Some time back, I noticed that along with the many false claims found at lockdown2000.com was a rather laughable attempt to present the appearance of a global array of download sites.
It seems to be inspired by the download pages of Netscape and other high-traffic sites, which offer their downloads on a regional basis in order to speed access and distribute the server load.
It is obviously for appearances only.
I amused myself this afternoon by examining the real facts about these servers. I've traced each site with my Network Tracer and done some additional sleuthing to determine the physical location of the servers and the nature of the host.
Here's how they're presented at http://www.lockdown2000.com/download.html, as of February 17, 2000:
LockDown 2000 ver. 5.0.0.3 Has Arrived!
Choose Any Server To Download, Upgrade, Or To Place An OrderServers In The United StatesSouth Carolina South Florida Missouri New Hampshire New Jersey Texas Servers Outside The United States |
Claimed location Facts South California http://www.learnacupressure.com/Lockdown2000/Lockdown2000.exe Trace Actual location: Utah Comments: The domain name "learnacupressure.com" is registered to "East\West Health Center" in Chico, CA; but the server is physically located in Utah. The site is hosted by Internet Communications (http://www.icom.com/) at a Utah facility. Traceroute was uninformative, so I called the company to learn its location. The website (the actual address of which is http://161.58.250.116/lea9086/) has absolutely nothing to do with Lockdown or anything related, and it contains no mention of Lockdown 2000. It's anyone's guess why the Lockdown download is hosted there. North California http://www.sisqtel.net/~faithworks/Lockdown2000.exe Trace Actual location: Uncertain; could be either Etna, CA or Reno, NV. All traffic passes through Reno. Comments: The domain name "sisqtel.net" is registered to "Siskiyou Telephone" in Etna, CA; but the upline service is physically located in Nevada. Traceroute shows the connection always passes through Reno, NV (216.162.162.34 and 207.135.245.9); it appears web hosting may be located at a Nevada facility. The website is on a personal account. Its text offers only a false email address for its owner: sweetthng@unforgettable.com. An SMTP check for faithworks@sisqtel.net (text here) reveals a name: Talina Hoff. Talina is a reseller of Lockdown. New York http://cgiforme.com/~lockdown/Lockdown2000.exe Trace Actual location: New York City area Comments: Cgiforme.com is a free, ad-supported web-hosting service. Use of this site is contrary to the stated policy on Lockdown's own download page, which states: "We are sorry, but we can not accept links to free web page services or online services such as Prodigy, AOL, or Compuserve." In addition, use of the site for download-only evades display of the host's ads. The Terms of Service at cgiforme.com state: "CGI For Me is providing these services free of charge to you in exchange for banner placements on some of the scripts. You agree not to try ... in any way shape or form to hide these banners from showing up, doing so will instantly get your account canceled and you may be forced to pay for lost income resulting in your tampering." There is absolutely no HTML material at the "lockdown" user address. Connecticut http://mlmlegend.com/lockdown/Lockdown2000.exe Trace Actual location: Chicago area Comments: The IP address block belongs to "OLM, LLC" (On Line Marketing, Limited Liability Corp) which lists an address in Milford, CT. But the server isn't in Connecticut. The traceroute's last stop prior to arrival at the mlmlegend.com website is a Globalcenter machine located in Chicago, IL. Special Bonus! OLM, LLC and its associated domains are Spam Central! Using Altavista, I sought out the names "OLM, LLC", "HOST4U.NET" and some others, and ran head on into link after link on anti-spam sites. A little more follow-up, and I was into a series of business names, all associated with websites selling moneymaking schemes, most of them hyping unsolicited commercial email as the prime means of promotion. Host4u.net (see trace above) in particular is widely recognized as a spam source, and it's even blocked by the huge ISP RR.COM. The spamming history of Michael Paris and his associates is something I've already uncovered, so the hosting of the Lockdown program on the personal website of the Top Guy of this spam- oriented marketing operation should be no surprise. "MLM Legend" indeed. As a f'rinstance, Jack Bastide is one of many "legendary" spammers who kept an account with the hated, now former, Cyberpromo operation run by the Spam King, Sanford "Spamford" Wallace. Jack's username on cyberpromo.com? "Awesome." South Carolina http://www.rocsoft.org/lockdown/Lockdown2000.exe Trace Actual location: Seattle, WA Comments: The domain name "rocsoft.org" is registered to "Rocsoft" in Columbia, SC; but the server is physically located in Seattle, WA. The site is hosted by Go2net Inc. of Seattle. The rocsoft.org website formerly offered Georgia Lottery tickets for sale online; but in June its owner, Roger Christiansen of Columbia, SC, was enjoined from doing so as it was an illegal practice under Federal law. Roger is also a Lockdown reseller. South Florida http://207.36.214.243/lockdown/Lockdown2000.exe Trace Actual location: Ft. Lauderdale, FL Comments: This website is hosted by CyberGate Web Hosting. While the address provided is just an IP address, an inspection of the site reveals that its name is "goldmineservices.com." The domain is owned by Eugene C. Godsey, of Godsey Enterprises, Pembroke Pines, FL. By way of a search engine, I found a page on the site which enthusiastically sells Lockdown, with heavy emphasis on the utterly false description of Lockdown 2000 as a "firewall." Missouri http://vastcity.com/lockdown2000/Lockdown2000.exe Trace Actual location: Kansas City, MO Comments: Hosted by CommuniTech.net, this site is on a server in Kansas City, Missouri. The domain "vastcity.com" is owned by Martin J. Salisbury of Cajun Moon Multimedia, Arlington, TX. Martin is a Lockdown reseller, and also provides hosting for Lockdown at a Texas site, below. New Hampshire http://lockdown2000.com/Lockdown2000.exe Trace Actual location: Either Dover, NH or Boston, MA Comments: This is the Lockdown2000 website. The company is located in Dover, NH., but it appears likely that the physical server is "co-located" at the facility of their upline provider in Boston, some 60 miles away. "Harbor Corp" (which incidentally is not and never has been a corporation in NH) effectively hosts its own website. New Jersey http://skinner.org/~irrupt/Lockdown2000.exe Trace Actual location: Bloomfield, NJ Comments: This website is hosted by Virtual Development Inc. in Bloomfield, NJ. The domain "skinner.org" is owned by Robert Alan Skinner of Bloomfield, NJ. The site is largely on the subject of his music. No mention is made of Lockdown on the site, and the "irrupt" section seems to hold no content besides the LD2K download file. Presumably Skinner is a Lockdown reseller. Texas http://www.flash.net/~mjsj/lockdown2000/Lockdown2000.exe Trace Actual location: Fort Worth, TX Comments: This is a personal website maintained by the individual who owns vastcity.com (see Missouri, above). Aside from the download, there's apparently no Lockdown promotion on this site. Australia http://southwest.com.au/~bond/lockdown2000/Lockdown2000.exe Trace Actual location: Western Australia Comments: This is a personal website on a dialup account at southwest.com.au. It belongs to Simon Bond, an 18-year-old music and graphic arts hobbyist. There's no material on Lockdown 2000 aside from the presence of the LD2K distribution files. Western Canada http://www.quantumlynx.com/datawest/Lockdown2000.exe Trace Actual location: Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada Comments: This is the $20/mo web hosting deal at Quantumlynx. No custom domain name is involved so there's no readily available record of ownership for the site.. The site appears to have no content besides the LD2K distribution files. Central Canada http://24.112.143.94/lockdown/Lockdown2000.exe Trace Actual location: London, Ontario, Canada Comments: London is about 60 miles southwest of Toronto, across Lake Erie from Western New York State. It's Eastern, not Central Canada. The website appears to have no content besides the Lockdown distribution files. It's apparently a personal home.com account with a fixed IP address, probably a DSL link. Paris France http://www.v-softs.com/ld2000/Lockdown2000.exe Trace Actual location: Ivry-sur-Seine, France Comments: Ivry-sur-Seine is a part of greater Paris. The v-softs.com domain is owned by Emmanuel Daunizeau of Ivry-sur-Seine, France. The site is virtually undeveloped, and seems to contain little besides the LD2K distribution files.
In the final analysis, the Global Array of Lockdown 2000 Servers is a makeshift lot of hosting arrangements, mainly on personal websites, none of it on servers designed for large file transfers. It is misrepresented as to several of its true locations, and obviously meant primarily to impress the more gullible visitors with an illusion of broad support or vast resources.
Like the rest of the Lockdown 2000 presentation, it is more smoke than substance, and thoroughly careless of fact.