You've Got Post or You've Got BS?

[detn8r]

As first introduced here, email host and dial up provider You've got post (You've got Dial up) were offering a whooping 1TB inbox limit (without any mistakes, contrary to the apparent one that Gmail made).

Well as it turns out, Spokes-Person "Amy Jackson" thinks that registering a domain in the country of Malaysia would keep them out of hot water when it came to the matters of them giving themselves the access to read it's users emails. (Malaysia apparently has no international laws concerning privacy matters.) When users email the webmaster of YGP, they get responded with a statement saything "they are no longer a user of YGP" and have their account terminated.

An example of the behaviour between webmaster and spokes-person "Amy" and a concerned user is quoted below:

quote:
-----Original Message-----
From: Will Henchy [mailto:xxxxx@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2004 9:23 PM
To: webmaster@youvegotpost.com
Subject: Privacy Concerns


Dear Madame,

It has recently come to my attention that you're reading the emails of youre "youvegotpost.com" users. I've reviewed your EULA, and it states nothing allowing you to do this. Even if your EULA did vest you with the power to read your users emails, you would be in violation of various privacy laws.

You have attempted to hide behind being a "UK" company in order to justify this illegal act. Even if you are in fact a UK company, it is still illegal for you to read your users email, due to the EU Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications. I suggest you cease this behanvior at once.

For more information on the EU Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications, please direct your web browser to http://www.hmso.gov.uk/si/si2003/20032426.htm

Regards,

Will Henchy

---------------------------------------------------------------

On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 21:25:22 +0100, Client Services
wrote:

You are not a user.

Go away.


---------------------------------------------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: Will Henchy [mailto:xxxxxx@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2004 9:33 PM
To: webmaster@youvegotpost.com
Subject: Re: Privacy Concerns

Just a friendly warning -- it seems there are a good deal of folks out there who are not only aware of this law, but are quite annoyed at your lack of privacy. And I wouldn't be so sure I'm not a user. The lack of civility on your part you provide is quite disheartening.

---------------------------------------------------------------

On Sun, 13 Jun 2004 21:36:45 +0100, Client Services
wrote:

Given that I am deleted all of the accounts registered through the last 48 hours, you are not a user.

You people make me sick.

---------------------------------------------------------------

-----Original Message-----
From: Will Henchy [mailto:xxxxxx@gmail.com]
Sent: Sunday, June 13, 2004 9:38 PM
To: webmaster@youvegotpost.com
Subject: Re: Privacy Concerns

And a violation of international laws makes me sick.

---------------------------------------------------------------

wrote:

Let me clue you in arsehole. There is no such thing as international law.

And an interesting quote from "Alexa":

quote:Reviewer: A customer from Australia
The guy who runs the You've Got Post system is an absolute scumbag. He likes to use aliases - his current webmaster, Amy, is almost definitely a front. His name is Greg Lloyd Smith. Type his name into Google, see what pops up.

After unsuccessfully trying to take a company called Frugalescrow public (total loss) he went on to bigger things. MPC Trading, the company allegedly behind Youvegotpost, also dabbles in small time porn sites and whatever else he thinks can turn a quick buck. All this is fueled by officialspin.com, the 'press release' site he uses to try to promote the companies he backs, and to flame people who look at what he does with a careful eye.

GLS is the genius who originally conceived of registering www.amazon.com.gr in Greece, and then tried to sell it back to Amazon for millions. He was sued by Amazon using the RICO (Racketeering Influenced Corrupt Organizations) stautes, and the URL now belongs to Amazon.

GLS also tried to sue Nike, but nothing came of that either.

This guy is a nasty piece of work. He is also a complete failure as a businessman.

If you do a little research on You've Got Post you'll find that they claim to be based in the UK, yet their business name isn't registered there. Their press releases claim that they are in Malaysia, and their actual servers are located in the US. Judging from "her" emails, the ISP that "Amy" uses is from Greece...not really a surprise considering that GLS is from Greece (hence his registration of the amazon.com.gr domain years back.)

Add to that that their "administrator" "Amy" has admitted to reading emails, and claims that its not illegal because "they aren't US based", and even claimed that there was no such thing as international law!

These are scammers trying to get a quick buck. Use Yahoo or GMail.

Another interesting quote from an email sent to a user of YGP:

quote:Hello,

Well that was a good test, which proved my original opinion; something I expressed to The Big
Cheese, when I told him that a User Forum was a complete waste of my time and his/their money.

Unfortunately, there are a small number of Internet a**holes out there, who do not deserve to be
left alone in front of a computer, and they make this interface a pain in the ass for the rest of
us.

I will now go through the thousands of user accounts that we have generated in the last 3-4 days and
delete all of those who I believe should not possess a YGP account.

If you have a question about YGP, email me at webmaster@youvegotpost.com.


Regards,


Amy Jackson
You've Got Post!
www.youvegotpost.com

Now on their News Page, you would be able to find an interesting article about naming Neowin and specific users as part of the blame for a "mass-mailing attack, originating from malicious forum banter" back in the middle of the month.

quote:06/14/04 -- You've Got Post Limited owner/operator of the popular FreeMail, You've Got Post! who recently launched You've Got Dialup! has endured a harrowing 48 hours at the experienced hands of a number of Internet thugs, lead by a small band of GMail users.

The saga began when a Neowin.net user, who goes by the handles "LOC" and "Lord LOC", requested permission to post a message on the forum about YGP's extraordinary offer. YGP offers unlimited Email storage—a free service, which is not supported by ads but instead relies upon the occasional donation of its users. The message first appeared on the forum's "Back Page News" under the title of "[Screw Gmail, etc etc] Youvegotpost 1 TB Webmail, You heard me right".

Amy Jackson, YGP spokesperson, confirmed: "I authorized the posting, although I didn't know the exact contents before they were published and later, LOC was a little slow in telling me where he had promoted our service. Ironically, he said YGP was offering 1TB of Email storage, when in fact, we offer an unlimited service."

Jackson explained this was because the initial storage level set by their system was 1TB, incremental by 1TB, as space was required by user, as if that wasn't enough!

Over the weekend, the FreeMail registrations came rolling in, but then it was discovered that the majority of these new YGP users where coming from another web forum, << filtered for offensive content >> run by Richard Kyanka—where a competing message had been posted.

Participants included a number of Gmail users, who were registering, posting their Email addresses to the forum and then encouraging other visitors to send bulk Emails to these new Email accounts in hopes of damaging the YGP website. Other forum users were also registering YGP Email accounts—in one example, more than 100 addresses were registered by a single user who suggested others should use the Hotmail he created, and others had use of, in order to satisfy the requirements for registration.

Calls, emails and faxes to Google headquarters in Mountain View California, and SomethingAwful, Inc., in Seattle Washington, requesting comment, were not immediately returned.

One forum user [Mine GO BOOM] who had registered "ilikebigfiles@youvegotpost.com" wrote: "Spam me big files, as my email address suggests."

Another, [DAVENULL] wrote: "Haha, this rocks. Send me absurdly large data files at coxor@youvegotpost.com."

[Paxosmotic] wrote: Why not just keep on going until Amy has a heart attack and dies at the keyboard?"

[Yossarko], a GMail user and forum member registered "gmail@youvegotpost.com" and when that account was deleted, he registered "gregmail@youvegotpost.com" and wrote: "Had to re-register (deleted for GMAIL breaking of TOS), please send me cool ****."

There are hundreds of posted messages, each one boasting of the addresses that were registered by a very small number of forum users, each one encouraging the others to send bulk Email, to "spam the hell out of me...", meaning the Email addresses they had created. One user even suggested that "Amy could make all this go away if she stopped trying to compete with GMail", but the most menacing one of all, [Hammer] wrote: "Holy ****, these guys are assholes, let's **** up their ****."

About You've Got Post! ™
You've Got Post! ™ was created in February 1998 and went "live" on December 30, 1999, aiming to provide the very best free Email service (FreeMail)—fast, free and efficient. You've Got Post Limited, a UK company, purchased the business from its founder on February 26, 2004. For more information or to get your own You've Got Post! FreeMail account, visit You've Got Post! ™

Another interesting quote from this Amy Jackson to a user who apparently complained:

quote:Well, I am not sure there sas, I have logged into your account from the backend and I can see all of your folders and your emails, etc.

Now I didn't personally read their whole ToS when I registered, as I'm sure many don't. Someone did how ever, and got the following out of it:

quote:I didn't read the entire TOS and Privacy Policy, but it had all the basics, but it said a lot about how they would terminate accounts whenever they wanted, they would periodically clean out emails and could block emails from wherever they wanted.

So what's the deal there? They offer this 1TB or "unlimited inbox limit" only to give them selves access to delete users email to keep up with this promise? Isn’t that dandy.

So, as it seems through out the day, YGP slowly shut them selves down I guess you can say. Some one from the Neowin forums picked this up not too long ago. Now, the URL isn't accessible. If they insist they have done nothing to break international laws concerning privacy rights, what happened? I'm sure it wasn't all the free publicity they were getting today.. no way!

So in conclusion: YGP just seemed to be another Gmail wannabe that turned up in the sewers. You’re all better off sticking with trusted companies. These include in my opinion: Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail. Both of which now (or soon to be) offer incredible deals. Jump on the opportunities.

I've picked out the more important things, but you can read the whole argument here c/o Neowin's Community.

[Brian]

I came across the YGP website through I think EmailAddresses.com some months ago. I didn't bother to sign up for the services though.

Anyway, I agree with you it is best to stay with trusted companies like Yahoo, Google, MSN and etc.

Detn8r- thanks for sharing your findings with us!

[The Dude]

I cant believe it!!!!!!!!!!!

They probably figure cause they are giving you all that space for free,they can do this

[Someguy03]

You've Got Post has returned, and is worse than ever! They have new Terms and Conditions. You can no longer register accounts using a Gmail or Hotmail account. You also can no longer send email to Gmail accounts or recieve emails from Gmail accounts. When first signing up, you will recieve 100 MB of space, and will be monitered for a period of 90 days, and then if approved, will be given unlimited space.