  urlLink Why does Giant Food Inc want to sell me a computer?  Well,  the story goes as follows.  I got the following piece in my e- mail ( I've highlighted intgeresting sections)
 - 8& lt;  Attention All Teachers School Staff,  Students and Faculty:  You Must Respond By 5 P.
M.  Wednesday,  February 25,  2004 Through a special arrangement,  Avtech Direct is offering a limited allotment of BRAND NEW,  top of-
the- line,  name- brand desktop computers at more than 50%  off MSRP to all School Staff and Personnel who respond to this message before 5 P. M.
 Wednesday,  February 25,  2004 All desktop computers are brand- new packed in their original boxes,  and come with a full manufacturer's warranty plus a 100%  satisfaction guarantee.
 These professional grade Desktops are fully equipped with 2004 next generation technology,  making these the best performing computers money can buy.  Avtech Direct is offering these feature rich,  top performing Desktop Computers with the latest Intel technology at an amazing price to all School Staff,  Students and Personnel who call:  1-
800- 884- 9510 by 5 P. M.  Wednesday,  February 25,
 2004 The fast and powerful AT- 2400 series Desktop features:  *  Intel 2. 0Ghz Processor for amazing speed and performance *  128MB DDR RAM,
 Upgradeable to 1024 *  20 GB UDMA Hard Drive,  Upgradeable to 80 GB *  52X CD- Rom Drive,  Upgradeable to DVD/
CDRW *  1. 44 Floppy disk drive *  Next Generation Technology *  ATI Premium video and sound *  Full Connectivity with Fax modem/
Lan/ IEE 1394/ USB 2. 0 *  Soft Touch Keyboard and scroll mouse *  Internet Ready *
 Network Ready *  1 Year parts and labor warranty *  Priority customer service and tech support MSRP $ 699 .  Your Cost $ 297 How to qualify:
 1.  You must be a School Employee,  Teacher,  Student or Associate 2.  All desktop computers will be available on a first come first serve basis.  3.
 You must call 1- 800- 884- 9510 by 5 P. M.  Wednesday,
 February 25,  2004 and we will hold the desktops you request on will call.  4.  You are not obligated in any way.  5.  100%
 Satisfaction Guaranteed.  Call Avtech Direct 1- 800- 884- 9510 before 5 P. M.
 Wednesday,  February 25,  2004 If you wish to be removed for this list,  please go to:  http:  www.
techadvice. org / emails/ remove. asp - 8&
lt;  Now that obviously is spam.  Which I wouldn't have worried about,  except for the simple fact that it arrived in the one mailbox that I normally don't get any spam in.  So I looked at the headers:  -
8& lt;  .  Received:  from alias. acm.
org ( alias. acm. org [ 199. 222.
69. 90]  by pythagoras. math. uwaterloo. ca (
8. 11. 7/ 8. 11. 7)
 with ESMTP id i1O4Phk09817 for & lt;  cwstromm@ cs. uwaterloo. ca &
gt;  Mon,  23 Feb 2004 23: 25: 43 - 0500 (
EST)  Received:  from 199. 222. 69. 90 (
218. 12. 43. 234]  by alias. acm.
org ( ACM Email Forwarding Service)  with SMTP id COB73880;  Mon,  23 Feb 2004 23: 24:
48 - 0500 Received:  from uf4p. f6qgm. com [  161.
247. 5. 51 ]  by 199. 222. 69.
90 id & lt; 5316049- 85852& gt;  for &
lt;  byrne@ acm. org & gt;  Tue,
 24 Feb 2004 00: 24: 05 - 0400 - 8& lt;
 The first thing that I notice is that it's sent to my e- mail address at the University of Waterloo.  That is unusual,  because I don't officially use it except to receive mail from my official address.  Furthermore,  I don't even advertise that address!
 This again makes me believe that UW's e- mail got opted into mass mailing lists.  Tsk tsk tsk !  Shame on them!  Of course I could think sensibly and assume that the address is on some page and has just been harvested.  But that is only the beginning.
 A quick urlLink Google search for the offending company indicates that there are several such mails,  all addressed to a different industry sector.  The whole issue reeks of spam.  I also did a little whois on the URL posted at the bottom of the e- mail,  and found this:
 - 8& lt;  Domain ID: D103443577- LROR Domain Name:
TECHADVICE. ORG Created On: 14- Dec- 2003 11: 01:
46 UTC Last Updated On: 17- Feb- 2004 22: 34: 40 UTC Expiration Date:
14- Dec- 2004 11: 01: 46 UTC Sponsoring Registrar: R91-
LROR Status: OK Registrant ID: GODA- 04811183 Registrant Name:  Hellen Vo Registrant Street1: 6805 Louise Ave #
510 Registrant City: Van Nuys Registrant State/ Province: California Registrant Postal Code: 91406 Registrant Country: US Registrant Phone:
1. 8185718328 Registrant Email: hellenv105@ aol. com Admin ID: GODA-
24811183 Admin Name: Hellen Vo Admin Street1: 6805 Louise Ave # 510 Admin City: Van Nuys Admin State/ Province:
California Admin Postal Code: 91406 Admin Country: US Admin Phone: 1. 8185718328 Admin Email:  hellenv105@
aol. com Tech ID: GODA- 14811183 Tech Name: Hellen Vo Tech Street1: 6805 Louise Ave #
510 Tech City: Van Nuys Tech State/ Province: California Tech Postal Code: 91406 Tech Country: US Tech Phone:
1. 8185718328 Tech Email: hellenv105@ aol. com Name Server:  NS1.
SUSPENDED- FOR. SPAM- AND- ABUSE. COM Name Server:
NS2. SUSPENDED- FOR. SPAM- AND- ABUSE.
COM - 8& lt;  But wait,  there's more!  A search for Hellen Vo produced urlLink this .
 And a search for her e- mail address brought urlLink this up.  Finally,  a reverse whois on the ip from which the mail originated indicates that is comes from Giant Food Inc .  Which looks like a legitimate business,  but has nothing to do with computers.
 Looks like they're being used as a spam relay.  Neither does it seem to me that urlLink Michael Byrne ,  whom byrne@ acm. org seems to belong to,  is a person who indulges in spam propagation.
 Who knows,  maybe I should drop him an e- mail?
