Looking for a lawyer....
I've received email from a spammer with an interesting twist. Claiming to have recieved a "Word-of-Mouth Report" from someone about me, the site is fulfilling its "moral obligation" to inform me that they are collecting this information. Clicking through to the site reveals nothing about the nature of this report, but I can pay to see it. Even though the site is ostensibly located in the Philippines, the site is directed to users in the United States.
If you try to have your email address removed, the company says it will still collect these reports about you and that you have to agree to forfeit "any rights that you may or may not have to be informed by us via email in the event that a report is submitted about you or a user searches for reports about you."
The spirit of privacy and data collection laws in the United States is that people should have the right to review information collected about them and contest incorrect information. We should not be required to sacrifice any rights to get off a mailing list.
This is reprehensible abuse of identity and I'd like to find a lawyer to help take the guy behind it to court. His name is Peter Kestler and here is what Whois tells us about him:
Domain ID:D96742797-LROR
Domain Name:WORD-OF-MOUTH.ORG
Created On:19-Apr-2003 07:12:03 UTC
Last Updated On:17-Jul-2003 12:03:06 UTC
Expiration Date:19-Apr-2004 07:12:03 UTC
Sponsoring Registrar:R86-LROR
Status:CLIENT DELETE PROHIBITED
Status:CLIENT TRANSFER PROHIBITED
Registrant ID:DDDD-0001016963
Registrant Name:PETER KESTLER
Registrant Organization:WORD-OF-MOUTH.ORG
Registrant Street1:SIVERANO MIRABUENO, STO. NINO
Registrant City:UPPER PIEDAD, TORIL, DAVAO CITY
Registrant State/Province:DAVAO DEL NORTE
Registrant Postal Code:8000
Registrant Country:PH
Registrant Phone:+1.639185653118
Registrant Email:WORD-OF-MOUTH.ORG@ATTGLOBAL.NET