Who's Jonny? The anti-spam campaign is on!

By BY |

Alright, folks, listen up. We're gonna get this comment-spamming sucker.

I did a moderate amount of searching and found that "Jonny," who- or whatever he is, is affiliated with the Savvis data center and the hosting company Layered Technologies in Dallas. The WHOIS search on about half the "Jonny" spam gives me this:

Savvis SAVVIS (NET-216-32-0-0-1)
216.32.0.0 - 216.35.255.255
Layered Technologies, Inc. NET-216-32-64-0 (NET-216-32-64-0-1)
216.32.64.0 - 216.32.95.255

Occasionally, Jonny pops up elsewhere, such as "ThePlanet.com Internet Services," a company that appears to have some link to Layered Technologies. If I were a gumshoe, I'd be planning my stakeout. (I'd also be wearing a trenchcoat and a silly hat, but that's by the by.)

Now, let's look more closely at Layered Tech. The company has rules against this kind of thing; unfortunately, it looks as though the company has a record of not enforcing said rules (also, scroll down to "update" for more details). Layered Tech also seems to be involved in a referral spam scheme involving Disney, and the FBI has even paid LT an unfriendly visit in the last couple of weeks -- although, sadly, not on a stakeout for Jonny. Then there's this profanity-laden rant. Finally, there's phishing, one of the sleaziest types of email fraud, in which the writer pretends to be a trustworthy source (say, PayPal, or your bank, or your company's own customer-service department -- we've gotten all three) and then asks you for your credit card information. This post suggests a Layered Technologies client may be involved in that too.

Folks, I'm pretty sure we've found Jonny's lair.

Now, here's where you guys come in -- what do I DO with this information? Is there some way we an all band together and spread the word? Should I bother calling LT? What more proof do I need? And how do I go about bringing down Jonny once and for all?