Apparently somebody thinks this document may constitute a file of personal data. Therefore it must have a Section 10 (Personal Data Act, 523/1999) Description of Personal Data File, which is hereby posted here so as to be available to the general public.

List of UBE/UCE seen at Infinite Mho

Some background is in order...

Infinite Mho Oy reports all unsolicited bulk/commercial email to its collaborators, both domestic and foreign, and to the Internet service provider of the advertiser.
The list below is not a blocklist.
The list below represents facts only, verified at the time said email was received.
Infinite Mho Oy acknowledges that under current Finnish legislation, B2B UCE is legally allowed, and UBE with no commercial intent is not even discussed. That does not mean they do not clog mailboxes just the same as illegal UCE (to private persons), and that does not mean it is not spam, and that does not mean it should not be reported as such.

Anybody sent here would do well to read A Vote for Commerce as well as the Spamhaus.org mailing list primer.

The following is a list of companies that have sent unsolicited bulk and/or commercial email to the email address Infinite Mho Oy has registered in the Finnish Business Information System or published on its own web site as a means of contact. (Or to invented email addresses at the domain.) Entries will not be removed from this list because that would make it no longer factual. This list will only be amended as new advertisements come in. Corrections can be made (for example, if it turns out that a domain name involved in UCE does in fact belong to a business rather than a private individual, the private individual's name can be omitted from the list).

Index by month:
Jan 2010 - Feb 2010 - Mar 2010 - Apr 2010 - May 2010 - Jun 2010 - Jul 2010 - Aug 2010 - Sep 2010 - Oct 2010 - Nov 2010 - Dec 2010 -
Jan 2011 - Feb 2011 - Mar 2011 - Apr 2011 - May 2011 - Jun 2011 - Jul 2011 - Aug 2011 - Sep 2011 - Oct 2011 - Nov 2011 - Dec 2011 -
Jan 2012 - Feb 2012 - Mar 2012 - Apr 2012 - May 2012 - Jun 2012 - Jul 2012 - Aug 2012 - Sep 2012 - Oct 2012 - Nov 2012 - Dec 2012 -
Jan 2013 - Feb 2013 - Jul 2013
Feb 2015

January 2010

KESKINÄINEN ELÄKEVAKUUTUSYHTIÖ ETERA (etera.fi), Fri, 15 Jan 2010 09:06:02 +0200
China Calling (suunnittele.fi), also known as "S-P Suunnittele ja Paina" and "China Calling Broadband Telecommunications", Thu, 21 Jan 2010 17:57:31 +0200
Suomen Talousverkko Oy (talousverkko.fi), Wed, 27 Jan 2010 10:00:02 +0200 and again in March 2011 despite the opt-out earlier, making the latter spam thoroughly illegal

February 2010

Niko Kattelmäki (invisio.fi), apparently acting on behalf of Invisio Solutions Oy, Fri, 5 Feb 2010 14:40:04 +0200 (EET) and again on Sat, 6 Mar 2010 14:37:02 +0200 (EET). Some people just won't understand that no means no.
Directa Oy (directa.fi, perustaverkkokauppa.fi), Mon, 15 Feb 2010 12:14:47 +0200 (EET) and again on Mon, 7 Jun 2010 10:39:48 +0300 (EEST) and again on Thu, 18 Nov 2010 12:45:25 +0200 despite explicit orders not to. (As an aside, they've also been told not to try to reach officials of the previous owner of a domain that has changed hands, with identical results.)

March 2010

Markkinointitoimisto Push! Oy (pushmarketing.fi), Tue, 2 Mar 2010 15:30:58 +0200 (EET)

April 2010

Big Beem (Thai company!?), multiple since 23 Apr 2010

Business Fellows Oy (businessfellows.com), Wed, 28 Apr 2010 19:53:41 +0300 (EEST)
Directa Oy (digitaalinensuomi.fi), Thu, 29 Apr 2010 15:24:34 +0300

May 2010

Carigna Oy (carigna.com), Mon, 17 May 2010 13:44:47 +0300
Aalto University School of Science and Technology, Thu, 20 May 2010 18:28:23 +0300 (EEST)
Vistaprint (now there's a surprise), Tue, 25 May 2010 12:04:27 +0200 (CEST) and several times afterwards, most recently Tue, 19 Oct 2010 08:17:01 +0200 (CEST)

August 2010

Tmi Pekka Varis / Catchline Oy (catchline.fi), Fri, 20 Aug 2010 00:46:02 +0300
Suomen Markkinointirekisteri Oy (markkinointirekisteri.fi), Fri, 27 Aug 2010 04:35:03 -0400 (EDT), terminated by Constant Contact for AUP violation, and again Wed, 15 Sep 2010 12:20:20 +0300 Update Feb 2013 Suomen Markkinointirekisteri Oy was just terminated for AUP violations by SendGrid.

September 2010

Mikko Valjakka / Auta Ystavaa ry (triopool.com, triopool.info), Sat, 11 Sep 2010 15:19:13 +0300
Jerkka Tuote Oy, Wed, 29 Sep 2010 16:01:51 +0300 (EEST) and again on Mon, 29 Nov 2010 14:11:48 +0200 (EET). These folks figure they don't need to indicate the address list used, and they also figure they don't need to let the recipient know it is possible to be removed from the list and how to do that. The law disagrees on all counts.

October 2010

Kivisalo Wear Oy, Thu, 7 Oct 2010 16:13:30 +0200. YTJ says these folks are in Chapter 11, and there's two other "Kivisalo" businesses in the same region (in the case of the former, at the very exact same address) that are already bankrupt. Coincidence? It's the same lawyers handling both estates... More spam from them on Wed, 10 Nov 2010 16:13:28 +0100, and the Henri Nieminen spams below seem to have a connection (same geographic region, same Swedish spam service provider)
Paledux Oy, Tue, 12 Oct 2010 17:00:04 +0300
Damex Multimedia Oy, Wed, 27 Oct 2010 16:12:24 +0300

November 2010

Merimaailma Sea Life, Wed, 03 Nov 2010 10:30:26 +0100, who are annoyed at having their noble cause called spam and say with indignation they bought their address register from a legitimate Finnish business, Suomen Markkinointirekisteri Oy...
Henri Nieminen, Tue, 9 Nov 2010 12:37:33 +0100. Apparently "Tmi Henri Nieminen", Finnish business ID 2084700-6, of Antilankatu 10 A 24, 62100 Lapua, or as it says in the domain registration of linkkeja.net, Ojasentie 5 B 6, 62130 Hellanmaa. More spam received Tue, 9 Nov 2010 14:17:58 +0100 and Wed, 10 Nov 2010 07:35:25 +0100. As suggested in the first spam, we have requested more information on his marketing services, but have yet to receive any :)
Mika Taipale (passeli.com), apparently acting on behalf of Passeli Ohjelmat Oy, Mon, 15 Nov 2010 16:02:15 +0200
Janstock Oy, Tue, 16 Nov 2010 12:45:23 +0200
StarBrix International Oy, Thu, 18 Nov 2010 08:31:09 +0200. Apparently, another happy customer of Suomen Markkinointirekisteri Oy and dude thinks removing the address from this one instance of the mailing list will be enough. We'll see...
Papron Paperitukku Oy Ab, Mon, 22 Nov 2010 07:17:30 +0200. Another happy customer of Suomen Markkinointirekisteri Oy. This entity is using the taxpayer funded network resources of the Oravais municipality to send out spam (cf. RIPE WHOIS for 195.244.65.7) and thinks sending non-DSN mails as DSNs (cf. the null sender <>) is a good idea.
Asko Raatikainen (totalhenkilostopalvelut.fi), apparently acting on behalf of TOTAL-Henkilöstöpalvelut Oy, or Hurja Solutions Oy (lueviesti.fi), Tue, 23 Nov 2010 09:56:52 +0200. This entity figures they don't need to indicate the address register used. Paragraph 25 of the Personal Data Act (523/1999) seems to disagree.
Porin Työkalupiste Oy (akku24.fi), Wed, 24 Nov 2010 14:51:43 +0200. Another entity who figures they don't need to observe the law (523/1999, 25 §). Also starting out with a blatant lie regarding supposed earlier contact and "maybe it was to another person at your business". Newsflash: there is no other person at this business and I know who I've spoken to...
JH Ventures Oy (energiavahti.fi), Fri, 26 Nov 2010 13:32:28 +0200. Another happy customer of Suomen Markkinointirekisteri Oy.

December 2010

Suomen Lahjatukku Oy (rakettitukku.fi), Wed, 1 Dec 2010 21:41:58 +0200. Another happy customer of Suomen Markkinointirekisteri Oy, and another entity who figures they don't need to inform the list members explicitly of the possibility of being removed from lists. The law disagrees.
PrimeWeb, Mans Hafren (lakitoimisto.net), apparently acting on behalf of Lakiasiaintoimisto TTN Oy, Tue, 07 Dec 2010 07:50:29 +0200.
Benefitor Oy (benefitor.com), Digi Solutions Finland Oy (digikyna.fi), Pentaconsulting Oy (=Benefitor Oy, etusi.fi), Thu, 9 Dec 2010 00:04:27 +0200. Another happy customer of Suomen Markkinointirekisteri Oy, and again on Fri, 17 Dec 2010 09:52:27 +0200 despite explicit orders not to in connection with the previous spam on December 9, thereby violating Paragraph 27 of the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications (516/2004).
Oy SpaDealers Ab (spadealers.fi), Thu, 9 Dec 2010 11:30:25 +0200
Merit Software Oy (meritaktiva.fi), Thu, 9 Dec 2010 20:42:57 +0200
Hispania Matkatoimisto Oy (hispania.fi), Mon, 13 Dec 2010 11:08:10 +0200. Another bunch who figure they don't need to indicate the address register used. Paragraph 25 of the Personal Data Act (523/1999) seems to disagree.
Pro Partners Oy (propartners.fi), Thu, 16 Dec 2010 19:33:17 +0200. Another bunch who figure they don't need to indicate the address register used. Paragraph 25 of the Personal Data Act (523/1999) seems to disagree. The disclaimer in the footer is particularly amusing.
Viestituote Lauttasaari Oy (viestitele.fi), Fri, 17 Dec 2010 02:55:40 +0200. Another happy customer of Suomen Markkinointirekisteri Oy.

January 2011

Asko Raatikainen (totalhenkilostopalvelut.fi), apparently acting on behalf of TOTAL-Henkilöstöpalvelut Oy, or Hurja Solutions Oy (lueviesti.fi), Mon, 10 Jan 2011 12:04:40 +0200 despite explicit orders not to in connection with the previous spam on November 23, 2010, thereby violating Paragraph 27 of the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications (516/2004). Despite my mentioning it out loud the previous time, this entity still figures they don't need to indicate the address register used. Paragraph 25 of the Personal Data Act (523/1999) seems to disagree. Still!
Asennesiivous Oy (asennesiivous.fi), spamming an address that isn't announced anywhere, Wed, 12 Jan 2011 10:08:25 +0100. They're saying they got the addresses from... wait... are you ready... SUOMEN MARKKINOINTIREKISTERI OY, who have apparently migrated from reselling YTJ for spamming to reselling INVENTED ADDRESSES for the same purpose! Way to go...
Keskinäinen Vakuutusyhtiö Tapiola (tapiola.fi), Tue, 18 Jan 2011 22:33:32 +0200. This entity figures they don't need to indicate the address register used. Paragraph 25 of the Personal Data Act (523/1999) seems to disagree. They also don't think Paragraph 27 of the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications (516/2004) applies to them - the message contains nothing whatsoever on how to be removed from the list.
Zoner Oy (verkkotaikurit.fi), apparently acting on behalf of Verkkotaikurit Oy, Thu, 20 Jan 2011 13:14:05 +0200
Oy Elmio Ab (elmio.fi), Sun, 30 Jan 2011 16:01:32 +0200. Got to give it to them that the address source is indicated and there's a way of removal :-)
Tempstar Nordic Oy (tempstar.fi), Mon, 31 Jan 2011 14:27:19 +0200 (EET). Three strikes and they're out: no address source (523/1999 25 §), no way of removal (516/2004 27 §), and the address they used had been the contact address of Infinite Mho Oy in the Finnish Business Information System for about three weeks in January 2010 and has been removed when infinitemho.fi was registered...
Web Solutions ApS (a Danish subsidiary of Web Solutions, apparently of New York, NY), apparently, on behalf of National Geographic, Mon, 31 Jan 2011 12:38:39 -0600. No address source (523/1999 25 §) and it violates the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 too by not indicating who the sender is.

February 2011

Web Solutions ApS again, on behalf of Tele Finland, Thu, 03 Feb 2011 11:56:16 -0600. No address source, violates CAN-SPAM by not indicating who the sender is, and violates both CAN-SPAM and Paragraph 27 of the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications (516/2004) by not respecting the opt-out Infinite Mho Oy indicated in response to the previous spam. As can be seen, at least one of the domains involved here violates RFC 2142 and RFC 5322 by not accepting mail to abuse and postmaster, respectively.
Kivisalo Wear Oy once again, Wed, 9 Feb 2011 11:13:43 +0100. I already opted out on October 7, 2010, so it's illegal. As an aside, they're continuing to spam non-IMho addresses that I see at my domains as of March 16...
Hernerengas Oy (d/b/a Satakunnan Markkinapörssi), and/or Satamedia Oy (different business, same owner) Sat, 12 Feb 2011 18:32:55 -0000. Another happy customer of Suomen Markkinointirekisteri Oy.
Wulff Oy Ab (wulffinkulma.fi), 16 Feb 2011 11:05:31 +0200.
Trainero Oy d/b/a Fitlink Oy (siteseq.fi), apparently on behalf of Seq 5 Oy d/b/a Siteseq Oy, Tue, 22 Feb 2011 10:26:05 +0200. No address source (523/1999 25 §).
March 2011
March 1 update on Siteseq spam: They want Trainero and Fitlink to be removed from this page "because they are not involved, or else they will contact the authorities". Please be advised that the domain name advertised in the spam is registered to that business (text copy-paste of whois, screendump of FICORA site) (or was, anyway, at the time of the spam and the time of the complaint) and is therefore clearly involved. In addition, Infinite Mho Oy takes a very dim view of frivolous legal threats and passes them on to its collaborators both domestic and foreign.
Wulff Oy Ab (wulffinkulma.fi), 2 Mar 2011 11:04:27 +0200. Now violating Paragraph 27 of the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications (516/2004) by not respecting the opt-out Infinite Mho Oy indicated in response to the previous spam on Feb 16.
Finn-Opasteet Oy (finn-opasteet.fi), Fri, 4 Mar 2011 15:17:07 +0200. No address source (523/1999 25 §). A request for clarification indicated... you wouldn't have guessed... Suomen Markkinointirekisteri Oy. At least their response to my removal request was very polite and thorough. Unusually so.
Keskus-Video Oy d/b/a Movie-TV (cityshops.fi), Mon, 21 Mar 2011 13:28:48 +0200 (EET). No address source (523/1999 25 §).
Jani Hiltunen (a private person from Riimukallio 7 K 43, 02760 Espoo, d/b/a JHD Productions / J Hiltunen Design / Kamppissaitti), Mon, 21 Mar 2011 23:29:12 +0200. No address source (523/1999 25 §) and the removal instructions were nowhere to be seen in the plain text only part (which is the only thing I see in an email client :) April 7 update: Mr Hiltunen called Infinite Mho Oy (from 050-5004069; a Finder search indicates the number is registered to him at the abovementioned address), saying that since he has fixed the plaintext parts of his emails and he is operating the business as a single person he would like Infinite Mho Oy to remove this mention of his unsolicited commercial email from this web page. Sorry, no - that would make this report no longer factual, as indicated at the top of this list.
An old acquaintance: Suomen Talousverkko Oy, Tue, 22 Mar 2011 09:32:30 +0200, despite the earlier opt-out. No address source (523/1999 25 §) in the plain text only part, and now also violating Paragraph 27 of the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications (516/2004) by not respecting the opt-out Infinite Mho Oy indicated in response to the previous spam on Jan 27, 2010.
A recent acquaintance: more spam from Trainero Oy / Fitlink Oy (apparently of Kivalterintie 17-19 B A 12, 00620 Helsinki, which is not the registered address of the businesses involved in YTJ - see registrations for Fitlink, Siteseq) on Mon, 28 Mar 2011 19:05:04 +0300. Since they were already told not to, the spam violates Paragraph 27 of the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications (516/2004). This is the bunch that threatened Infinite Mho Oy with legal repercussions over naming the domain name owner as being involved in the spam. The WHOIS here is recorded today; they haven't bothered changing the domain owner even though it was pointed out to them that if they didn't want Trainero Oy / Fitlink Oy to be named here, moving the domain name ownership to the business directly named in the spam seemed like the obvious thing to do. Needless to say, authorities haven't been in touch with Infinite Mho Oy, and neither have Trainero Oy / Fitlink Oy / Seq 5 Oy / Siteseq Oy sent any registered mail through their legal representatives to Infinite Mho Oy regarding their demand as instructed... But a complaint regarding this spam was replied to in a rather more sensible tone.

April 2011

Zoner Oy (zoner.fi), this time acting on their own behalf, Wed, 06 Apr 2011 10:19:05 +0300. The spam advertises "getting your business's own email and domain name", and it was sent to this business's own email at its own domain name. :) The plaintext part of the message, which is all I see, didn't contain a single word of Finnish, so it does not meet the requirements of Paragraph 27 of the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications (516/2004). They've also been told not to send anything here on Jan 20, so it violates the same paragraph in another way. The plaintext part also contains nothing on the address list used, so Paragraph 25 of the Personal Data Act (523/1999) seems to have been violated too. On the positive side, a response was received very quickly, but the American-style disclaimer, which has no basis in Finnish law, would be amusing if it wasn't so pathetic. Infinite Mho Oy is not under a NDA with Zoner Oy. Update Aug 7, 2012: The author of the response wishes to have it removed from this page because "they did not give permission to publish" and because it "unduly defames the sender and hurts their business". Hey, I didn't write their response. If it defames them, or hurts their business, that's hardly any of my doing. Besides, at the time they sent the response, they also cc'd it to the Data Protection Ombudsman, and having become a document of the authorities, we have reason to believe it is automatically public. (Act on the Openness of Government Activities, 621/1999, Paragraphs 1 and 5.) Update September 2012: They've complained to the Data Protection Ombudsman about having been mentioned here. :O :D
Modeo Oy (toimistoon.fi), d/b/a Re:Office, Suomen Puuhyllyt, Toimistoon Suomi, Tue, 12 Apr 2011 22:40:24 +1000. Sent from an ESP based in Australia, where unsolicited commercial email is simply forbidden altogether and the ESP anti-spam policy is pretty clear too. The message has a readable plaintext part, but does not contain any indication on the address register used (Paragraph 25 of the Personal Data Act (523/1999) once again...) and does not meet the ESP's requirements of showing the physical address of the sender. The mothership does not want to hear of it.
Helsinki Business And Science Park Oy Ltd (hbsp.net), d/b/a Viikki Food Centre, Cultivator, Helsinki Reach Centre, Mon, 18 Apr 2011 14:59:26 +0300. In response to the complaint, they say that it's a one time mailing only to new businesses and that they don't consider it spam to begin with. They also suggest that businesses who don't want spam (err, "extra mail"), should let the Finnish Business Information System know they are not to hand out the information. How about just not sending any UCE?

May 2011

EKS Finland Oy (uloskilpailusta.fi), Mon, 09 May 2011 11:21:12 +0300. The message does not have a plaintext part, so I saw nothing. It does not contain any information on the address register used (Paragraph 25 of the Personal Data Act, 523/1999), and since it does not have a plaintext part, it does not indicate a way of being removed from the list (so it does not meet the requirements of Paragraph 27 of the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications (516/2004). In their responses, the sender uses practically every excuse in the book of "what I do is not spam": 1. and 2.
Finance Management Oü / Calendar Oü, both of Tallinn, Estonia (fim.ee, turundus.info), Tue, 17 May 2011 23:56:56 +0300. A new twist: both the text and HTML parts are useless and it seems that the only content is in an embedded image. And again on Mon, 23 May 2011 23:05:48 +0300 despite the opt-out a week ago. And more on Thu, 26 May 2011 20:46:23 +0300, earning the sending host a place in the mail server rules file: Rämpsposti saatjad ei ole teretulnud.
```
May 29 20:31:30 1655mc-node1 postfix/smtpd[11771]: NOQUEUE: reject: RCPT from vip211.tantum.ee[80.79.120.211]:
554 5.7.1 <vip211.tantum.ee>: Helo command rejected: Raempsposti saatjad ei ole teretulnud; 
from=<veebivana@gmail.com> to=<ytj at infinitemho.fi> proto=ESMTP helo=<vip211.tantum.ee>
Jun  5 22:36:17
Jun 10 11:43:52
Jun 12 20:36:28
Jun 16 23:18:51
Jun 20 02:56:35
Aug  1 02:40:21
```
And they moved to 80.79.120.212 too, but since it's a HELO based rule, they're getting the same treatment. Next, a DROP in iptables, causing timeouts...
Bisnode Finland Oy (yritystele.fi) / APE Payment Oy (apepayment.com, apekukkaro.fi), Mon, 23 May 2011 14:00:17 +0300 (EEST). The message does not even attempt to contain anything on either the address register or on how to be removed from the list.
MW-tuote (a private proprietorship of Marja Witick), d/b/a Pohjanmaan Mainoslahjat, Kokkolan Mainoslahjat, VipOne Shop, Thu, 26 May 2011 19:40:00 +0300 (EEST). No address register (Personal Data Act, 25 §), and the ad is not immediately recognisable as such (SVTSL 28 §).
DPJ Finland Oy (dpj.fi), Fri, 27 May 2011 13:31:28 +0200. No address register (Personal Data Act, 25 §).

June 2011

It's been a relatively spam free month on the Finnish B2B front :)

Move Networks Oy (wellnutrition.fi), apparently acting on behalf of Wellnutrition Ab Oy, facilitated by Zeeland Solutions Oy, Mon, 27 Jun 2011 16:31:44 +0300. No address source, no removal instructions, spammed address used to exist in YTJ for three weeks in January 2010. Good going, Professor. Needless to say, required role accounts don't exist either. Dude had the gall to give me a call from 0400-801974 (unlisted number, reverse lookup doesn't find an owner, brilliant business ethics) at around 10.30am on June 29 and give me an earful over how I was so very petty to complain about this when they've got such an incredible product and an incredible campaign. Reading A Vote for Commerce might be instructive to these marketoons.
Nethit Oy (d/b/a Suomen Mattotukku, mattotukku.fi), Wed, 29 Jun 2011 15:35:50 +0300. Nothing sensible in the plaintext part, no address source, no removal instructions, and abuse@ doesn't work, of course. The HTML part, which I haven't viewed, seems to indicate a connection to Suomen Markkinointirekisteri Oy, who have been forbidden from selling Infinite Mho's contact details a loong time ago... In response, the ESP indicates that they will be forbidding their customers from using address registers from the abovementioned entity, as well as set up a global suppression list at that particular ESP. Cold comfort, but some must be better than none...

July 2011

DPJ Finland Oy (doing business as, without registering the name as such, Keitaani, keitaani.fi), Tue, 12 Jul 2011 11:03:38 +0200. Still no address source (as in May 2011), and they also fail to respect the opt-out given the previous time.
ygnetwork.com.cn, Fri, 22 Jul 2011 11:43:55 +0800. Sent to the address shown on the web page. Completely uninteresting, but mentioned here for the sake of completeness.

August 2011

erikoisalennus.com - a rather carefully anonymized operation with some hosting services in Lahti, provided by DevNet Oy, and a connection (see where the banner comes from) to Web Solutions ApS, Wed, 10 Aug 2011 17:36:00 +0200. More illegal spam from the same sender on Thu, 18 Aug 2011 02:03:16 +0300 (EEST) and Thu, 18 Aug 2011 06:40:56 +0300 (EEST), mentioning etuposti.com (obfuscated domain registration at Gandi) and again on Mon, 29 Aug 2011 10:15:30 +0200 with slightly altered contact details. This time the sending IP address is in a Finnish network, but the domain names are as anonymized as ever. Update Sep 22: Juha Söderholm (the registrant of the nearly anonymized etuposti.com) contacted us by telephone from 045-1231280 (number registered to Webvalue Oy with him as the user) to expound at length on the subtleties of not-quite-so-anonymized domain registration, as his own, and "various other means that could be used to obtain true anonymity", as well as on how B2B spam is legal, how all his emails have unsub links, and how there is a difference between spamming and "only" hosting resources advertised in spam (now is there?), and how since the Finnish legislation doesn't mention Confirmed Opt-In, it can't be a requirement for local bulkers either, and how since the players here are Estonian, the legislation to be observed is that of Estonia... If I understood the phone call correctly, Mr Söderholm's business is the so far unknown customer of DevNet Oy and, in turn, provides services for the totally anonymized and bogus domains erikoisetu.com (now suspended by Go Daddy) and erikoisalennus.com on [89.166.50.121]. It turns out I know this person second hand. Interesting!
ImPro, a private proprietorship of Mikko Lampikoski (impro.fi), Wed, 17 Aug 2011 12:08:15 +0300. They claim to have harvested the address from the web pages of the recipients (which is objectionable in itself), but this address happens to be an invented one that isn't on our web pages or anywhere else.
Lasimestarin ikkuna Oy (glasier.fi), Thu, 18 Aug 2011 14:51:59 +0300. They, too, claim to have harvested the address from public sources. Too bad it's not such a recommended way of building e-mailing lists for direct marketing.

September 2011

erikoisalennus.com (see August) again, or rather still, on Tue, 06 Sep 2011 13:17:15 +0200, and are we ever so surprised that OVH SAS and their Finnish daughter company OVH Hosting Oy are turning a blind eye. No, we aren't. And again on Tue, 13 Sep 2011 02:00:11 +0200, advertising yet another new IP address in OVH's network. And again on Mon, 19 Sep 2011 08:00:04 +0200, from yet another new IP address in OVH's network, this time advertising a domain that is registered to an individual, Filip Poutintsev, with a home address in Finland. A week later, he tried to cover his tracks by obfuscating the registration. Too bad the ICANN Registrar Accreditation Agreement (specifically, section 3.7.7.3) says obfuscating registrars can either accept liability for the wrongful use of such domain names or rat out the customer. The reverse phone directory says this phone number (040-5940756) belongs to a company called Lateralus Enterprise, at the same street address indicated, lateralus.enterprise@gmail.com. The second result of the reverse lookup indicates an individual with the same name as in the domain registration. Filip Poutintsev (picture 1, picture 2) is on LinkedIn and on Facebook.
Update Sep 23: Directi (PublicDomainRegistry) have suspended both winmailserver.com and emailoffers.biz and deobfuscated the registrations. Looky looky at the latter.
Update Sep 28: Not to be deterred, the activity continues from wirelesswebhosting.com and emailoffer.biz (no longer in plural). Both were originally obfuscated, of course, and all services are/were hosted by OVH in 176.31.something. Both have been de-obfuscated and suspended by the registrar, and gee, aren't we surprised at what the registration of the latter has to say...
Update Oct 6: Something that looks like the same activity continues from superbestmailer.com and lunastatarjous.com, both obfuscated of course. Services hosted by a Pakistani customer of SingleHop (for the sending) and Google (for the spam-advertised resource). The registrar/registrant^{See
#3.7.7.3} for the former, NameCheap, are very adamant about protecting the privacy of their spamming licensee (their own WhoisGuard Service Agreement notwithstanding, accusing complainants of forgery, never mind the fact that the spammer DKIM signed their spam).
Developer's Helsinki Oy Ab (mailmanager.fi, netmonitor.fi), Fri, 9 Sep 2011 11:40:03 +0300 (EEST). It does not contain any information on the address register used (Paragraph 25 of the Personal Data Act, 523/1999).
Pastelli Oy (pastelli.fi), 13 Sep 2011 08:30:33 +0300. The address source says their own customer file; we've never done any business with them and can't possibly appear in their customer file.
Goldenpages Finland Oy Ltd (goldenpages.fi), Wed, 14 Sep 2011 00:51:35 +0300 (EEST), and again, after the opt-out and therefore criminally, on Wed, 14 Sep 2011 15:44:51 +0300 (EEST). No address source (Paragraph 25 of the Personal Data Act, 523/1999) and no means of removal (Paragraph 27 of the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications, 516/2004). Sent to an address that used to be Infinite Mho Oy's contact address in YTJ during three weeks in January 2010 but that has not served a purpose ever since.
ygnetwork.com.cn (see July 2011) again, Tue, 20 Sep 2011 10:18:15 +0800. Sent to the address shown on the web page. Completely uninteresting, but mentioned here for the sake of completeness, and maybe that was all the reason we needed to stop accepting any traffic from Beijing 263 Network Group's 211.150.0.0/16.
tallinnadeal.fi (Tuomas Telaranta, a private person from Nuottakunnantie 16 B 4, 02230 ESPOO, as per the ownership of the spam-advertised telephone number 044-211 0028), Thu, 22 Sep 2011 23:10:21 +0300. No address source (Paragraph 25 of the Personal Data Act, 523/1999) and no means of removal (Paragraph 27 of the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications, 516/2004). Also, a new low: since the message doesn't indicate who the beneficiary is, and the spam-advertised domain is registered to a private individual (web-based lookup at FICORA yields the registrant's name), also Paragraph 28 of the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications, 516/2004 is violated. (It requires that marketing be clearly identifiable as such, that the sender be possible to identify, and that there be a means of removal.) And of course, the message is sent via a service, cityshops.fi, that we've already forbidden from spamming us, so that is another 516/2004 Paragraph 27 violation. Good going, Tuomas. Update Oct 3: Dude doesn't like being mentioned here.

October 2011

Tutkimus- ja analysointikeskus TAK Oy (tak.fi), Thu, 6 Oct 2011 11:19:13 -0400 via SurveyGizmo. The message is not UCE, because it's a survey of the public images of various presidential candidates, and therefore not subject to the Chapter 7 (Sections 26 to 29) of the Act on the Protection of Privacy on Electronic Communications (516/2004), but it is still UBE (of the kind mentioned in Sections 19 and 25 of the Personal Data Act, 523/1999), and the address source is Suomen Markkinointirekisteri Oy, once again. Surprisingly, although the entire message itself is in Finnish, removal instructions are only in English, which is not an official language of Finland last I checked...
Markkinointitoimisto Aito Finland Oy (aitofinland.fi), via the services of Syrjä Interactive, a private proprietorship of Antti Syrjä (syrja.as), Mon, 10 Oct 2011 15:12:57 +0300. The plaintext part only says "Read more and buy tickets", so the message violates Section 28 of the Act on the Protection of Privacy on Electronic Communications (516/2004), Section 27 of the same, and Section 25 of the Personal Data Act (523/1999). The HTML part indicates that the address source is Suomen Markkinointirekisteri Oy.
Bisnode Finland Oy / Yritystele Oy (yritystele.fi), Tue, 11 Oct 2011 06:16:46 -0400 via MailChimp. Still no address source (as in May 2011), and they also fail to respect the opt-out given the previous time, so it's illegal in that respect too.
Safe Play Finland Oy (mainoskondomi.fi, gspot.fi, kumiukko.fi, kondomiautomaatti.fi), Mon, 17 Oct 2011 05:41:12 -0400 via MailChimp. They are naming the member roster of the Federation of Finnish Enterprises as the address source, but unfortunately that's a lie as this address does not appear in that file.
Tempstar Nordic Oy (tempstar.fi), Thu, 27 Oct 2011 02:03:48 +0300. They spammed us already in January 2011, at which point a comprehensive opt-out was sent - and as can be seen, it was rejected by required role accounts (although delivered to "info@", which had sent the message) and is now being illegally ignored by them. They've obviously improved in some respects; a means of removal is given, an address source ("Tempstar-register") is indicated, however bogus that may be. The address this was sent to is still the same old and outdated address that was Infinite Mho's contact address in the Finnish Business Information System (for three weeks) in January 2010. Update: Their ESP wasted no time - from complaint to termination in less than an hour. That is impressive.

November 2011

Firma InSpe (roll-up1.eu), a Lithuanian private entrepreneurship), Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:23:31 +0300.
Tuija Rannikko (tuijarannikko.fi, a private entrepreneur), Mon, 7 Nov 2011 14:47:20 +0200.
jldigital.co.kr, 17 Nov 2011 11:38:36 +0900. Sent to the YTJ address. All the reason I needed to stop accepting traffic from BORAnet's 211.40.0.0/16.
Alma Media Oyj (kauppalehti.fi), Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:25:16 +0200 (EET). Sent through Fonecta's kontaktikone.fi service.
kyihc.com, Jinying Industrial Group Co., Ltd. Wed, 23 Nov 2011 12:05:30 +0800 (CST). Sent to the address shown on the web page. Completely uninteresting, but mentioned here for the sake of completeness, and maybe that was all the reason we needed to stop accepting any traffic from CHINANET Beijing province, 220.181.0.0/16.
Vistaprint (gee, what a surprise, once again), Fri, 11 Nov 2011 03:27:10 -0500 (although received only Wed, 23 Nov 2011 20:47:58 +0200). They have a new spam service provider, and it is Verkkokauppaa.fi, which is registered to Janne Laitinen, a private entrepreneur doing business as Suunnittelutoimisto Jotain... (literally, "Design Agency Something...") and are spamming from a HostNOC/Burst.net network registered to somebody in Pakistan.

December 2011

Suunnittelutoimisto Jotain... again, Thu, 24 Nov 2011 02:06:17 -0500 (although received only Sun, 4 Dec 2011 10:34:43 +0200 (EET)). This time spamming apparently on behalf of InkClub Ab, a Swedish online store of printing supplies.
Suunnittelutoimisto Jotain... again, Mon, 07 Nov 2011 11:32:00 -0500 (although received only Mon, 5 Dec 2011 16:38:28 +0200 (EET)). This time spamming apparently on behalf of Markus Mäkinen, of Laivurinkatu 8, 00150 HELSINKI (suomi-mm2011.fi). The physical address is essentially the same as for Mr Laitinen's own sole proprietorship. It appears that the domain was registered on November 4 and "frozen" (whatever that means) by FICORA on November 9, perhaps because the phone number given in WHOIS is invalid (+354 being the code for Iceland). The site is alive on the same IP address as many other sites that have a connection to Mr Laitinen's design agency, but they appear to have redirected the site to Google.
Suunnittelutoimisto Jotain... once again, no, make that twice, Thu, 01 Dec 2011 01:36:30 -0500 (although sent and received only on Wed, 7 Dec 2011 12:10:42 +0200) and Tue, 06 Dec 2011 19:20:21 -0500 (although sent and received only on Wed, 7 Dec 2011 11:18:40 +0200). Spamming apparently on behalf of Mikko Mäki, also of Laivurinkatu 8, 00150 HELSINKI (the domain name this time being yrityspostia.fi). The phone number given in this WHOIS (040-510 2231) is to a woman in Salo. Wonder what the connection is... Neither this number or Mr Laitinen's number (in the jotain.fi WHOIS) are responding to calls. The content of the yrityspostia.fi spam is clearly aimed at businesses, as if from a business, but Suomen Yrityspostia does not appear in the Finnish Business Information System. Also, Mr Mäki has not registered as a sole trader, either. The mail says the address source is the "Yrityspostia B2B file". Who is the data controller? There is no business. Wait... The web pages advertised in the spam indicate the data controller is the Finnish business ID 1930136-4, which is... surprise... Suunnittelutoimisto Jotain.... They've also changed to another network space of their Pakistani operator (see spamming IP addresses in the mails), and have started using a nonexistent domain as the envelope-from ("mailer24.fi"). That latter spam was also seen at a handful of addresses that have been dead for 2+ years, as well as at a non-Finnish address at a DNSBL, which further confirm the total spamminess of the entire operation. Update Jan 16: They're spamming natural persons who are not involved in any business functions at academic sites in Finland. Mr Laitinen must be getting really desperate.
eLounari Suomi Oy (elounari.fi), Thu, 8 Dec 2011 17:51:24 +0200. The message has no plaintext content at all, so since I couldn't see anything, it does not indicate the address source (Paragraph 25 of the Personal Data Act, 523/1999) nor a means of removal (Paragraph 27 of the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications, 516/2004). But I don't even have to be strict for the sender to have failed; the HTML content, which at least has some text :) omits both required items as well. The spam service provider here is emailmainos.com (literally: "emailadvertisement"), a new service opened just two weeks ago by Aboanet Oy.
Arctec IT-Solutions (arctecwebsolutions.fi), a private entrepreneurship of Vesa Malaska, Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:50:16 +0200. No address source, no means of removal. On the positive side, Mr Malaska responded to the complaint very quickly and with clue and an attitude of being willing to learn more.

January 2012

Pinnoitetyö Helsinki Oy (huopakatonkorjaus.fi), Mon, 2 Jan 2012 18:37:04 +0200. The mail doesn't even name the sending business or its VAT ID anywhere. Now how clumsy is that? There is an indication of address source, but it is "huopakatonkorjaus.fi customer file and public sources". Sorry guys, that doesn't cut it. We're not in your customer file, and you can't outsource the responsibility for managing your personal data files to countless unknown third parties. You need to do it yourself, and you need to let recipients know who you are. Even their web site doesn't mention the VAT ID - another legal requirement. And of course they don't have a postmaster@ or abuse@.
Nordic Business Forum 2012 was advertised in an anonymous spam on Wed, 4 Jan 2012 08:01:35 +0000. The message was sent from Amazon's services, mentioning a domain (dmtmailer.com) that is registered through Go Daddy's cloaking service Domains by Proxy. The message contents do not identify the sender, which is a violation of Section 28 of the Act on the Protection of Privacy in Electronic Communications; they claim the address source was "public registers on the Internet", which is a violation of Section 25 of the Personal Data Act; and they sent it to an address that existed briefly between Jan 4, 2010, and Jan 27, 2010, which means they're processing outdated and erroneous personal data in violation of Section 9 of the Personal Data Act. The only identifiable party in the message is panicmarketing.net, which belongs to Panic Marketing Oy, an advertising agency in Turku. Following the links in the spam leads to a page where Checkout.fi services may be used to make a payment to Panic Marketing Oy, confirming the fact that they are the beneficiary of the spam. A representative of Nordic Business Forum confirmed that they are cooperating with Panic Marketing Oy on the marketing of the event and that representatives of Panic Marketing Oy would be discussing the spam with us. Nothing from them so far.
Rope Oy (rope.fi), Thu, 19 Jan 2012 16:10:42 +0200 (EET). No address source, no means of removal. I don't know if it's true they make a penguin fly, but spam doesn't. An interesting sideline is that their ESP, MMD Networks Oy implicitly indicates that it's OK to use their services to send unsolicited bulk email.

February 2012

Pixmania Pro, the B2B arm of the French online shop Pixmania, operated by Pixmania SAS, Wed, 01 Feb 2012 09:10:31 +0100. The message was sent to the address shown on the business' web page and makes no pretense to not being spam. It's heavily laden with identifying tags, so I'm not posting the content here, but I blogged about it elsewhere.
Janne Leino, a private person (sijoitusrobotti.fi) of the address Ulvilantie 27b A 36, 00350 Helsinki, tel. 040-966 4358 (as also indicated on his web pages); see also FICORA web-based whois for identity clues. Apparently, Mr Leino is acting on behalf of Eindex Oy. The spam was sent on Sat, 4 Feb 2012 23:36:01 -0600. It does contain an option for removal, and indicates the addresses for the mailing were harvested from the Finnish Business Information System. Since he's selling an investment service, I wonder if the Financial Supervisory Authority knows about him? A search for Eindex returned nil.
Alma Intermedia Oy (nakyvyydenabc.fi), Fri, 17 Feb 2012 14:01:40 +0200. No indication of who the sender is, and the plaintext part is not alternative to the HTML in the sense that it does not contain the same information. For example, the address source (Personal Data Act, Section 25) is missing from the plaintext part. The HTML part says it's their own business information database, which is of course just a copy of the Finnish Business Information System. This observation is supported by the fact that the same spam was seen in other spamtraps harvested from the BIS - ones that are badly outdated (not to mention erroneous personal information; Personal Data Act, Section 9, Paragraph 2)...
Nordcarrier, Fri, 17 Feb 2012 18:17:34 +0000. The responsible party appears to be their Latvian branch; will be interesting to see what the Norwegian mothership thinks of it. Sent to the address harvested from the web page.
Our old friend Tavoite Media, Filip Poutintsev, Mon, 27 Feb 2012 19:20:14 -0600 (although received Tue, 28 Feb 2012 16:39:48 +0200). Lateralus Enterprise, of Sokinsuontie 7 A 22, 02760 ESPOO, appears to be incapable of respecting opt-out, sent on September 19, 2011 and cc'd to the Data Protection Ombudsman. I also blogged about it. Update May 22: It turns out the owner, Filip Poutintsev, doesn't like the publicity...

March 2012

April 2012

May 2012

A blast from the past: Markkinointitoimisto Push! Oy (pushmarketing.fi), Tue, 29 May 2012 14:58:09 +0300 (EEST).
- These fellows have a hard time observing opt-out, duly sent to their CEO, Juhana Tikkanen, on March 2, 2010, with a cc to their ISPs Woima and Genisys (Woima responded on the same day).
- They don't know their RFCs, obviously.
- They're also harvesting addresses to spam from web pages.
- Their legally required indication of the address source is
  - ambiguous (they indicate two separate registers with no way for the recipient to tell which one this address was obtained from) and
  - incomplete (does not indicate the address register owner as required).
- They don't tell the recipients (in the plaintext part, anyway) how to opt out of their marketing. This happens to be a legal requirement.
- Not to mention that Mr Nikkilä's "answer" to the issue is spamming is to suggest that recipients should simply cease to accept any electronic communications altogether. Have a look at what some others thought of the campaign and the senders' attitudes.

June 2012

Tietosuunta Oy or RTPro Oy (route-tracker.com), Wed, 13 Jun 2012 07:07:52 +0300. They didn't identify themselves, they don't tell you how to get off the list, and their IP address was already blocklisted even before we received this message...

July 2012

August 2012

BestBiit Oy d/b/a BlueBiit, or perhaps SVM-Yhtiöt Oy (judging from the domain registrations involved), Wed, 1 Aug 2012 12:02:17 +0300. No plaintext content, so nothing required by law was indicated. HTML contents indicate address register was purchased from either Haiku Digitoimisto, whoever they are, or Suomen Markkinointirekisteri Oy, who have been forbidden from selling our data as early as August 2010 and again in March 2011. Update Aug 24: Even more illegal spam from Bluebiit received on Fri, 24 Aug 2012 09:55:04 +0300, two weeks after we opted out of their crap. So I wrote it up properly.
Mediakomppania, a private person carrying on trade from Iisalmi, Wed, 8 Aug 2012 18:38:17 +0300. The message says it was sent to their own marketing register, but a prior message (advertising their own spamming services) was sent to other addresses and indicated they purchased a mailing list from Suomen Markkinointirekisteri Oy, who have been forbidden from selling our data as early as August 2010 and again in March 2011.

September 2012

October 2012

November 2012

Fortnox Oy, Wed, 28 Nov 2012 16:07:46 +0200. Properly written up elsewhere already.

December 2012

January 2013

Gelo Oy, Thu, 10 Jan 2013 04:50:47 +0200. Sent to an address harvested and sold by UAB Venitas, a Latvia-based vendor of spam lists.

February 2013
MAJ-Yhtiöt Oy, Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:26:27 +0200. Sent to a harvested address, not including address sources ("Public business directories on the Internet" doesn't quite cut it). Wrote it up elsewhere as well.

July 2013
Preeco Trading Oy, Wed, 10 Jul 2013 20:12:23 +0000. Their dom reg is a little out of date, indicating a defunct partnership instead of the Ltd that the ID number maps to. This spam was sent to addresses harvested from companies' Web pages - including to bogus addresses that are designed to catch the most deliberate of spammers only. Immediately terminated by Mandrill, a d/b/a of MailChimp.
February 2015
Deal Henkilöstöratkaisut Oy, Tue, 24 Feb 2015 11:24:17 +0200. Not including a mention of the address file used, not including an explanation of how to be removed from the list, and violating Louhi's Terms of Use of course.

Got bored

In the meantime, Suomispam DNSBL has started operations and is doing a nice job of keeping Finnish spam out of our mail server.