Dear SurplusDirect, 

This letter is to inform you that your company will be boycotted by 
GeoCities members like myself until you "cease and desist" in 
sending 'SPAM', or junk-Email, to homesteaders' addresses. A large 
number complain that they cannot remove themselves from the mailing 
lists, they never requested your junkmail in the first place, and 
that some were 'scammed' into providing these addresses to your company 
either by yourselves, Geocities, or a corporation posing as one of the 
aforementioned. In sending this unwanted and unsolicited mail, you are:

1. Unduly harassing users by exploiting a shortcoming of homesteaders' 
   Email accounts.
	[FACT: For many, mail sent to these addresses is forwarded to a 
	separate personal Email address. Because of this fact, your 
	company's mailing list cannot be unsubscribed from without
	illegally falsifying the sender's address.]

2. Unnecessarily wasting recipients' valuable time.
	[FACT: Assuming that the 'unsubscribe' option can even be used,
	your server requires a minimum of THREE separate requests in 
	order to remove an address from the database. Furthermore, 
	your system requires a reply within 48hrs of its response to 
	the initial request before the request is disallowed. Any delays 
	the incoming or outgoing mail experiences will result in all 
	requests being cancelled. The question also arises as to why 
	one must remove themselves from a list they never joined in the 
	first place!]

3. Delaying the transfer of legitimate mail through mail networks.
	[FACT: Spam mail such as that your company is reported as 
	sending accounts for a significant portion of network traffic. 
	A well-publicized incident involved an individual sending so 
	much spam mail at once that a Netcom Communications mail server
	crashed as a direct result of this traffic, wiping out any legitimate 
	mail and leaving users of the service unable to send or receive 
	mail for hours after the incident.]

4. Alienating potential customers.
	[FACT: In abusing the privilage of Email, you have angered a large 
	number of individuals on Geocities and elsewhere who might have 
	otherwise considered doing business with your company.]

5. You may be violating the Terms Of Service of the recipient's Internet 
   Service Provider.
	[FACT: The aforementioned Netcom service has issued strict 
	rules banning the use of the mentioned tactics. Violations 
	can result in bans from the servers, fines, termination of 
	accounts, and legal recourse against the offender. An excerpt
	of these Terms is listed below: 

5.03
           System abuse is defined as any use of NETCOM resources which disrupts the normal use of the system or
           Internet services for others. Examples of system abuse include, but are not limited to, attempting to disrupt the
           sessions of other Internet users, consuming excessive amounts of CPU time, memory or disk space, or
           otherwise affecting the performance of NETCOM servers.

7.02
           NETCOM accountholders may not send e-mail to any user who does not wish to receive it, either at
           NETCOM or elsewhere. NETCOM recognizes that e-mail is an informal medium; however, accountholders
           must refrain from sending further e-mail to a user after receiving a request to stop.
7.03
           Unsolicited advertising mailings, whether commercial or informational, are strictly prohibited. NETCOM
           accountholders may send advertising material only to addresses which have specifically requested it. NETCOM
           will not forward mail of accounts terminated for bulk mailing or unsolicited advertising.

	
Other ISPs have even stricter policies regarding this type of abuse.


More information about the SurplusDirect boycott can be obtained at 
http://www.angelfire.com/il/tisource/boycott.htm 

Again, I urge you to please reconsider your business practices. This boycott 
will continue until your company makes evident its concern for potential
customers, ceases its use of unsolicited bulk Email, and issues a public 
apology to those already harassed by your company.
     Sincerely,