To follow is the text of a message that came in on another list here at
the New York State Dept. of Health that I thought might be of interest
to RESADM-L members.  Looks like Internet has been rescued from technical
obscurity -- even the crooks may be getting into it.

A company calling itself the International Internet Association,
and billing itself as "the largest non-profit provider of free
Internet access in the world" has started advertizing in the
Washington, D.C. area, and offering free  Internet accounts to
individuals who will FAX them, among other things, a
 credit card number.  As an active member of the Member Council
of the National Capital Area Public Access Network (CapAccess), I
wanted to find more about this organization that supposedly has
offices NOT THREE BLOCKS FROM CAPACCESS.
 Here's the result of my search for the IIA.
 1.  Their address, listed as "Suite 852 - 202 Pennsylvania Ave,
N.W. Washington D.C. 20006", is actually a post office box at
Mailboxes, Etc.

2.  The company lists no incorporation, trademark or service-mark
licenses.
 3.  They claim your E-mail address would be <userid>@iia.org.
However:
 a.  No iia.org is listed in the hq.af.mil hosts table
 b.  No iia.org is listed in the acq.osd.mil hosts table
 c.  No iia.org is listed is the INTERNIC 'whois' database
 d.  No iia.org is listed using the INTERNIC 'netfind'
Internet lookup
 In other words, IIA.ORG does NOT, at this time, exist.

 4.  Although they apologize profusely in the application, they
state that "Without receiving a credit card number, the IIA
_cannot_ process an account."

 5.  Although I have left a message on their voice-mail system, I
have received  no response from them.  (they also apologize in
the voice mail that, due to demand, they are operating at a
3-week backlog for applications.)

 I cannot judge an organization in advance.  However, I do think
it highly suspicious that, to use their propaganda, "The
International Internet Association is able to make this service
available through generous private donations, and the
extraordinary dedication of its membership."  I can say that
 I am not convinced this organization exists, and highly
discourage any Internet user from sending information until you
make certain that the IIA is real

* Elizabeth (Liz) Mazzella             xxxxxx@ALBNYDH2.BITNET  *
* Asst. Dir. Technology Transfer & Sponsored Pgms.            *
* Health Research, Inc. 66 Hackett Blvd. Albany NY 12209      *
* Voice: (518) 431-1200                    Fax: (518)431-1234 *