DNS indicated that this organization does in fact have one site, mary.iia.org. Even so, this is not enough for me to trust them with my credit line. This conclusion may apply to many other, more legitimate-looking operations that spring up in the near future. This demonstrates that privacy is only one reason to go to digital cash; the biggest reason may be the massive fraud commonplace in the current electronic system. Online billing is moving towards this incredibly insecure system where our $multi-thousand credit lines are exposed by giving out their short "keys" to numerous unknown entities. Nick Szabo szabo@netcom.com Forwarded from COMMUNET: Date: Tue, 4 Jan 1994 16:18:44 -0500
From: Scott A. Ward 703-614-4719 <wards@AMOMEGA.ACQ.OSD.MIL> To: Multiple recipients of list COMMUNET Subject: Warning: International Internet Association
A company calling itself the International Internet Association, and billing itself as "the largest non-profit provider of free Internet access in the world" has started advertizing in the Washington, D.C. area, and offering free Internet accounts to individuals who will FAX them, among other things, a credit card number. As an active member of the Member Council of the National Capital Area Public Access Network (CapAccess), I wanted to find more about this organization that supposedly has offices NOT THREE BLOCKS FROM CAPACCESS. Here's the result of my search for the IIA. 1. Their address, listed as "Suite 852 - 202 Pennsylvania Ave, N.W. Washington D.C. 20006", is actually a post office box at Mailboxes, Etc. 2. The company lists no incorporation, trademark or service-mark licenses. 3. They claim your E-mail address would be <userid>@iia.org. However: a. No iia.org is listed in the hq.af.mil hosts table b. No iia.org is listed in the acq.osd.mil hosts table c. No iia.org is listed is the INTERNIC 'whois' database d. No iia.org is listed using the INTERNIC 'netfind' Internet lookup In other words, IIA.ORG does NOT, at this time, exist. 4. Although they apologize profusely in the application, they state that "Without receiving a credit card number, the IIA _cannot_ process an account." 5. Although I have left a message on their voice-mail system, I have received no response from them. (they also apologize in the voice mail that, due to demand, they are operating at a 3-week backlog for applications.) I cannot judge an organization in advance. However, I do think it highly suspicious that, to use their propaganda, "The International Internet Association is able to make this service available through generous private donations, and the extraordinary dedication of its membership." I can say that I am not convinced this organization exists, and highly discourage any Internet user from sending information until you make certain that the IIA is real. =======================================================================