| Popular boards,
like "talk politics' or "alt.binaries.pictures.erotica," a repository of
pornography, can have tens of thousands of regular readers. Obscure
ones, like "alt.animals.lampreys" or the Barney-bashing
"alt.tv.dinosaurs.barney.die.die.die," may have but a handful.
90 Minutes for Millions
After culling out a few thousand
news groups that either could not be reached from United States service
providers, or that were technical test groups with no readership, Mr. Canter
sent his message to everyone else. He estimates that it took him less than
90 minutes to send his advertisement to 5,000 to 6,000 news groups, with a
potential audience of millions.
It was the sheer pervasiveness of Mr. Canter's pitch that seems to
have touched the deepest nerve for Mr. Wheelhouse at Internet Direct. "A person
going in to read about pet care instead sees "Here's how to get your Green
Card,' Mr. Wheelhouse said. "You want to learn to fix your computer, and
it's 'Get your Green Card.' Everywhere you went, it was Green Card, Green
Card, Green Card."
Which is precisely what Mr. Canter had intended.
Mr. Wheelhouse said Mr. Canter, Martha Siegel, his partner and
wife, and two other lawyers showed up at Internet Direct on Friday to threaten
the $250,000 lawsuit and demand restoration of their electronic mail privileges.
Mr. Wheelhouse said Internet Direct would not budge, although he conceded he was
worried by the prospect of his small company's taking on a law firm.
Discussing the matter, Mr. Canter said, "Conservatively, that's the
amount of business we feel we will get out of this from the ad" — and by
extension, from future ads, if he can get back on line.
Networks With No Owner
The Internet, and particularly the chaotic
region called Usenet where Mr. Canter's posting occurred, is such a loose
amalgam of networks that it is owned and regulated by no one. Other than
flaming by the indignant and self-policing by commercial service providers who
give subscribers access to cyberspace, there is no means for enforcing the
"netiquette" as it is called, of the Internet.
Some of those enraged by Mr. Canter's action have attempted to seek
censure. Harriet Turney, chief bar counsel for the State Bar of Arizona,
said yesterday evening that the bar association was aware of the controversy
over Canter & Siegel's network postings to Usenet, but that no determination had
yet been made over whether any advertising guidelines had been violated.
She noted that lawyers are free to solicit anyone, as long as the advertisements
are not false or misleading.
It is not the first time Mr. Canter has angered other citizens of
cyberspace.
"He was here about a month ago and did something similar but not on
the same scale," said James Gleick, proprietor of an Internet service provider
called the Pipeline, based in Manhattan.
In that episode Mr. Canter used a Pipeline account to advertise his
"green card" services to a smaller number of Usenet addresses.
"As soon as he did it," Mr. Gleick said, "we were deluged with
mail. We warned him that this was not permissible behavior, and he
promised he wouldn't do it again."
"These things that are written into the Internet culture are not
written into the law," Mr. Gleick said. "The Internet as a society thinks
it knows very well what is permissible, but a service provider can he on shaky
ground trying to enforce these unwritten rules."
California Service Used
Subsequently Mr. Canter
used another service provider, Netcom Inc. of San Jose, Calif., as his base camp
for a second foray into network advertising, but was quickly censured by Netcom
administrators. He was allowed to retain his Netcom account after
promising to refrain from future advertising broadcasts.
But last week, Mr. Canter was back, this time using Internet Direct
and resolving not to be unplugged again.
"The Internet is changing," Mr. Canter said. "People don't
like the invasion of what has been their private world. But as long as
it's setup the way it is, where anyone has access to it, it's a public forum,
and they have to accept anything that comes into it.
"In fact," Mr. Canter added, "I've received a lot of calls from
people who ant to know how to do it."
So pleased is he with the response, in fact, that he said he
planned to write a book on how to advertise on the Internet.
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