These guys are going down. If you have gotten e-mail from “networkpromotion.com” or “grouplotto.com”, then you know that these guys are total scum. Now to find out if any state or federal laws can be used against them for continually spamming my mailbox with stuff I’ve told them I don’t want. The good thing is that they seem to be a “corporation” (with emphasis on “seem”), so they present a rather large target.

What sent me over the edge is this blurb from their “About us” section from their website:

The strategy is to develop proprietary, majority-owned websites designed to attract and retain the interest of the largest possible on-line consumer audience. After six months of research, planning, and development the company announced the launch of GroupLotto.com.

GroupLotto is a free online lottery that gives the participant multiple daily chances to enter and win its $10,000,000 jackpot as well as other smaller daily and weekly prizes. The player agrees to receive our marketing materials (i.e., permission-based) in exchange for his/her lottery entry. The content is very compelling: a lifetime of riches. The concept has worked extremely well. As of August 31, 2000, the site had in excess of 13,000,000 individual plays. The site generates revenue from customer acquisition programs, data rentals, co-registrations programs for other online marketers, banner advertising and e-commerce to its dedicated user base.

They want to know everything about you, all the while making it impossible for you to tell them to “forget” you. After all, it would seem that you must tell them and all of their affiliates to remove your e-mail address from their database.