In what appears to be one of the lamest acts of revenge in the history of the Internet, someone has opted my e-mail address into Omega World Travel’s e-mail program.
Let’s see if we can figure out who it was.
For background: Omega World Travel is in a legal tussle with Oklahoma City-based anti-spammer Mark Mumma. The travel company is suing Mumma for $3.8 million for defamation for allegedly posting messages on the Web calling Omega and its proprietors spammers after he received some e-mail from the company he claims he didn’t request.
Mumma has already lost a countersuit against Omega brought under federal and Oklahoma anti-spam laws.
On Jan. 23, I conducted a contentious interview with Mumma—which was published last week—in which he conceded that someone registered his e-mail address on Omega’s Web site.
During the interview, Mumma became so agitated he resorted to name-calling and legal threats. On Jan. 24, we had an e-mail exchange during which he also became agitated.
According to Omega’s records, my address was registered with Cruise.com on Jan. 25 from an IP address registered to Cox Communications in Oklahoma City.
Hmm. Let’s think about this. Mumma lives in Oklahoma City. According to court transcripts, he gets his Internet connection from Cox. My address was registered by someone accessing the Internet from an IP address registered to Cox in Oklahoma City. Uncanny, isn’t it? … Do you think? … Nahhh. … Can’t be.
Meanwhile, Mumma’s two anti-spam sites, SueASpammer.com and SlappSuit.com, have been taken down. According to Omega’s lawyer, his company and Mumma are in settlement talks, and Mumma has taken the sites down as an act of good faith.
