PCHelp, Net.Detective
Tuesday, 22 December 1998 After writing up the bogus, oversold, falsely hyped product called
Lockdown 2000 on my site, I received two emails from an individual who
claimed to be a satisfied customer of Harbor Telco. This person, the
same who prompted me to do more extensive tests of Lockdown, went on at
considerable length in an effort to bolster the overblown claims of the
sellers of Lockdown.
He went out of his way to try and convince me these fine people were
just trying their best. He claimed the creators had been the victims of
a scam artist named Eddie Davidson who had stolen their product (can we
call it that?) and scammed people with it, selling but not delivering.
He also warned me repeatedly that I was risking a lawsuit for my
criticism of Lockdown and its grossly unethical sales pitch.
This person named himself "Scott Davis." He gave me lots of
information of a nature I seriously doubt any businessperson would share
with a customer no matter how friendly, and claimed incidentally that he
was himself a lawyer.
The emails came from a Hotmail account, so of course the identity of
the sender could be, almost certainly was, false. But the headers
contained the IP address of the originator. The origin of the emails was
a cable modem service called MediaOne, which happens to serve Dover, New
Hampshire on the originating IP block. A Dover, NH mailing address is
one of those used by the sellers of Lockdown!
I was unable to find any attorney named Scott Davis listed in the
Dover area.
Assuming I was hearing from a principal of the Lockdown scam, having
been threatened with legal action, and not anxious to be caught
off-guard, I decided to do some Net.detective work on these Lockdown
characters.
Ironically, I would have left these idiots alone. As you'll see
below, there's plenty they would probably prefer weren't known. Well,
now I'm making a few things known.
I've simply started with records of the lockdown2000 domain name and
gone on from there, following a trail of logical connections. I cut and
pasted all information directly from WHOIS records and other online
queries. (By the way, I've made most of the links more convenient to use
by utilizing a Javascript pop-up window.)
I've shortened records in most cases, but included links to the
actual domain records. If you find a discrepancy between my data here
and the linked records, it will be because of subsequent revisions of
those records.
First, the Lockdown domain name:
No physical address, just a PO box. The 603 area code is
appropriate to the Dover location. (I was incidentally mistaken in my
earlier comments about the phone being in Florida.) It's about 60
miles north of Boston.
So what about harbortelco.com?
Here's the Florida address. The phone however, is in Dover, NH.
Very odd.
Harbor Telco? Are they really a telephone company?
So I check out their website, www.harbortelco.com. It carries a
prominent banner: T1CONNECTIONS and says, "T1CONNECTIONS, is a
division of Harbor Telco Corp."
On inspection, it becomes obvious they do not provide actual T1 lines
nor any real phone utility service. They sell "free" 800/888 numbers and
calling card services, a common multi-level marketing scam.
The signup page for "free" 800 service takes the mark, er, customer
to a secure server on the dreamcatchers.net domain, apparently run by
oem.net. Oem.net apparently provides harbortelco's Net connection (a
traceroute to harbortelco.com passes thru an oem.net machine). Oem.net
is located in Boston, which is not far from Dover, NH.
Harbor Telco also presents the appearance of being an Internet
Presence Provider (IPP). The impression one gets reading their site is
that they own the hosting facilities, but that's probably not the case.
It's not unusual nowadays to market someone else's actual Net facilities
and services under one's own business name. The lack of a physical
address (you have to keep your machines someplace!) supports this
likelihood.
Their phone for domain and server services: 1-800-422-5130 or (603)
740-4590 email: www@mail.harbortelco.com
And of course, they sell "security software" -- Lockdown2000 is the
banner product, along with some Unix stuff, a product line named
"Airtight," with applications titled "RootOut" and "PageAlert."
"RootOut" supposedly monitors for unauthorized root access on a Unix
system. If it works as well as my test of Lockdown, I feel for the
buyers.
"PageAlert" claims to page Harbor Telco's security experts when a
breach occurs. They offer a similar email service in connection with
something called "DoubleCheck."
Nowhere on the site do I find any list of happy customers for any of
the purported services or products.
Their phone for security stuff: 1-800-422-5130 or (603) 740-4590
email: www@harbortelco.com -- the same as for the domain hosting. It
looks a bit like a one-person, home-office operation.
What other domains does Harbor Telco own?
I did a search.
We've seen the first two. That leaves this one:
There's the same Dover address again, same harbortelco email
address. This is the domain they claim was formerly run by someone else,
but it's theirs and has been all along.
Let's check that email address:
Who is root@vine.net? I'll ask:
Aha! Michael Paris! This guy's name is directly mentioned in
the Lockdown product and on their website.
And we now have another address, this one in Illinois! Cicero 60650
is smack in the middle of Greater Chicago.
Okay, what do we have here? We have a Florida physical address for
Harbor Telco. We have two post office box addresses, one in Dover, New
Hampshire and one in Chicago. We have Michael Paris, a person's name (at
last). We have three connected domains. Does Paris own them all? Who
else is involved?
I looked for more domains of the "harbor..." variety and ran across
this:
Why is this interesting? Roger LeClerc's name appears in the
Lockdown 2000 program itself. He's listed as "Sales." Here we have a
physical address in the Dover location! And yet another
corporation in what is starting to look like a shell game.
And who's this Jamie Kail?
Aha! Illinois again! And where is Palatine? In the Greater
Chicago area.
We're beginning to nail these guys down. Paris seems likely to have
lived in Chicago all along. Kail is possibly just a service provider,
conveniently near Paris' residence. LeClerc is in Dover, minding the
store. But who's the Florida connection?
We'll have to get to that. But first we'll take a closer look at Paris:
A quick look at the area codes shows the 708 and 603 codes of
Chicago and Dover.
MP1991 is in Texas, no apparent connection. So we examine the rest:
I can find absolultely no other reference of any kind to a
"Gramcracker" anything. Spelling it right (grahamcracker) doesn't help.
There is no gramcracker.com listed in WHOIS.
Although it's from 1996, this listing does provide our first
physical address for Paris in Chicago.
This we know about already. On to the next:
Oho! There's "Vine" again. Makes sense. Another corporation.
And we see the PO box there has been in use since May of 96.
Is this the Florida connection? We have Paris directly
associated with the Harbor Telco physical address; we have a new name,
ByteTight Computer Security Corp. How many corporations is that now?
Four? Five? And again we have the Dover, NH phone number. This is a very
recent record.
Now, what's next? We have some new domain names to check into, and
two more corporation names!
ByteTight seems very interesting... That gets:
Domain Name: BYTETIGHT.COM
ByteTight Computer Security Corp. (BYTETIGHT-DOM)
334 East lake Rd. Ste. 290
Palm Harbor, FL 34685
US
Paris, Michael Cariss (MCR62) admin@HACKERPROOF98.COM
603-740-4590 (FAX) 603-742-7656
Record last updated on 26-Jun-98.
Both use these servers:
Traceroute suggests Media3 is a UUNET reseller like oem.net.
Okay, so what other domains does Paris put his name to?
Hmmm. Illinois again. There's the "Airtight" name, one of the Harbor Telco
security products.
What's freeshell.net? We know about pyrotechnics.com.
There's the T1connections name! Still in prominent use on the
Harbor Telco site.
What's this domain used for? No website.
So what haven't we checked?
Gosh, this is getting confusing. Let's recap what we have so far:
Internet Services Chicago, IL (unknown)
Vine Computer Industry, Inc. Chicago, IL FREESHELL.NET
T1CONNECTIONS.COM
AIRTIGHT.NET
Gramcracker BBS? Chicago, IL (probably no longer exists)
Harbor Telco Corp. Palm Harbor, FL HACKERPROOF98.COM
HARBORTELCO.COM
ByteTight Computer Security Corp. Palm Harbor, FL BYTETIGHT.COM
HACKERFREE98.COM
Harbor Telco Security Division Dover, NH LOCKDOWN2000.COM
Harbor Resources Corp. Dover, NH HARBORRESOURCES.COM
Wow. That's six (6) corporation names not including Gramcracker!
I should point out, State laws restrict the use of the term
"incorporated," "corp.," or "inc." to the
names of entities which have been legally incorporated. I wonder what
Mr. Paris would think of having his corporate pedigrees examined. My
time's a bit limited. Is any reader interested in helping out with this?
Phone Numbers:
Hosting services used by Paris' various domains:
Email addresses for Michael Paris:
Finger doesn't work on any of these. Several point to
root@vine.net, but even that is unlikely to be a working address.
So what are the loose ends? These two haven't been followed up:
Let's check out vine.net:
Well, that doesn't make much sense unless our Michael is using
a fake name/address. Maybe there's a connection, but it seems likely our
Mr. Paris either no longer owns vine.net, or he never did in the first
place. Hard to say which. There's no apparent web server for vine.net.
What about invircible.com?
Now, that is bizarre! It's in Israel! Is there a connection?
Another dead end?
Why do I get the feeling Michael Paris doesn't want to get any email?
I still have one really BIG question: what's with the Florida
location? Mr. Paris is almost certainly based in Chicago. His
sales guy, Roger LeClerc, would surely be in Dover. Roger is probably
the one who cajoled and threatened me via email. All the phone numbers
go to Dover and Chicago. Who's in Florida? Since there's a physical
address, there is likely to be a human being.
334 East Lake Rd. appears to be an office building with lots of
tenants; perhaps an office park. I found a number of places listed at
that address on Altavista. Most are legitimate businesses. One is a rock
band. But -- aha! -- one is a porn-site scam calling itself "EE Inc.,"
and it is in the same suite as Harbor Telco, number 290!
(Get Your Very Own Adult Site Today! $750!)
Domain Name: LOCKDOWN2000.COM
Harbor Telco Security Division (LOCKDOWN3-DOM)
P.O. BOX 1358
DOVER, NH 03821-1358
US
email: noc@HARBORTELCO.COM
phone: 603-742-7656 (FAX) 603-742-7656
Domain Name: HARBORTELCO.COM
Harbor Telco Corp. (HARBORTELCO-DOM)
334 EAST LAKE ROAD
Palm Harbor, FL 34684
US
email: noc@HARBORTELCO.COM
phone: 603-742-7656 (FAX) 603-742-7656
% whois "Harbor Telco..."
Harbor Telco Corp. (HARBORTELCO-DOM) HARBORTELCO.COM
Harbor Telco Security Division (LOCKDOWN3-DOM) LOCKDOWN2000.COM
Harbor Telco, Corp. (HACKERPROOF6-DOM) HACKERPROOF98.COM
Domain Name: HACKERPROOF98.COM
Harbor Telco, Corp. (HACKERPROOF6-DOM)
P.O. BOX 1358
Dover, NH 03821-1358
US
email: noc@HARBORTELCO.COM
phone: 603-742-7656 (FAX) 603-742-7656
% finger noc@harbortelco.com
[harbortelco.com]
vine finger: Connection refused.
For more information pease mail root@vine.net
% whois root@vine.net
Paris, Michael (MP2897) root@VINE.NET
Internet Services
PO. BOX 50124
Cicero, IL 60804
708-222-0342 (FAX) 708-863-1917
Record last updated on 16-Mar-97.
Domain Name: HARBORRESOURCES.COM
Harbor Resources, Corp. (HARBORRESOURCES-DOM)
65 PollyAnn PK
Dover, NH 03820
LeClerc, Roger (RL3784) roger@HABORRESOURCES.COM
603-743-4053
Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Kail, Jamie (JK391) pyro@PYROTECHNICS.COM
(847)991-9345
% whois jk391
Kail, Jamie (JK391) pyro@PYROTECHNICS.COM
PYROtechnics Inc.
800 E. Northwest Hwy. Ste 260
Palatine, IL 60067
(847)991-9345
% whois Paris, Michael
Paris, Michael (MP1764) postmaster@GRAMCRACKER.COM 708-485-3072
Paris, Michael (MP1991) mwp@IMAGIN.NET 817 453 9437
Paris, Michael (MP2897) root@VINE.NET 708-222-0342 (FAX) 708-863-1917
Paris, Michael (MP5747) nomail@IPRESENT.COM
732-290-7959 (FAX) 732-583-2511
Paris, Michael (MP5777) parism@TULSA.OKLAHOMA.NET 918-663-5559
Paris, Michael (MP300) root@INVIRCIBLE.COM 708-863-8692
Paris, Michael Cariss (MCR62) admin@HACKERPROOF98.COM
603-740-4590 (FAX) 603-742-7656
MP5747 is in New Jersey, a legitimate business.
MP5777 is in Tulsa, OK, no apparent connection.
Paris, Michael (MP1764) postmaster@GRAMCRACKER.COM
Gramcracker BBS
4914 W. 32nd Place
Cicero, IL 60650
708-485-3072
Record last updated on 21-Sep-96.
Paris, Michael (MP2897) root@VINE.NET 708-222-0342 (FAX) 708-863-1917
Paris, Michael (MP300) root@INVIRCIBLE.COM
Vine Computer Industry, INC
PO. BOX 50124
Cicero, IL 60650
708-863-8692
Record last updated on 21-May-96.
Paris, Michael Cariss (MCR62) admin@HACKERPROOF98.COM
ByteTight Computer Security Corp.
334 East lake Rd. Ste. 290
Palm Harbor, FL 34685
603-740-4590 (FAX) 603-742-7656
Record last updated on 02-Sep-98.
Domain Name: HACKERFREE98.COM
ByteTight Computer Security Corp (HACKERFREE-DOM)
334 East lake Rd. Ste. 290
Palm Harbor, FL 34685
US
Michael Paris (MC577-ORG) admin@HACKERPROOF98.COM
603-740-4590 Fax- 603-742-7656
Record last updated on 08-Jul-98.
NS.MEDIA3.NET 208.226.167.250
NS2.MEDIA3.NET 206.67.48.250
Domain Name: AIRTIGHT.NET
Vine Computer Industry, Inc. (AIRTIGHT2-DOM)
P.O. BOX 50124
CICERO, IL 60804
US
Paris, Michael (MP2897) root@VINE.NET
708-222-0342 (FAX) 708-863-1917
Record last updated on 08-May-97.
Domain servers in listed order:
NS.FREESHELL.NET 207.7.12.2
NS1.PYROTECHNICS.COM 207.7.10.2
----------
Domain Name: T1CONNECTIONS.COM
Vine Computer Industry, Inc. (T1CONNECTIONS-DOM)
P.O. BOX 50124
CICERO, IL 60650
US
Paris, Michael (MP2897) root@VINE.NET
708-222-0342 (FAX) 708-863-1917
Record last updated on 14-May-97.
Domain servers in listed order:
NS1.VINE.NET 207.7.12.22
NS2.VINE.NET 206.138.85.20
----------
Domain Name: FREESHELL.NET
Vine Computer Industry, Inc. (FREESHELL-DOM)
P.O. BOX 50124
CICERO, IL 60804
US
Paris, Michael (MP2897) root@VINE.NET
708-222-0342 (FAX) 708-863-1917
Record last updated on 16-Jul-97.
Domain servers in listed order:
NS.FREESHELL.NET 207.7.12.2
NS2.PYROTECHNICS.COM 207.7.10.3
Company/Corporation name Location Domain Name(s)
Dover:
603-742-7656 (fax and voice)
603-743-4053
603-740-4590
Chicago:
708-485-3072
708-222-0342
708-863-1917 (fax)
708-863-8692
PYROTECHNICS.COM
OEM.NET
MEDIA3.NET
admin@HACKERPROOF98.COM
noc@HARBORTELCO.COM
postmaster@GRAMCRACKER.COM
root@INVIRCIBLE.COM
root@VINE.NET
vine.net
invircible.com
Domain Name: VINE.NET
Internet Direct (VINE4-DOM)
1102 Grand Ave STE 1701
Kansas City, MO 64106
US
Sandgathe, Michael (MS338) michael@IDIR.NET
(816) 474-4554 (FAX) (816) 283-0612
Record last updated on 29-Jul-98.
Record created on 29-Jul-98.
Domain Name: INVIRCIBLE.COM
NetZ Computing Ltd. (INVIRCIBLE-DOM)
15 Keren Hayesod
Givat Shmuel, Israel, 54051
IL
Netiv, Zvi (ZN4) netz@ACTCOM.CO.IL
+972 3 938 6868 (FAX) +972 3 938 6869
Record last updated on 14-Mar-98.
Record created on 22-Apr-95.
DNS.INTER.NET.IL 192.116.192.8
DNS2.INTER.NET.IL 192.116.192.9
It's dated from January '98. Isn't that INTERESTING?
Another is an online porn operation that has since changed its address, but it's still indexed in Altavista and turns up in response to the query: "334 E. Lake Rd" and "290" and "Palm Harbor." It's now at:
We seem to be encountering the Sleaze Factor, eh? I wonder what more will turn up.
It might be possible to tease a bit more info out of WHOIS or Altavista, but I'm inclined to look in some new places.
Why not check out the scuttlebutt on Usenet? I'll go to Dejanews.
First I'll search for Vine Computer Industry because it seems to be the oldest of the known business names Michael Paris used. Wow! 46 matches.
There's a list of FTP sites:
Site : ftp.invircible.com Date : 29-May-95 Alias : invircible.com, vine.invircible.com Admin : root@invircible.com Organ : Invircible - Vine Computer Industry, Cicero, Illinois URL : ftp://ftp.invircible.com/ Files : antivirus software
Looks like Paris has indeed been involved with InVircible. He stayed on the list until November of 1997.
There's an antiviral contacts list:
Company: NetZ Computing Ltd. (see also NSE Software) Address: Israel Sales: marketed in the US by Vine Computer Industry Contact: Zvi Netiv Product: InVircible antiviral
Paris' company is on the list from June '95 to Sept '96.
An August '95 post gives the contact info as:
Vine Computer Industry, IL Tel. 1-800-422-5130 Canada Dial 1-708-863-8692
That very same 800 number is still in use to this day on the Harbor Telco website. Paris has used this same phone number for 3 years plus, for various enterprises and under a number of supposed corporation names.
In December of '95 and again in February of '96 there appeared posts touting a "Major New Antivirus Study" which omitted some of the best of the major antivirus apps and declared inVircible the hands-down winner despite being a year out of date. It made glowing claims for Invircible and pointed the readers to Paris' Vine Computer Industry to buy, buy, buy.
So from at least early '95 to late '97, Paris was selling the InVircible software.
UseNet commentary on InVircible, then and now, is mostly skeptical and not complimentary. This antivirus software has elicited some choice labels like "snake oil" and "crapware." Its claims strain the limits of credibility, to be sure. A helpful and attentive reader named Al has sent me this link to an exhaustive PC World Magazine review of InVircible.
In August of '97 there was a seemingly new development. Someone posted to news.admin.net-abuse.sightings a complaint of unsolicited commercial email (UCE) selling "Hot Steamy Adult Action" which had quite evidently originated from Paris' freeshell.net domain. (So that's what he uses it for!)
Now this is where things start to get REALLY wild!
Watch closely. These are the domain records produced by the poster, who traced the unwanted email to these domains. First, there's this one, the domain being promoted:
Domain Name: AOLSEX.NET
web communications AOLSEX3-DOM
14837 Detroit Ave #331
Lakewood, OH 44107
US
Davison, Ray (RD3182) VisitUs@ON-THE-WEB.COM
123-456-7890
Record last updated on 02-Jul-97.
Record created on 02-Jul-97.
Database last updated on 4-Aug-97 04:29:21 EDT.
Domain servers in listed order:
EMAILEXPERTS.COM 207.227.89.194
ALPHA.CYBERTIMES.ORG 206.42.98.200
Why is this interesting? Eddie Davidson is the scapegoat for the Lockdown claims which clearly seek to distance themselves from the Hackerproof98 promotion.
Hackerproof98 was evidently a debacle and a colossal fraud involving no product for payment.
Could this be the same Davidson? The email I received from Lockdown's mysterious defender said Eddie Davidson was the perpetrator of the fictional Hackerproof98 "stolen beta version" crime.
The stolen-beta claim is a complete lie in any case. Paris' name, interviews, quotes, etc., can be found at numerous sites in undeniable connection with HackerProof98 and its website. He was directly and intimately involved all the way along. These are links that demonstrate the fact; wherein he conducts interviews and claims among other things that as many as 80% of all Win32 machines have open file shares! What a despicable, profiteering liar this Paris is:
http://www.ascom.ch/Web/systec/mail/headline.htm#GAPING
http://www.ascom.com/systec/mail/headline.htm#GAPING (looks like these just got taken down)
http://www.geocities.com/SiliconValley/Network/9622/article1.html
http://www.cnnfn.com/digitaljam/newsbytes/114379.html
http://x12.dejanews.com/getdoc.xp?AN=369556099
Anyway, when I look for Ed(die) Davidson in WHOIS, I find him in several records at the same physical address listed above for "Ray Davidson," so it's pretty clear he -- whatever his name really is -- was involved in the UCE (mass email) from Paris' freeshell.net domain.
Also found by our anti-spammer:
Domain Name: EMAILEXPERTS.COM
Internet Communications EMAILEXPERTS-DOM
30628 Detroit Ave.
Westlake, OH 44107
US
McDaniel, Paul PM2985 experts97@HOTMAIL.COM
123-456-7890
I asked WHOIS about that email address. It's listed in the WHOIS database under no less than three names! Hi, Eddie!
% whois experts97@... Davidson, Ed (ED918) experts97@HOTMAIL.COM 123-456-7890 McDaniel, Paul (PM2985) experts97@HOTMAIL.COM 123-456-7890 Smith, Larry (LS2788) experts97@HOTMAIL.COM 216-895-1919
Can you say, "spam"? It looks like our friend Michael Paris may have decided to find new ways to make money. A whole new career opportunity? Is he closely allied with Eddie Davidson, or just doing a little business?
Hey, a firm connection between Eddie Davidson and the Harbor Telco address would tie things up nicely, eh? Whoops! Here it is!:
% whois ed1316 Davidson, Eddie (ED1316) inc97@AMERITECH.NET E.E. Inc. 205 Katherine Blvd. Palm Harbor, FL 34684 813-772-8061 (FAX) 813-772-5671 Record last updated on 19-Nov-97.
"But wait!" you say. "That's not the same address." Ah, but remember the porn-site scam I found actually at the Harbor Telco address? EE Inc.! And here it is again with Eddie's name. This gives us Eddie Davidson at the Harbor Telco address.
Before I get too embroiled in Eddie Davidson, suffice it to say he is infamous for flooding the Net with spam and UCE. Try Dejanews yourself and you'll see what I mean. But it bears mentioning that the AOLSex.net spam in particular, in which Paris' freeshell.net was involved, was among those which earned Eddie a lawsuit from AOL, with accusations that those promotions were deceptive and broke State and Federal laws.
Perhaps as a result of legal defeats, Eddie seems to disappear from the spam scene around March of '98, which incidentally coincides more or less with the appearance of Hackerproof98. It seems likely that as an outgrowth of their already-established UCE partnership, Eddie found employment with Michael Paris in the Hackerproof98 scam. It's a sure bet he was directly involved and running things at the Florida end.
Perhaps it's even true Eddie eventually absconded with the proceeds; he'd been put out of the spam business after all, and may have owed a small fortune to his lawyers. Honor among thieves and all that. On the other hand, who can believe a word these people say?
In a July '98 post, a reason for Michael's new pursuits (porn and Hackerproof98) becomes evident, when a poster to alt.comp.virus says: "I heard some time ago that Netiv [inVircible owner] had sacked Michael Paris for stealing the profits..."
Whether Michael stole from inVircible may be debatable, but there's no question there was a conflict. I emailed inVircible and Netiv himself responded, telling me that his software had been bootlegged in the US, and he suspected Paris of producing the copies. He had put up a web page listing the non-sanctioned distributors. He said he was threatened with legal action by Roger LeClerc (sounds familiar!) and then was mail-bombed; and as a result he withdrew the web page.
Netiv pointed out Paris' registration of this domain name as an example of his duplicity:
Domain Name: INVERCIBLE.COM
NET MARKET PLUS (INVERCIBLE-DOM)
800 E. NORTHWEST HWY. SUITE 260
PALATINE, IL 60067
Administrative Contact:
Kail, Jamie (JK391) pyro@PYROTECHNICS.COM
(847)991-9345
Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Paris, Michael (MP2897) root@VINE.NET
708-222-0342 (FAX) 708-863-1917
Billing Contact:
Kail, Jamie (JK391) pyro@PYROTECHNICS.COM
(847)991-9345
Record last updated on 17-Dec-97.
Record created on 24-Jun-97.
There's Jamie Kail again. If he's just a service provider, what's he doing as Administrative and Billing contact? It's time to consider the likelihood he's one of the scammers.
Anyhow, that post about Paris with respect to Netiv was in response to this equally fascinating one, which makes still more historical connections between Michael Paris and Hackerproof98. This post alone proves yet again beyond a shadow of a doubt that Paris (Harbor Telco) lies when he disclaims Hackerproof98. More interesting, it also places Roger Leclerc as a crony in the earlier and similarly-hyped inVircible enterprise. And it explains why you can find Wolf Computer Systems hawking Lockdown 2000 when apparently no one else on Earth wants to touch it. These guys all have history (and ethical standards) in common.
This post provides some raw insight into the quality and repute of Michael's inVircible enterprise.
There's another UseNet post that connects Paris to UCE (mass email) which promoted "Digital3DFantasy.com."
Check this out:
Domain Name: DIGITAL3DFANTASY.COM Digital Fantasy Corp. (DIGITAL3DFANTASY-DOM) 334 EAST LAKE ROAD Palm Harbor, FL 34684 US Record last updated on 29-Jul-98. NS1.DIGITAL3DFANTASY.COM 208.239.173.2 NS2.DIGITAL3DFANTASY.COM 216.41.21.3
The Harbor Telco street address!
Previously the name server was at harbortelco.com. Has that changed? A reverse Name Server Lookup of NS2.DIGITALFANTASY.COM yields this:
> set type=soa > 3.21.41.216.in-addr.arpa Server: combox.ocsny.com Address: 204.107.76.1021.41.216.IN-ADDR.ARPA origin = ns2.harbortelco.com mail addr = root.harbortelco.com serial = 98062536 refresh = 3600 (1 hour) retry = 300 (5 mins) expire = 3600000 (41 days 16 hours) minimum ttl = 3600 (1 hour)
They have simply renamed a server to make the harbortelco connection less obvious in the domain record.
Also hosted by Harbor Telco:
Domain Name: DIGITALWEBSEX.COM
Digital Fantasy Corp. (DIGITALWEBSEX2-DOM)
P.O. BOX 1923
Dover, NH 03821
US
Center, Network Operations (NOC116) noc@DIGITAL3DFANTASY.COM
603-742-7656 (FAX) 603-742-7656
Billing, WWW (WB3117) root@DIGITALWEBSEX.COM
603-742-7656 (FAX) 603-742-7656
One interesting thing about this domain is that the Billing contact phone number is the same as the Harbor Telco sales number! Our friend Roger LeClerc is quite evidently personally running this sex site! Which claims to be "THE WORLD'S LARGEST." Right. Sounds rather like the Lockdown hype.
Other Usenet posts just last month tell the tale of Harbor Telco being CUT OFF by their provider UUNET for email "spam." But Paris & Co. found oem.net (a UUNET reseller, ironically) willing to restore access.
The link between virus propagation and the more disreputable antivirus software sellers has long been a matter of concern and commentary. If Michael Paris is as unscrupulous as the facts suggest, his connection with the sex-sales websites and other scams of Eddie Davidson could make a sick sort of sense. Trojans and viruses are, if my emails and computer-service experiences are any indication, especially likely to be spread through such sleazy sites.
I would like to hear from anyone who thinks he may have contracted a virus or trojan from a porn site. I would be fascinated to find additional correlations between this crowd and antivirus hype. For instance, if you complained to Davidson about a virus you think came from his site, did he then recommend or sell inVircible as the solution?
Okay, so what have we got?
We have Michael Paris (Vine Computer, Harbor Telco, many others) in Chicago, with a long history of false hype and PR ploys, including UCE, in pursuit of sales of more than one questionable security product, and with clear evidence of long-term trafficking in sleazy UCE, some of it certainly for Eddie Davidson.
We have Jamie Kail, also in Chicago and personally involved in some capacity.
We have Roger LeClerc (Harbor Resources) in Dover, obviously in cahoots with Paris, whose association dates back to their inVircible days. Roger is the front man, taking the calls for Lockdown and sending anonymous threatening email to people like me who have the gall to question the scam.
We have Eddie Davidson, well-known online-sex purveyor, shameless scam-artist and
major mass-email offender, with physical addresses in Florida (EE Inc, same
location as Harbor Telco) and in Ohio.
This is who you're buying from when you buy Lockdown 2000.
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