As a follow-up to my previous post back in June regarding my problems with Sony’s DRM, I thought I’d post an e-mail I just received from Sunncomm. This is from the department of too little too late…

Dear Michael,
Our records indicate that on June 20, 2005 you sent us an email in connection with the purchase of a Foo Fighters CD, requesting a program to uninstall SunnComm MediaMax content protection technology. We are sending you this email because we have been notified of a potential security issue that may arise in connection with the uninstaller program.

To be clear, the security issue is not raised by the presence of MediaMax content protection technology on the music CD you purchased. The security issue may arise only when a user downloads the program to uninstall the MediaMax software files from a computer. Also, please note that this potential security issue is completely unrelated to the concerns surrounding the XCP content protection technology that you may have read about recently.

The likelihood that you have been exposed to any security risk by using the program to uninstall the MediaMax technology is minimal. Nevertheless, for your protection, we are sending this notice to provide you with instructions as to how you may remove the MediaMax uninstaller files from your computer, curing any associated security risk.

Follow these instructions to remove the original uninstaller files:

1. Using Windows Explorer, go to WINDOWS\Downloaded Program Files\
2. Locate AxWebRemoveCtrl
3. Right click on the file and select Remove from the pop-up window
4. The file is now removed from you computer system

If the file AxWebRemoveCtrl is not found in the above directory, then your computer is not affected.

We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. We are now providing access to the updated version of the uninstaller program for the MediaMax copy protection technology through our customer support group. If you have any problems or questions regarding these instructions you may obtain help by clicking on the following link:

http://www.sunncomm.com/support/askthetech.asp

Thank you
The MediaMax / SunnComm Team

My cell phone rang about an hour ago. The caller id read 866-383-0986. I said “Hello”, and then waited through four seconds of silence. (This was obviously going to be a telemarketer.) On the other end was a man with a thick Indian accent named Sam. He asked for Michelle Righi. I asked if he meant “Michael”, and he said “of course.”

Sam indicated that he works for Domain Registry Support and that he needed my fax number to send me important information regarding one of my domain names. I told him that I never heard of Domain Registry Support. Sam asked if I was the owner of michaelrighi.com. I told him that I was. He indicated that there was an important domain name update (whatever that means) that I needed and that he would require my fax number to send it to me. I asked why he couldn’t just tell me this important information on the phone, and that’s when Sam tried to hang up.

Before I let him go, I asked how it was legal for him to call me since my cell phone number is on the Do Not Call Registry. Sam said, “We don’t care about the do not call registry because we aren’t selling anything. This is just a professional service call.”

I didn’t think companies were allowed to call numbers on the registry unless they have an existing business relationship with the person. Asking him about this, Sam indicated that Domain Registry Support was hired by Internic. I said, “Let me get this straight. You work for ICANN?” Sam told me he does. (Obviously a lie.) I ended the call by asking Sam to remove my number from his calling list.

Thirty minutes later I received another call on my cell phone. Again, the caller id read 866-383-0986. This time a woman with an Indian accent named Paula said hello. Paula read from the same script as Sam, and once again asked for my fax number. I asked Paula where she was located and she told me New York. I told Paula that I would like to speak with her manager, and to my surprise I was transferred to a gentleman named Thom Brice. Thom spoke with a South African/Australian/New Zealand accent and indicated that he was Paula’s manager. After getting his name, I asked Thom where he was located. He told me Florida. I asked why Paula answered “New York” to the same question. Thom’s quick reply was that the Domain Registry Support has multiple locations. I then asked Thom where he was physically located, and he finally admitted that he was calling me from overseas. I asked him if “overseas” meant India and he admitted that it did. I asked Thom for his phone number and he told me it was 800-591-7398. Sure enough, this is the number listed at http://www.domainregistrysupport.com.

I asked Thom how it was possible for him to legally call my number which is on the United States Do Not Call Registry, considering that his business has offices in the United States and therefore has to follow U.S. law. Thom explained that he is in compliance with the U.S. law since he is not selling anything. Wanting to know how they make their money if they don’t sell anything, I asked if his company is paid by ICANN. Going against Sam’s word, Thom told me that they are not. I then flat out asked him how his business makes money by collecting fax numbers and to my surprise he answered “there are ways.”

A few Google searches smarter, I know now that this is a well documented scam. According to a few web sites, this toll free number is supposedly registered to:

Media Direct Marketing Consultants
1822 North Bend Drive
Knoxville, Tn 37909

However, according to their web site their address is:

Domain Registry Support
11 Avenue of the Americas #60
New York, NY 10011-8436

If anybody else has dealt with this company, I urge you to file a complaint with as many people as you can, and please share your experiences here.

I just received a call from “Domain Registry Support” again. This time they called from a new number: 888-514-7411. Second verse, same as the first… they wanted my fax number to renew a domain. I asked, “Just to verify, you’re with Network Solutions, correct?” The gentleman responded, “That’s right.” God, when will this end?