S. Department of Justice that MAPS' tactics and conduct have made them the target of a federal investigation.

Among the many letters and e-mails received by American Politics Journal were those of companies and individuals who have fallen victim to MAPS. We have encouraged these people to take action:

Join an ISP that does not subscribe to the fascistic MAPS RBL.
Write to your representatives urging them to support legislation to limit extremist anti-Spammers -- and support entrepreneurial approaches to the unsolicited e-mail issue.
Contact the Justice Department and local FBI Computer Crimes agents if MAPS has attempted threats or coercion.

Should MAPS continue down the path of authoritarianism, they will continue to undermine the effort to eliminate unwanted e-mails from the in-boxes of those who do not want it -- and may well find their hands full in the civil and criminal courts.

It's not as if they shouldn't have seen it coming. With tactics reminiscent of Soviet and Nazi extremes, MAPS is born to lose -- maybe not tomorrow, but eventually