Lumber Cartel
Encyclopedia
The Lumber Cartel was a facetious conspiracy theory
popularized on USENET
that claimed anti-spammers were secretly paid agents of lumber companies.
In November 1997, a participant on news.admin.net-abuse.email
posted an essay to the newsgroup. The essay described a conspiracy theory
:
The reasoning provided in the essay was that certain companies first destroy forests and make paper
out of them, which is in turn used to send bulk mail
. Since sending e-mail spam
doesn't use paper at all, the essay argued, the lumber companies would want to stop it before it would surpass paper-based bulk mailing, and consequently only those in the pay of the lumber companies would be anti-spam.
The rationale was based in disclaimer
s in certain spam messages that they were using electronic means in order to save paper. The joke eventually led to a club and numerous parody
websites, most of which have long since disappeared.
Gatherings of anti-spammers on Usenet began to ridicule proponents of this theory, and many participants in news.admin.net-abuse.email
chose to dub themselves as members of "the Lumber Cartel" in their signature
s, followed immediately by the acronymic disclaimer "TinLC" (There is no Lumber Cartel), reminiscent of the There Is No Cabal catchphrase.
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
popularized on USENET
Usenet
Usenet is a worldwide distributed Internet discussion system. It developed from the general purpose UUCP architecture of the same name.Duke University graduate students Tom Truscott and Jim Ellis conceived the idea in 1979 and it was established in 1980...
that claimed anti-spammers were secretly paid agents of lumber companies.
In November 1997, a participant on news.admin.net-abuse.email
News.admin.net-abuse.email
news.admin.net-abuse.email is a Usenet newsgroup devoted to discussion of the abuse of email systems, specifically through spam and similar attacks...
posted an essay to the newsgroup. The essay described a conspiracy theory
Conspiracy theory
A conspiracy theory explains an event as being the result of an alleged plot by a covert group or organization or, more broadly, the idea that important political, social or economic events are the products of secret plots that are largely unknown to the general public.-Usage:The term "conspiracy...
:
The reasoning provided in the essay was that certain companies first destroy forests and make paper
Paper
Paper is a thin material mainly used for writing upon, printing upon, drawing or for packaging. It is produced by pressing together moist fibers, typically cellulose pulp derived from wood, rags or grasses, and drying them into flexible sheets....
out of them, which is in turn used to send bulk mail
Bulk mail
Bulk mail broadly refers to mail that is mailed and processed in bulk at reduced rates. The term does not denote any particular purpose for the mail; but in general usage is synonymous with "junk mail."...
. Since sending e-mail spam
E-mail spam
Email spam, also known as junk email or unsolicited bulk email , is a subset of spam that involves nearly identical messages sent to numerous recipients by email. Definitions of spam usually include the aspects that email is unsolicited and sent in bulk. One subset of UBE is UCE...
doesn't use paper at all, the essay argued, the lumber companies would want to stop it before it would surpass paper-based bulk mailing, and consequently only those in the pay of the lumber companies would be anti-spam.
The rationale was based in disclaimer
Disclaimer
A disclaimer is generally any statement intended to specify or delimit the scope of rights and obligations that may be exercised and enforced by parties in a legally recognized relationship...
s in certain spam messages that they were using electronic means in order to save paper. The joke eventually led to a club and numerous parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
websites, most of which have long since disappeared.
Gatherings of anti-spammers on Usenet began to ridicule proponents of this theory, and many participants in news.admin.net-abuse.email
News.admin.net-abuse.email
news.admin.net-abuse.email is a Usenet newsgroup devoted to discussion of the abuse of email systems, specifically through spam and similar attacks...
chose to dub themselves as members of "the Lumber Cartel" in their signature
Signature block
A signature block is a block of text automatically appended at the bottom of an e-mail message, Usenet article, or forum post. This has the effect of "signing off" the message and in a reply message of indicating that no more response follows...
s, followed immediately by the acronymic disclaimer "TinLC" (There is no Lumber Cartel), reminiscent of the There Is No Cabal catchphrase.
External links
- How the Lumber Cartel started
- The Canadian Branch of the Lumber Cartel (local 42)
- The Netherlands Lumber Cartel
- The United Kingdom Lumber Cartel in Craggy Island
- The ZhongGuo (China) Lumber Cartel, local 88
- The Jargon FileJargon FileThe Jargon File is a glossary of computer programmer slang. The original Jargon File was a collection of terms from technical cultures such as the MIT AI Lab, the Stanford AI Lab and others of the old ARPANET AI/LISP/PDP-10 communities, including Bolt, Beranek and Newman, Carnegie Mellon...
: "Lumber Cartel" - Glossary at the Abusive Hosts Blocklist
- Other Ways to Fry Spam at Wired
- Gambling Magazine's 1999 article on spam, mentioning the Lumber Cartel
- The Lumber Cartel's DNS-based blackhole list
- The Lumber Cartel's "Offishul" page.
- Salon.com's 1999 article on anti-spam efforts, mentioning the Lumber Cartel