Harris, describing itself as the global leader in online market research, claims that it does not spam, and does not approve of spam. It accuses both AOL and Netscape of using passive methods to recruit members, while to get on Harris' email lists, panellists must actively opt-in, and are then given the opportunity to opt out after receiving a welcoming email. Harris used to use the passive or de-select option for list building, whereby users who registered had to de-select a box to stop being added to the list. Last year, this was changed to an opt-in system.
MAPS under fire
MAPS is a rather laid-back non-profit organisation based in California; it gets its income from ISPs in return for identifying spammers, so that the ISPs can block access to them. Harris says that MAPS applies its rules unevenly, taking a more lenient attitude to spam from its financial supporters. MAPS view is that spamming is a theft of service, and it bluntly suggests that spammers use "lying conmen" for their public relations. MAPS wants a double opt-in procedure whereby participants first have to sign up actively and then confirm their participation in subsequent email, so that all communications are "mutually consensual".
Users not liking the anti-spamming policy of their ISP should of course be able to switch easily to another, if they feel strongly enough about it. But if most significant ISPs use an anti-spamming information service like MAPS, the problem arises that users may be denied choice. Harris says MAPS consists of "a few self-appointed zealots [who] cannot be dictators of standards that affect hundreds of millions of people and billions of dollars of commerce", that it is unregulated, and that it uses different standards for spamming by the ISPs who fund it.
There's no doubt that the MAPS blacklist is an effective way of preventing spammers, and in most cases it works to the advantage of nearly everybody but the spammers. Professional spammers often use relay spammers to forward spam, although if MAPS blacklists the relay operator, its access is usually restored in 10 to 20 days if it deals with the matter that caused the complaint to the satisfaction of MAPS.
The fact that there have been no serious legal challenges until the Harris case (other than last week, when Yesmail.com obtained an injunction to remove it from the blacklist, while a settlement was negotiated) suggests that its work is generally appreciated. MAPS has been somewhat cocky about the legal threats it gets (and even has a web page entitled "How to sue MAPS"), perhaps because it is bankrolled by ISPs. The legal advice it has received is that the result of any action would very much depend on the judge assigned to the case. ISPs are often legally active against spammers: AOL says it has received substantial damages and injunctions against future spamming in more than 40 cases it has brought.
Spam's shapes and sizes
The primary spam, MAPS says, consists of advertisements for spamming services, followed by sex chat lines which MAPS says might include "schoolgirls doing things which are usually illegal for schoolgirls to do" (so you can see why some users might prefer an ISP that doesn't act as a spamming censor). Then there's pyramid selling schemes, and a host of self-improvement, "health", and other offerings that MAPS describes as "a darkly humorous silent commentary on the sad state of human relations".
Of the Harris suit, MAPS said that it was "insane" and that Harris was "trying to take away Microsoft's and AOL's rights to do business with whomever they want, and trying to force all of us to let them send unsolicited traffic across our networks". MAPS claims that Harris was sending email to people who didn't want it, and refused to change its procedures to stop this. AOL would only say that Harris' case had no merit.
Dallas-based Digital Marketing Services is now wholly owned by AOL and has the exclusive right to recruit respondents from AOL's membership. Visitors to AOL's Opinion Place are asked some demographic questions and then randomly selected for a survey, after which they are blocked for three months to participating in other surveys. Participants in DMS surveys get credits towards the AOL online fees, which has led to concern as to whether respondents were just after the incentive.
The situation became murkier when AOL started insisting that all its merchants had to agree to a post-purchase survey scheme provided by BizRate.com whereby purchasers could express their views about their satisfaction with the merchant, with the results being posted publicly. BizRate likes to think of itself as a trusted intermediary, but it derives its revenue from selling the rich data it obtains from its respondents to the merchants, perhaps without consumers fully realising this.
This saga does not appear to be simply one of the anti-spammer David versus the spammer Goliath, but is more likely a scrap between rival pollsters. A related problem is that in some cases (not this one apparently), it is too easy for market researchers to sell the buying intentions of respondents to merchants for online selling - or even for the pollster to sell directly, perhaps under another name. It may also be that AOL itself never considered the possible adverse effect on Harris of blacklisting it, and the consequent advantage to its DMS subsidiary.
A problem that does need to be addressed is the accountability of MAPS, which is unregulated. Nearly everyone would like spam to be suppressed, but there needs to be clear worldwide rules and enforcement. A first step was at last taken when the US House of Representatives passed the first anti-spam Bill last month by 427-1 (the Unsolicited Electronic Mail Act), which will require spammers to include a return email address and allow opt-out from future emailing, or face the wrath of the FTC). US law alone could not prevent the more despised US spammers going offshore and continuing their work, so regulation needs to be considered carefully. Meanwhile, any possibility of MAPS being faced with a conflict of interest if its own paymasters spam should be stopped as a matter of urgency.
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2613227,00.html
AOL lifts Harris out of 'black hole'
By Ben Charny, ZDNNAugust 8, 2000 4:07 PM PT
Harris Interactive has dropped America Online Inc. from a lawsuit claiming that several ISPs had blocked e-mail from the high-profile polling company.
AOL was one of a number of companies that Harris sued weeks ago, claiming companies like Microsoft's Hotmail, Juno and others unfairly kept messages from reaching its poll respondents.
Most of the companies named in the suit were subscribers to the Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS), an influential private group that put Harris on its "black hole list" of spammers. More than 20,000 ISPs, corporations and government agencies subscribe to the list.
On Tuesday, Harris said AOL has apparently switched ISPs from AboveNet -- which subscribes to MAPS -- to one not affiliated with the influential industry watchdog.
In a separate development, a federal judge refused Harris's request to enjoin the ISPs from blocking the e-mail traffic. A judge is scheduled to hear additional arguments on Aug. 24.
MAPS spokeswoman Kelly Thompson called the judge's decision an "important first round victory for us."
AOL could not be immediately reached for comment. A MAPS spokesman had no immediate comment on the case either.
Harris is still suing other ISPs, including Qwest Communications International Inc., and MAPS, which is continuing to block up to one-third of the six million e-mail messages Harris regularly sends to poll participants.
Harris alleges it was added the black hole list because of a bogus "complaint" from a competitor and a separate complaint by managing member of MAPS.
"Today marks a major first step in our effort to ensure full protection against unfair and undemocratic practices that can emerge," Black said in a prepared statement.
MAIL ABUSE PREVENTION SYSTEMS (MAPS) Contact: Kelly Thompson or Peter Popovich, 650-779-7087, or
email [email protected] JUDGE DENIES TRO IN HARRIS v. MAPS CASE For Immediate Release Redwood City, CA, August 8, 2000 -- Mail Abuse Prevention System
(MAPS), the Redwood City based anti-spam organization will be
allowed to keep Harris Interactive listed in their Realtime
Blackhole List (RBL), according to a ruling today in which Harris
Interactive's request for a temporary restraining order (TRO) was
denied. "This is an important first-round victory for us", said MAPS
spokesperson Kelly Thompson. "The Judge realized that Harris'
claim of irreparable harm to their business from being placed in
the RBL wasn't as strong as they had claimed. Harris themselves
admit that they are still able to send email to a large percentage of
their survey base." Added Thompson, "Russo and Hale, our Palo
Alto attorneys, did a great job of getting that across to the Judge." MAPS maintains a series of databases, including the RBL,
containing the Internet addresses of Internet sites which do not
follow MAPS' suggested email abuse policies. Subscribers to
MAPS' services can utilize the information in the RBL to decide
whether to block email which originates from these sites, thereby
greatly reducing the amount of unwanted email traffic which
enters their system. Peter Popovich, Director of Online Operations for MAPS, explained
"Harris was, and is, in the RBL because we have received ongoing
complaints from people who continue to receive unwanted email
from Harris - email for which they had never signed up in the first
place. All Harris had to do to get out of the RBL was to commit to
expunging those addresses from their mailings lists, or to not use
those tainted lists. That's still all that they need to do." Thompson added "Our position is still that we have an absolute
First Amendment right to publish our opinions about an
organization's practices, just like a restaurant critic, or Consumer
Reports. And other organizations have an absolute right to make
their own, independent decisions after reviewing our opinions. We
don't dictate to anybody what they should or should not do with
that information, that is up to them." MAPS also announced that they have retained the internet
litigation department of Arent Fox, and that Arent Fox attorney
Michael Grow, who successfully litigated the AOL v. Cyberpromo
case, will be working on the case. About MAPS For additional comments, please call Kelly Thompson or Peter
Popovich at 650-779-7087, or send email to [email protected]
Harris Interactive has dropped its charges against America Online Inc. after the Internet Service Provider restored Harris' communications capabilities. After being listed on the Mail Abuse Prevention System's (MAPS) Realtime Blackhole List (RBL) of alleged spammers, AOL had blocked Harris Interactive's communications. Litigation against other defendants named in the case including Microsoft's HotMail and Quest, who have both blocked Harris communications based on the recommendation from the RBL, will continue. "We are pleased with AOL's action and their swift understanding of the magnitude of this issue," Gordon Black, CEO of Harris Interactive, said in a statement. "Today marks a major first step in our effort to ensure full protection against unfair and undemocratic practices that can emerge as a result of self-regulation by organizations such as MAPS." In a separate action, Harris' request for a temporary restraining order to prevent MAPS from listing it on the RBL was denied yesterday, MAPS said in a statement. "This is an important first-round victory for us," said MAPS spokeswoman Kelly Thompson. "The judge realized that Harris' claim of irreparable harm to their business from being placed in the RBL wasn't as strong as they had claimed. Harris themselves admit that they are still able to send e-mail to a large percentage of their survey base." Peter Popovich, director of online operations for MAPS, said that "Harris was, and is, in the RBL because we have received ongoing complaints from people who continue to receive unwanted e-mail from Harris, mail for which they had never signed up in the first place. All Harris had to do to get out of the RBL was to commit to expunging those addresses from their mailings lists, or to not use those tainted lists. That's still all that they need to do." Harris Interactive, an Internet market research firm based in Rochester, NY, filed a lawsuit July 31 against the prominent ISPs that had blocked the firm from corresponding with some 2.7 million of its 6.6 million panelists, including about 600,000 who had participated in online research. The block also prevents some parties from accessing Harris Interactive's Web sites and joining its Interactive panel. (See DIRECT Newsline Aug. 1, "ISPs Sued Over Blacklist.") The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York, seeks injunctive relief and significant monetary damages. The ISPs all subscribe to the Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC's, RBL. MAPS, a Redwood City, CA-based Internet watchdog group, is also named in the suit. Harris Interactive also named in the suit its competitor market research firm, Incon, and its president, Martin Roth, accusing them of "nominating" Harris Interactive for the RBL.
http://siliconvalley.internet.com/news/article/0,,3531_434061,00.html
August 9, 2000
It's a volley in semantics that has one side claiming foul and the other claiming first amendment, and it's a court battle where the defendant list looks more like a Who's Who online than just another saga in the spam wars.
In a high profile email abuse proceeding, online market research firm Harris Interactive is suing Redwood City-based Mail Abuse Prevention Systems (MAPS) for putting the company on its Realtime Blackhole List (RBL), a list of companies accused of electronic mail abuse. Shortly after it was listed, a number of Internet service providers (ISPs), including those owned by Microsoft, Netscape, AltaVista, and AOL, subsequently blocked Harris from emailing its members.
"Because MAPS put us on their RBL there were a number of ISPs who began blocking our mail to our registered panel members (the recipients of Harris' surveys and polls), and they effectively cut us off from talking to about 40% of our panel," says Dan Hucko VP, Director of Marketing Communications at Harris Interactive. "As you may imagine, that severely started to impact our ability to conduct our business."
Though a judge struck down Harris's call for a temporary restraining order against MAPS yesterday, a suit in which Harris is seeking extended compensatory damages is soon to follow, with Microsoft, Netscape, and AltaVista just a few of the ISPs listed in the case along with MAPS. AOL was dropped from the list of defendants today, after Hucko says his company was once again cleared to email AOL members.
Best known for its Harris Poll, Harris Interactive has more than more than 6.5 million online panelists from many walks of life registered in its database. The company acquires its panelists through a network of 26 Web sites that host a "panelist application form", a profiling form each new member must fill out and email to Harris if they want to become a panel member.
The problem, says MAPS spokesperson Peter Popovich, arises in how Harris ensures those applications are in fact legitimate.
"The process is fairly simple," says Popovich. "When you get an application, you send an email asking the recipient if they actually want to receive the mail. Then you say something to the effect of, 'If you don't want our mail, don't do anything, just ignore this and you won't get anymore.'"
The difference? Harris requires new users to click on a link in their email if they have been added in error.
"That process, in the fact that Harris doesn't wait for a confirmation, is flawed," says Popovich. "It does result in unsolicited bulk commercial email, so it does result in spam, and we received several complaints about Harris's tactics."
Where those complaints came from is another bone of contention between the two companies, and a confusing one at that. Hucko says the suit originally developed when Martin Ross, CEO at Incon Research (a Harris competitor), filed a complaint with MAPS and requested the company be placed on its RBL. Popovich, on the other hand, says the first complaint originated from a user somewhere in Russia last December. No one from Incon had returned internet.com's phone calls by press time to verify Hucko's claim, and Popovich could only say that, to the best of his knowledge, Ross was only a minor player in the case.
"For us it is a First Amendment issue," says Popovich. "We document people who do not follow the basic practices that we consider to be acceptable."
"We are not spammers," counters Hucko. "We do not rent out email lists or send out mass invitations to participate in our surveys. The only ways someone can get email from us is if they have registered with us."
The case will be moving into the discovery phase in the coming weeks, with Harris asking the courts to scrutinize MAPS' RBL policy.
"This is First Amendment speech," says Popovich about the RBL. "What other ISPs do with [our documentation] is up to them."
http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2626039,00.html
Both Juno Online Services Inc. and BellSouth Corp. have stopped blocking e-mail from Harris Interactive, handing the online pollster another victory in its battle with the influential Mail Abuse Prevention System.
In exchange, the two were dismissed from a lawsuit Harris filed two months ago against dozens of Internet providers who had blocked nearly 40 percent of its e-mail.
Following the new settlements, announced Friday, just two percent of the pollster's e-mail was being blocked. Microsoft Corp. lifted its ban on Hotmail accounts after settling with Harris on Thursday. America Online Inc. was dropped from the lawsuit last month after making a similar agreement.
Although Harris had asked for significant damages, the settlement terms did not provide for any money changing hands.
Although the Harris lawsuit listed dozens of Internet service providers (ISPs), its real target was the "black hole" list published by the Mail Abuse Prevention System, known as MAPS. The list is read by hundreds of different companies, many of which automatically block e-mail from anyone on the list.
In its lawsuit, however, Harris Interactive claimed the complaints were bogus, one having come from a Harris competitor and the other from a former MAPS employee.
MAPS, which remains part of the lawsuit, has denied the allegations. And a MAPS spokeswoman, reached Friday, had no comment on the ISP settlements.
Aiming for the top
"MAPS started with a great idea, but they went too far," said Ben Black, from Harris, who has been handling negotiations between Harris and the ISPs.
The suit was the first to go after ISPs as well as MAPS, Black said. As a result, the complaints got the attention of high-level executives who normally wouldn't have gotten involved in such matters.
"Many of them weren't even aware that our e-mails were being blocked," Black said. "The legal area was uncharted. No large corporation likes to wade into unknown legal waters."
To be removed from its list, MAPS demanded that Harris adopt what is known as "double opt-in," in which poll respondents have to twice confirm that they want to participate in the poll.
Nearly half of the Harris Poll participants are registered when they sign up for Hotmail, for instance. They have to opt out in order to be removed from its e-mail lists.
But "23 of the top 25 Web sites don't use the double opt-in," Black said. "By MAPS standards, 23 of the 25 Web sites should be blocked."
MAIL ABUSE PREVENTION SYSTEMS (MAPS) Contact: Kelly Thompson, 650-779-7087, or
email [email protected]
HARRIS v. MAPS CASE STILL GOING STRONG For Immediate Release Redwood City, CA, September 8, 2000 -- Mail Abuse
Prevention System (MAPS), the Redwood City based anti-spam
organization said today that it will continue to
vigorously defend its right to publish its opinions as to
the spamming activities of various Internet sites in the
lawsuit filed against MAPS by Harris Interactive, despite
Harris having let defendants America Online and
Microsoft's Hotmail out of the suit after they each agreed
to allow email from Harris onto their systems. In July, industry giant Harris Interactive sued MAPS, and
several other companies, including AOL, Hotmail, Juno, and
AltaVista, in an effort to force the companies to accept
email from Harris, and deliver it to their subscribers.
MAPS was sued for its activities in maintaining and
publishing a database of the Internet addresses of
organizations known for not following its recommended
policies on best email practices. "Basically Harris was and is not being a good Internet
citizen," said Kelly Thompson, RBL Project Manager, and
Spokesperson for MAPS. "They insist on using dirty email
lists, which contain the email addresses of people who do
not want to receive their email, and who did not
themselves sign up to receive email from Harris". MAPS maintains a series of databases, including the
"Realtime Blackhole List" (RBL), containing the Internet
addresses of Internet sites which do not follow MAPS'
suggested email abuse policies. Subscribers to MAPS'
services can block email which originates from these
sites, thereby greatly reducing the amount of unwanted
email traffic which enters their system. "We are absolutely fine with Hotmail and AOL deciding to
let Harris email enter their system" continued Thompson.
"In fact this is how our system was designed to work, and
it confirms our position in this lawsuit! MAPS does not
dictate policy to anybody - we simply publish a list of
Internet addresses known to originate or enable spam -
what the individual Internet service providers
("ISPs")choose do with that information is up to them.
They can choose to block email from those addresses, or,
as AOL and Hotmail have done, they can choose to accept
it. Perhaps now that Harris sees that MAPS does not
control whether their email is accepted or rejected by the
ISPs, they will realize that suing us makes very little
sense indeed. We are entitled to publish our opinion, and
in fact are guaranteed a right to do so by the First
Amendment." About MAPS For additional comments, please call Kelly Thompson at
650-779-7087, or send email to [email protected]
Anti-spam organization, Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS), plans to vigorously defend its right to publish its Realtime Blackhole List (RBL) in the lawsuit filed against it in July by Harris Interactive. The announcement came after two prominent Internet service providers, also named in the suit, reversed their decisions to block e-mail transmissions to millions of Harris Interactive's online panelists based on MAPS' opinion that Harris Interactive was a spammer. MAPS' RBL of alleged spammers is subscribed to by numerous ISPs that monitor the list and then decide whether or not to block mail from those listed. "MAPS plans to continue to publish its opinions[the RBL] as to the spamming activities of various Internet sites," Kelly Thompson, RBL project manager for MAPS said in a statement. "Basically Harris was and is not being a good Internet citizen. They insist on using dirty e-mail lists, which contain the e-mail addresses of people who do not want to receive their e-mail, and who did not themselves sign up to receive e-mail from Harris". Last week, Microsoft's Hotmail, one of a number of prominent ISPs named in the lawsuit, reached a settlement with Rochester, NY-based online polling company, Harris Interactive and restored its service. And last month America Online Inc., also named in the suit, agreed to restore Harris Interactive's communications capabilities. "Microsoft took a look at what we were sending and said 'this looks okay to us, we're going to send the mail back through,'" Dan Hucko, a spokesman for Harris Interactive said yesterday. The ISPs had blocked e-mail transmissions to some 2.7 million of Harris Interactive's 6.6 million online panelists. Other defendants named in the case include Quest Communications International Inc., Bellsouth.net Inc., Juno Online Services Inc. and Zoomnet Inc." MAPS does not dictate policy to anybody," Thompson said. "We simply publish a list of Internet addresses known to originate or enable spam and what the individual Internet service providers choose do with that information is up to them. They can choose to block e-mail from those addresses, or, as AOL and Hotmail have done, they can choose to accept it. This is how our system was designed to work, and it confirms our position in this lawsuit." In July, Harris Interactive filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District court for the Eastern District of New York, seeking injunctive relief and significant monetary damages. Also named in the suit is Harris Interactive's competitor, market research firm, Incon, and its president, Martin Roth, accusing them of "nominating" Harris Interactive for the RBL.
Harris Interactive, Rochester, NY, has voluntarily discontinued its lawsuit against anti-spam group, Mail Abuse Prevention System and a number of prominent Internet service providers. "We sued to open communication with our respondents and that goal was accomplished," Gordon S. Black, chairman and CEO of Harris Interactive said yesterday in a statement. "Continuation of the suit is not in our shareholders' best interests." The suit had been filed in July after Redwood City-based MAPS listed Harris Interactive on its Realtime Blackhole List (RBL) of alleged spammers and a number of ISPs that subscribe to the list blocked transmissions to millions of Harris Interactive's online panelists. Kelly Thompson, project manager for the RBL, told DIRECT Newsline last night that MAPS was "pleased" that Harris dropped the lawsuit, but that it would remain listed on the RBL. "Nothing in the company's press release says that they are going to fix the problem," Thompson said. "As soon as they are willing to work with us to fix the problem, we'll be happy to remove them from the RBL." It was unclear last night whether legal action was also dropped against Harris Interactive competitor, market research firm, Incon, and its president, Martin Roth, accusing them of "nominating" Harris Interactive for the RBL. Harris Interactive said that following discussions with the ISPs, 98% of its communications to its panelists had been restored. "Harris Interactive uses industry standard e-mail practices and we will continue to protect the rights of our panelists to communicate freely with us," Black said. "We continue to believe that creation and enforcement of e-mail standards by proper public authorities is necessary to the future development of the Internet." Prior to Harris Interactive's decision to drop its lawsuit, several high profile ISPs named in the suit had reversed their decisions to block the firm's e-mail. Last week, Microsoft's Hotmail reached a settlement with the online polling company and last month America Online Inc. agreed to restore its service. Both Juno Online Service Inc. and BellSouth.net Inc. reportedly also agreed to restore service. The combined ISPs had blocked e-mail transmissions to some 2.7 million of Harris Interactive's 6.6 million online panelists. Other defendants named in the case include Quest Communications International Inc., and Zoomnet Inc. Harris Interactive filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, seeking injunctive relief and significant monetary damages.
News Story
Online market research firm Harris Interactive
[NASDAQ:HPOL] confirmed that it has dropped a lawsuit that it
earlier took out against a number of Internet service providers (ISPs)
and the maintainer of a list of spammers. Harris launched the Federal Court action in July against Microsoft
[NASDAQ:MSFT], America Online Inc. [NYSE:AOL],
telecommunications firm Qwest Communications International
[NYSE:Q], and others, alleging that the companies blocked access
to e-mail surveys sent out by Harris to Internet users taking part in
the company's polls. Harris Interactive had been included in a list maintained by Mail
Abuse Prevention System LLC (MAPS), a not-for-profit spam
prevention service used by many ISPs and network operators. The company said it had been unfairly added to the MAPS
"Realtime Blackhole List," which ISPs may review and use to
reduce the amount unsolicited mass e-mail passing through their
systems. Harris Interactive said today it had voluntarily dropped the lawsuit
after discussions with ISPs opened up the company's service to
its e-mail list of recipients once again. "We sued to open communication with our respondents and that
goal was accomplished. Continuation of the suit is not in our
shareholders' best interests," said Gordon S. Black, chairman
and CEO of Harris Interactive in a statement. Reported By Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com.
http://www.adlawbyrequest.com/inthecourts/MAPS2.shtml
ADLAW By Request
Harris Interactive’s recent suit against the Mail Abuse Prevention System (MAPS) and a number of large ISPs appears to be working. Following on the heels of AOL’s decision in favor of Harris several weeks ago, Juno Online Services, BellSouth, and Microsoft, owner of Hotmail and MSN, agreed to remove Harris from their list of spammers. Harris can now once again freely send email to the customers of those ISPs. Immediately upon restoration of Harris’ mailing rights, the pollster dropped the three companies from its list of defendants. Harris executive Ben Black expressed concern about MAPS. "MAPS started with a great idea, but they went too far," he told Ziff-Davis Net News. In fact, according to Black, a number of ISPs that use MAPS did not even realize that the system was blocking Harris’s messages. Despite the defection of many of its largest customers, MAPS still refuses to remove Harris from its "Realtime Blackhole List", an automated system that blocks email from blacklisted companies that send commercial email. MAPS has stated that it will unblock Harris only if it adopts a double opt-in system for its emails, rather than its current opt-out procedure. According to Harris’s complaint, its addition to the Blackhole List was the result of a dirty trick by one of its competitors and an overzealous former MAPS employee. After the company was added to the list, 40% of its emails were blocked. Had Harris not been able to force ISPs to reinstate its privileges, the ban could have caused serious long-term damage to its ability to conduct polls. "It’s now full speed ahead and business as usual," said Gordon Black, CEO of Harris. Why This Matters: MAPS’ "Blackhole List" can be a valuable tool for preventing the abusive use of unsolicited commercial email. Unfortunately, Harris’s problems prove that it can also be misused to punish innocent companies. The decision of three more major ISPs to allow Harris to once again send email polls to the ISPs’ customers should force ISPs that use MAPS to monitor the companies that they block more carefully.
Harris Interactive dropped charges against America Online last month
after the Internet service provider restored Harris' communications
capabilities. AOL had blocked Harris after it was listed on Mail
Abuse Prevention Systems' (MAPS) Realtime Blackhole List of alleged
spammers. At press time, the company said litigation against other defendants
named in the case including Microsoft's Hotmail and Quest, which have
both blocked Harris communications based on the recommendation from
the RBL, will continue. "We are pleased with AOL's action and its swift understanding of the
magnitude of this issue," said Harris Interactive CEO Gordon Black in
a statement. "[This is] a major first step in our effort to ensure
full protection against unfair and undemocratic practices that can
emerge as a result of self-regulation by organizations such as MAPS." In a separate action, Harris' request for a temporary restraining
order to prevent Redwood City, CA-based Internet watchdog group MAPS
from listing it on the RBL was denied, MAPS said in a statement. "This is an important first-round victory for us," said MAPS
spokeswoman Kelly Thompson. "The judge realized that Harris' claim of
irreparable harm to its business from being placed in the RBL wasn't
as strong as it had claimed. Harris itself admits that it is still
able to send e-mail to a large percentage of its survey base." MAPS director of online operations Peter Popovich said, "Harris was
and is in the RBL because we have received ongoing complaints from
people who continue to receive unwanted e-mail from Harris - mail for
which they had never signed up in the first place. All Harris had to
do to get off the RBL was to commit to expunging those addresses from
their mailing lists or to not use those tainted lists. That's still
all that it needs to do." Harris Interactive, an Internet market research firm based in
Rochester, NY, filed a lawsuit July 31 against the prominent ISPs
that had blocked the firm from corresponding with some 2.7 million of
its 6.6 million panelists, including about 600,000 who had
participated in online research, the company said. The block also
prevents some parties from accessing Harris' Web sites and joining
its interactive panel. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for
the Western District of New York, seeks injunctive relief and
significant monetary damages. MAPS is also named in the suit, as is Harris Interactive's competitor
market research firm Incon and its president Martin Roth. All are
accused of "nominating" Harris Interactive for the RBL.
Harris Interactive drops its suit against MAPS, leaving a trail of unanswered questions Harris Interactive ended its lawsuit against Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC and numerous Internet service providers last month, but the outcome is unlikely to satisfy anyone. Redwood City, CA-based MAPS didn't end up with the decision it had hoped for - one that would let it continue to identify alleged spammers on its Realtime Blackhole List (RBL). At the same time, Harris, of Rochester, NY, was unable to cripple MAPS, as some DM observers hoped it would do. But Harris did win one point before dropping the case: Some of the 12 Internet service providers (ISPs) named as defendants agreed that the research firm was no spammer and restored service, despite its listing on the RBL. Harris was able to restore communications to 98% of its online panelists. Harris filed the lawsuit in July at n the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, seeking injunctive relief and monetary damages, after it was listed on the RBL. The RBL is monitored by numerous ISPs that can, elect to block e-mail communications from those listed. The ensuing shutdown can put a company out of business. Another question raised by the suit - but not yet litigated - is whether a firm should be listed on the RBL based on the nomination of a competitor. Harris also named Martin Roth, a principal at Incon Research Inc., a Norwalk, CT-based market research firm, as a defendant in the case, saying that he had nominated Harris for the RBL. Roth is a competitor, Harris alleged. Roth had no comment on the case, but MAPS officials acknowledge that Roth nominated Harris for the RBL after allegedly being spammed by Harris, and that he is a member of MAPS' SWAT team, a group of volunteers that handle spam targeted at staff and board members. Incon also promotes its subscription to the RBL on the home page of its Web site. But Kelly Thompson, project manager for the RBL, argued that Roth is not a competitor to Harris. "They are in the same field," she said. "I don't know if I would characterize them as direct competitors." Another issue is the type of investigations MAPS conducts when nominations are made. Are they thorough, or arbitrary? Officials from MAPS have said that comprehensive investigations are executed and alleged spammers are given numerous opportunities to comply with MAPS' code of confirmed opt-in for all e-mail transmissions. In the Harris case, a systems administrator from Russia, Gene Sokolov, was the first to say he had been spammed by Harris. Thompson said MAPS took Sokolov at his word that he had received the unsolicited e-mail, and based on that complaint, Harris was briefly listed on the RBL last December. Then two others said they were spammed - Roth, and Nick Nicholas, a former staff director of policy and communications for MAPS. (Nicholas, an employee at the time of the listing, was also named in the lawsuit). Roth was assigned by MAPS to investigate alleged the spamming by Harris, which ultimately resulted in the July listing, Thompson said. Ben Black, vice president of Internet business development at Harris, questioned whether the parties were spammed. He said the company has a record of where every person came from, and where and when they signed up. As a result of the RBL listing, the combined ISPs named as defendants in the lawsuit blocked e-mail transmissions to some 2.7 million of Harris's 6.6 million online panelists. Prior to Harris's decision to drop its lawsuit, several of the ISPs had reversed their decisions to block the firm's e-mail, including Microsoft's Hotmail and America Online Inc. (which does not subscribe to the RBL). "We researched it and we believe that our anti-spamming effort was not compromised by this agreement to allow Harris e-mail to reach our Hotmail users," said Jim Cullinan, a spokesman for Microsoft. One thing's for sure, though: MAPS is sticking to its guns. Thompson said that the group was "pleased" that Harris dropped the lawsuit, but that it would remain listed on the RBL until it complied with MAPS' rules.
http://www.dmnews.com/articles/2000-10-02/10802.html
Monday, October 2, 2000
Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC has accused Harris Interactive of orchestrating a complicated exit strategy from its lawsuit against the anti-spam group after Harris realized there was little chance it could win.
MAPS said Internet pollster Harris, Rochester, NY, tried to negotiate an out-of-court settlement in bad faith, and the group called into question Harris' claims that it is now able to reach some 98 percent of its 6.6 million e-mail database.
"It would seem that the only thing which Harris has accomplished was getting one, possibly two, ISPs out of more than a dozen ISP defendants to start accepting their e-mail traffic, something which they could quite possibly have done without the expense and complication of filing a lawsuit," stated MAPS, Redwood City, CA, in a detailed, three-page account.
However, Harris Interactive's vice president of Internet business, Ben Black, contended that MAPS was the unfair negotiator and insisted the case was a success.
"Understand that without AOL and Microsoft, MAPS has no teeth -- they only reach less than 2 percent of our database," Black said. "No other ISPs matter."
In late July, Harris sued MAPS and about a dozen Internet service providers, including America Online, Hotmail and Juno Online Services. The lawsuit asked the court to prevent MAPS from placing Harris on the Realtime Blackhole List, a compilation of accused spammers. Within a week, Harris dropped AOL from the suit, claiming it could suddenly reach AOL e-mail addresses.
MAPS charged that Harris took AOL out of the suit "almost immediately" because AOL does not use the RBL, and any blocking of Harris e-mail was done by AOL on its own. Harris initially said it reached an agreement with AOL but then backpedaled, issuing a second statement that there was no settlement but that it believed AOL was now accepting its e-mail.
According to Black, AOL was removed once contact was re-established with all AOL paying customers.
"When we filed the lawsuit, we were not in communication with many of them," he said. "Once that communication was re-established, they were dropped."
On Aug. 8, after the court denied Harris' request for a temporary restraining order, Harris amended its complaint to seek compensatory damages from MAPS for the RBL listing, and from a dozen ISPs for choosing to block Harris' e-mails based on MAPS' spam guidelines. One month later, Harris and Hotmail reached an out-of-court agreement whereby Harris would drop Hotmail from the suit and, in turn, its e-mail would no longer be blocked. On Sept. 13, Harris dropped all charges.
Meanwhile, MAPS claims that though Harris reached an agreement with Hotmail, the e-mail service did not stop subscribing to the RBL.
After the Harris/Hotmail agreement, MAPS said Harris' attorneys contacted the anti-spam group about a settlement. They spoke briefly and were unable to reach an agreement. But within hours, Harris issued a press release stating its plans to dismiss the case, according to MAPS.
"Even though they used the word 'settlement,' the tone of the conversation between the attorneys was much more one of, 'If you agree to keep us out of the RBL forever, we will drop our suit,' " said Anne Mitchell, MAPS director of legal and public affairs.
However, Harris claims MAPS was the one that made costly demands that it knew Harris would never accept.
Paul Vixie, MAPS founder and managing partner, said Harris CEO Gordon Black wanted an exemption from the MAPS RBL rules, which demand verified opt-in registrations, on the basis that the American political process requires open polling among non-self-selecting respondents.
"To Mr. [Gordon] Black, the MAPS standard of fully verified opt-in was invalidative of his polling data. He needs to send unsolicited e-mail in order to be sure he's getting an accurate political sampling," Vixie said.
Ben Black insisted that Harris does not send unsolicited e-mail and claimed that Gordon Black was never directly involved in the negotiations. He said MAPS' comments about its research methods were "ludicrous" and an attempt to hurt Harris because the pollster fought back against the RBL listing.
In the end, MAPS was ready to file a motion for dismissal that would have argued that Harris had no case and that the U.S. District Court in Rochester had no jurisdiction over the California-based MAPS.
As a result, MAPS contends, Harris believed its best exit strategy would be to dismiss the case and put a "positive spin" on the event. MAPS said it did not receive official notification of the dismissal until more than one week after the Sept. 13 announcement.
The timing "ensured that MAPS could not only not tell the press first about a conclusion to the case (or their motion to dismiss), but which in fact ensured that MAPS could not even respond from a place of knowledge to the Harris release for more than a week, giving Harris several days of unfettered and unchallenged press coverage," MAPS stated.
Ben Black reiterated that with its mail reaching AOL and Hotmail addresses, the pollster considered the case won. Harris did call MAPS to see if it wanted to work in a "cooperative fashion" but was rebuffed, he said. As for the timing of the dismissal, Black said Harris' lawyers advised the company to drop the suit immediately and that MAPS was informed, along with the other defendants, through the legal process.
"We had to announce it all at once because MAPS was just one of the many players involved," he added.
Vixie said Harris would remain on the RBL until it implements a fully verified opt-in policy for both new subscribers and retroactively.
MAIL ABUSE PREVENTION SYSTEM (MAPS) MAPS AIDS HARRIS INTERACTIVE IN MOVE TO 100% CONFIRMED OPT-IN AUGUST 21, 2001 - REDWOOD CITY, CA - Mail Abuse
Prevention System, LLC (MAPSSM) announced today that it
has finalized an agreement with Harris Interactive
(Nasdaq: HPOL), in which Harris Interactive has moved
to 100% confirmed opt-in, and is no longer listed in
MAPS' databases. "We are absolutely thrilled," said Anne P. Mitchell,
Esq., MAPS'SM Director of Legal and Public Affairs. "We
were very pleased to be able to work with and assist
Harris in developing its plan to move to fully
confirmed opt-in. They had determined that they get a
better quality of response from their customers when
they mail only to people who have confirmed that they
want to receive the material, and they approached us
for our assistance in implementing that process." Added Mitchell, "During the last year, Harris
Interactive conducted many tests and found that
confirmed opt-in panel members give far more
thoughtful and comprehensive survey responses than non-
confirmed opt-in panelists. That is the beauty of using
a fully-confirmed email process - it's a win-win-win
situation. The consumer wins because they get only
email which they really want, the business wins because
they don't spend money sending email to people who
don't want it and they get a better rate of return with
higher quality responses, and the Internet service
providers win because they don't have to spend extra
money to deal with millions of pieces of unwanted email
- costs which they invariably have to pass on to their
own customers." More information can be found in Harris' press release at http://www.harrisinteractive.com/news/. About MAPSSM: MAPSSM http://www.mail-abuse.org is based in Redwood
City, California and provides spam prevention resources
to Internet-connected organizations, as well as
services to end users. For more information, please
contact 650-779-7021 or
[email protected] About Harris Interactive: Harris Interactive (Nasdaq: HPOL), is a worldwide
market research, polling and consulting firm. It is
best known for The Harris Poll and its pioneering use
of the Internet to conduct scientifically accurate
market research. Through its U.S. and Global Network
offices, Harris Interactive conducts international
research in multiple, localized languages. For more
information about Harris Interactive, please visit the
Company's website at www.harrisinteractive.com. EOE
M/F/D/V
http://www.dmnews.com/cgi-bin/artprevbot.cgi?article_id=16775&dest=article
Aug. 23, 2001
MAPS said this week that it finalized an agreement with Harris Interactive under which the company will move to a double-opt-in e-mail strategy and in return will have its e-mail servers removed from MAPS' Realtime Blackhole List. The RBL is MAPS' list of spammers' mail servers, which many Internet service providers subscribe to as a means of filtering out unwanted e-mail.
The agreement with MAPS means Harris Interactive's e-mail polls will no longer be blocked. The company has about 7 million panelists, who now have to confirm the decision to remain as a pollster for Harris Interactive.
Calling the agreement a "win-win situation," Anne Mitchell, MAPS' director of legal and public affairs, said that Harris Interactive has been using confirmed opt-in e-mail for about a year.
"During the past year, Harris Interactive conducted many tests and found that confirmed opt-in panel members give far more thoughtful and comprehensive survey responses than nonconfirmed opt-in panelists," Mitchell said. "They had determined that they get a better quality of response from their customers when they mail only to people who have confirmed that they want to receive the material, and they approached us for our assistance in implementing the process."
Gordon Black, Harris Interactive's CEO, said the company's move to confirmed opt-in e-mail, coupled with shifting its focus to Europe and Japan, will help the company grow faster.
"Our move to a confirmed opt-in strategy will enhance the value of our panel," Black said.
Harris Interactive in September plans to expand its panels in the United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, France, Canada and Italy. Brazil, Spain, Chile, Argentina, Mexico and China will follow, the company said.
In July 2000, Harris Interactive sued MAPS and about a dozen Internet service providers, including AOL Time Warner's America Online service, Hotmail and Juno Online Services. The lawsuit asked the court to prevent MAPS from placing Harris Interactive on the RBL. However, within a week of the filing, Harris Interactive dropped AOL from the suit, claiming it could suddenly reach AOL e-mail addresses.
MAPS charged that Harris Interactive took AOL out of the suit "almost immediately" because AOL does not use the RBL and any blocking of Harris Interactive's e-mail was done by AOL on its own. Harris Interactive initially said it reached an agreement with AOL but then backpedaled, issuing a second statement saying there was no settlement but that it thought AOL was accepting its e-mail.
950 Charter St.
Redwood City, CA 94063
http://www.mail-abuse.org
MAPS is a member-supported organization that engages in a
variety of mail abuse prevention activities, including education,
maintenance of databases, and management of complaints about
electronic mail. Their website is at http://www.mail-abuse.org
AOL Restores Service to Harris; Harris Loses Round to Get Off RBL
by Patricia Odell
Online Exclusive, Aug 9, 2000
Harris Interactive Continues Spam Battle With MAPS
By Jayson Matthews
Harris wins more battles against MAPS
By Ben Charny, ZDNN
September 8, 2000 1:11 PM PT
'Many of them weren't even aware that our e-mails were being blocked. The legal area was uncharted. No large corporation likes to wade into unknown legal waters.'
-- Ben Black of Harris Interactive
950 Charter St.
Redwood City, CA 94063
http://www.mail-abuse.org
DESPITE REMOVAL OF HOTMAIL FROM SUIT
MAPS is a member-supported organization that engages in a variety of mail abuse
prevention activities, including education, maintenance of databases, and
management of complaints about electronic mail. Their website is at
http://www.mail-abuse.org
MAPS Vows to Defend RBL in Legal Proceedings
by Patricia Odell
Online Exclusive, Sep 12, 2000
Harris Interactive Drops Lawsuit Against MAPS, ISPs
by Patricia Odell
Online Exclusive, Sep 13, 2000
Harris Interactive Drops Lawsuit Against ISPs
By: Adam Creed
September 14, 2000
URL: http://www.computeruser.com/news/00/09/14/news12.html
In The Courts
Top Online Polling Firm Forces Three Major ISPs To Allow Email
September 18, 2000
AOL Restores Service to Harris Interactive
by PATRICIA ODELL
Direct, Sep 30, 2000
Split Decision
by PATRICIA ODELL
Direct, Oct 1, 2000
MAPS Charges Harris With Scheme
By: Jason Gonzalez, Senior Reporter
950 Charter St.
Redwood City, CA 94063
http://www.mail-abuse.org
MAPS, Harris Interactive End Feud
By: Dean Tomasula
Senior Editor
[email protected]
The long-running fight between Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC and Internet pollster Harris Interactive has come to an end.
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