"Australian Porn Mafia" is a term used by many pornographers to refer to their "mates" in Brisbane, Queensland, who control a disproportionate amount of the planet's internet porn trade.
This phrase does not mean that Brisbane's porners have been convicted of belonging to an organized crime syndicate. In this instance, the use of the word "Mafia" refers to a group of businessmen in one locale who largely work separately.
Queensland's main porners (Dean Shannon, John Atherton, Greg Lasrado, Scott Phillips) no longer do much business together. But they live near each other, socialize with each other, and frequently imitate each other's business methods.
Brisbane's porners are accused by their peers of massive spamming - transmitting millions of emails advertising pornography and bestiality to people, including children, who did not request such filth. The Aussies counter by saying that their spamming has been overstated, and that all adult internet operators do this. (See the AOL vs CEN suit.)
The other main accusation against the Aussie porners is that they frequently used stolen content. Most if not all of these issues were resolved with porn content providers in the year 2000.
Lasrado and Atherton are infamous for the amount of dollars they earn through internet bestiality sites.
8/16/00
The big Australian porn webmasters are known as masters of spamming, sending out millions of unsolicited and unwanted emails advertising porn websites, including bestiality sites.
Perhaps the biggest spammer is John Atherton, who's lives in Brisbane along with his peers Dean Shannon, Greg Lasrado and Scott Phillips.
Sean writes: "Jon Atherton is the next largest with Scott Phillips, Jon is building a 8 Million dollar house in the same street that Greg Lazrado lives in. Jon is one of the largest spammers in the marketplace he runs a small office down in milton, but also uses servers out of Shannon's operation."
Luke: I believe that Shannon and Atherton are both hosted by Global Centre. But Shannon does not host Atherton. Jon and Dean are friends but they both claim they have no financial connection beyond sending each other traffic.
Jon Atherton sent out over three million spam emails this weekend advertising Farmsex.com in this manner: "DIRTY FARM BITCHES Ed's got the biggest cock on the farm & the girls just love to help him show it off ! This guy really is impressive & shoots a gallon when handled right. Join the girls giving Ed a regular handling..."
Raw Alex writes on Netpond: "Chris, funniest part is that the page in that spam has been taken down and replaced with a cyberotica link on a fake 404 page. FM [Ron Levi], you guys seem to be buying spam traffic from a beasty site..."
Creed writes on Netpond: Millions of people around the world received multiple spams over the weekend from a program called click-for-sex run by Jon Twilite. His twilite is coming as we speak. Please send a copy of the spam to abuse@ibill.com. DO NOT mail the RBL. We have the power and opportunity to police ourselves by ostracizing those who imperil our business. Shame on Cybererotica if they take that traffic. Conservatively that spam went out to 3 million homes probably many more.
Ron Levi responds: RawAlex, The account started sending us traffic 10am this morning - we cancelled the account at 10:30am It's sending traffic to our New Free Program so we are hard coding a redirect that will send all traffic to a "THIS ACCOUNT HAS BEEN CANCELLED FOR SPAMMING" page which will be up any minute.
The registered name is Spotwire jon@spotwire.com Company: Spotwire Address: PO Box 1240 MILTON QLD 4064 Phone:01161419779239 Country: Australia
Luke: I called the number and asked for Jon Atherton. A man answered the phone, then hung up on me.
XXX: There are only a few guarantees in life and one guarantee is Fantasyman does not tolerate spam and does not pay spammers...
FM aka Ron Levi: This spammer is really upset that his name, address and telephone number were publicly posted. He thinks I have the ability to pull the post I made with his personal info on Netpond - that's comical! lol
Jon Atherton responds on Netpond: Gee Ron, You sure know how to change your spots quickly..... It was only a few months ago that you were begging for spam - how quickly things change. In fact I seem to remember.... how many signups did you get Ron??? We deleted all the spam accounts this morning they do in fact go thru to a 404 page, and for a short time yes they were directed to CE [Off the 404 page]- how does this sound Ron - you donate the income from the 29 signups that were generated in the hour or so that the link was up - to a decent charity and I won't think of you as a complete hypocryte.
I dare say you don't mind what I think, but there may be a few people here who might wonder.... I am not going to sit here and lie, the spam was sent by an affiliate, it generated so much traffic that I found it pretty bloody difficult to delete the accounts - 1400 signups over the weekend alone. I bet anyone here would leave THAT turned on for a while! We will not be accepting his traffic now, mainly due to the heat it caused on this board. I MUST POINT OUT, that the heat was limited to this board only - there were a total of 12 complaints sent to our service provider, and about 8 to me.... it is a very good list, just seems to have a few webmasters on it..... It's about time you people stopped carrying on like little kids pointing fingers at all the other kids in the playground, and got on with some work, I would like to bet that NONE of you know how to generate that sort of traffic that quickly.
FM : Jon I never begged for anything in my life, it's obvious you don't know me as others do :-) I'll donate the money to my employees that had to take their time out today to hardcode a redirect of your account, screen save and post your info now you come here and post that it only created heat on this board - justifying spam - you're a sick individual.
Jon: Not sick Ron; bloody right and you know it. It would seem you are a hypocryte, and I really don't *want* to know you I guess. The only time I ever met you was in Vegas last year, and you struck me as a rude bastard who was really up himself, but that WAS only my impression.... and it was before lunch... I was not justifying spam - simply pointing out that it bloody works and works well. The heat WAS confined to this board - and Brad - we didn't send it - look at the headers!
Creed: Jon Atherton YOU f---ING LYING SICK STUPID ASS MUTHERFUKER! I CAUGHT YER SPAMMING SCAMMING ASS AND YOU ARE NOT GOING TO GET AWAY WITH ANYTHING YOU DICK! I SAVED THE HTML SOURCE CODE AND SCREEN CAPTURED EVERY DAMN WEBPAGE DOCUMENTING AND PROVING IRREFUTABLY YOU, SACK O s--- SPAMMER, SENT THE SPAMS ADVERTISING YOUR SICKO BEASTIALITY CRAP SITES YOURSELF! THAT URL IN THE SPAM HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH YOUR PATHETIC WEBMASTER PROGRAM. THOSE SPAM URLS GO TO A SEPERATE IBILL JOIN PAGE COMPLETE WITH A NON EXISTENT CUSTOMER SUPPORT EMAIL ADDRESS, m-dunkley@hotmail.com. LIAR, MAGGOT, SICK SPAMMING PRICK!!!
Jon Atherton replies: Chris, Headers might not mean squat, but I am stuffed if I know how you can send thru so many different servers.... if you want to find out ask the guy that did it: clickmail1@yahoo.com Anyway - I think a few people missed the point - I am not complaining about Ron dropping the account - I couldn't care too much about it really, it was only 5000 hits and 29 signups in an hour or so.... I sent it from a 404 page after deleting a url that had been spammed to, so I wasn't spamming the CE link, I guess he should have been asked given the circumstances. I am also not trying to justify spam, but when someone says they have an opt-in list and they can send you 1000 signups in a few days - NORMALLY you'd listen. If I see one more full header of an email....! geeez I might just post all the spams I have got advertising just about every site in that list of links at the top of this board!
Jeff Miller: Jon/Twilite... Rarely do I find the need to swear in any of my posts to get my point across, but seriously dude, shut the f--- up already. You are full of s--- and everyone knows it. It wasnt an opt in list that happened to have a few webmaster email addressess on it. I for one got about 127 of the stupid things, addressed to email addresses that exist ONLY on webpages deep within my site(s). You harvested e-mail addresses from the web, or bought a list from someone who does and you spammed. Admit it and move on. Or dont admit it, it doesnt really matter. But, the more you deny it, and the more you lie about it, the more you look like an even bigger dumbf---.
FM: Jon you're admitting that you pointed the traffic to us at the end of the weekend so we would grab the heat of the entire spamming - gee thanx :-) then... You are berating me in public while sending me emails asking if we can be friends? You should be nominated for a Darwinism Award. Do they have one 'down under'?
Creed: I know you sent the spam yourself. Even in the best light you knew and did everything possible to facilitate your anonymous spammer which is the SAME f---ing thing. Only Ibill would let a webmaster get away with that bulls---e. Jon take your lame excuses and go away. No webmaster in his right mind wants to do business with a quick buck artist spammer with poor judgement like you. Old Net proverb "Guy who takes shortcuts getting traffic takes shortcuts paying for it".
Jon: Quite frankly - I couldn't give a rats arse what you *think* you fund out about the email that was sent. The facts are:
1. It was sent to just over 7 million people.
2. It was sent to an old opt-in list that was run with remove links for years.
3. Some webmasters got the email - but to be honest you probably saw it more on this freaking board than in your inbox
4. It created about 1400 signups in 2 1/2 days @$25 per signup that is not too bad [I prepaid for 1000 after a test run]
5. If you want to keep posting about it 3 days after the mail was sent fine, but stop posting the whole f---ing thing.
6. hahahahahaha go f--- yourself creed - you are a screaming *anon* mental case.
7. Ron, I thought what I said was reasonably sarcastic, if you didn't catch that -it must be too early for you...
This is my last post on the matter - and Creed - I can bet that I'll be around longer than you, and have been around longer than you.... you only just popped up in the last few days anyway as far as I can make out - go crawl back into your hole...
Raw Alex writes on Netpond: I think we can all agree: There is no way to tell (without asking) if a mailbox belongs to a child or an adult. We need to "opt in" people to confirm their addresses, and their willingness to receive adult materials. We have to avoid sending stuff to children. We have to avoid sending stuff to people who don't want porn. Blinding sending messages to culled or made up addresses is the most dangerous thing that our business can do. The chance that at least 1 of your mails is misdirected is just about 100%. I am all for opt-in lists. Heck, I have one.
I think opt-in is great, I never bitch about confirmed opt-in spam that I get - I asked for it. But I do object to people scanning a chatroom and culling addresses, assuming I want their commercial missives. In canada, if I put a "NO ADMAIL" on my mailbox, the post office is required to NOT deliver anything that is not personally addressed. Further more, door to door flyer delivery people are suppose to (they don't always)skip my door. The phonecalls must be done within set hours. There is a huge difference between an opt in list and spam - opt in is great, spam is just bad for our business.
A fellow porn webmaster writes Luke to defend Jon: i know jon spent about 18 months building an email list through his opt in service he in fact bought alot of traffic from eureka ( opt in email that was run by robin nixon ) for many months on he invested heavily - i guess his strategy was since these people opted into eureka then they would opt into this email list and it was in fact the case he got a very high conversion rate from eureka traffic to his own opt on email list.
i am certain that his list is not 7 million strong. so clean was his list that at one stage he had the endorsement of his old isp ( exodus.net ) to send it as complaints were minimal because of the way the list was sourced - this was until he moved over to global centre. i dont think it is bad marketing to people via email that have opted in , i think it is bad only when the email is unsolicited and worse when it is sent unsolicited to people that dont want adult material.
jon gets about 30-40 sign ups a day ( hardly the result of a 7 million spam list ) , he runs a very cost effective operation and has a very high margin , mixing his emailing traffic in with purchased traffic. he is a decent person who tries to operate smarter than his opposition and tries to stay a step ahead , he is innovative and is always looking for that competitive edge.
8/17/00
Australian Porn Mafia
The Australian Porn Mafia has taken to spamming the net in my name, leaving my phone number as the place to call to remove oneself from this spam list.
Here's what they're sending out:
From: INTERNET:luke@mediaone.net, INTERNET:luke@mediaone.net
Date: 8/16/00 4:53 AM
RE: Subscriber Update WWW.l-keford.COM
Dear user, Your email address was obtained from an opt-in list of adult webmasters, this is a one time message to build traffic to the best site on the web for PORN INDUSTRY NEWS AND GOSSIP http://www.l-keford.com
Every day I post the latest gossip from the porn industry, and my personal philosphy. http://www.l-keford.com
If you wish to unsubscribe from this list please leave a message at 1-310-xxx-xxxx with your email address stated clearly. Many thanks, Luke F-rd luke@lukeisback.com
Sender: luke@mediaone.net Received: from saephir.agmasys.net ([216.15.202.2]) by sphmgaad.compuserve.com (8.9.3/8.9.3/SUN-1.9) with ESMTP id HAA20032; Wed, 16 Aug 2000 07:52:58 -0400 (EDT) From: luke@mediaone.net Received: from mediaone.net ([203.166.249.26]) by saephir.agmasys.net (8.9.3) id NAA15205; Wed, 16 Aug 2000 13:50:44 +0200 Subject: Subscriber Update WWW.l-keford.COM Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2000 22:00:18 Message-Id: <23.830738.316400@mediaone.net>
CJ writes on Netpond: Luke, do you honestly think the only enemies you have made are australians??!! I think most of the adult internet hates you so it could be one of 50000 people with much more time on their hands than the Australian Porn Mafia. Don't flatter yourself that scott or any of the other guys have the time to waste on sending advertising for you.
Scott Phillips writes on Netpond: Hey Luke, is there anything in that mail which points to an Australian doing it? Is it an Australian mail server, or anyone you know? Go f--- yourself asshole, the list of people who are sick of your self-important drivel is WORLDWIDE!
Hey f---head Luke Just read your site. Is there the slightest bit of evidence that any of this comes from one of my compatriots? Please tell me what you base your suspicion on? As far as I can tell we are one of only about of half a dozen webmasters you have unfairly and illegally defamed in the last few weeks. Go look up your own ass for the spammer, f---head.
Next time use some common sense before you go attacking the "Australian Porn Mafia" When will you get it through your head? There is no such thing. I simply live in one small city in Australia which has a lot of successful net porn businesses. Frankly, I'm sick of having my integrity questioned by a weasel like you.
Oh, seeing you are too stupid to figure it out for yourself, let me help ;-) The mail server it was sent from was saephir.agmasys.net Registrant: AGMA Systems (AGMASYS3-DOM) Via Bruno Zauli, 24 Formia, IT
Justreading writes on Netpond: I do not like Luke F-rd (not because i am fishing for some credibility like many who attack him... but because he is a sloppy and irresponsible journalist)
<< Luke beginning copying here
Luke posted your comments about him on his site (so i heard... i never read it... honest i dont!!) You may succeed yet in debunking the myth of the Australian Porn Mafia. I think he did the mafia story to create controversy... Duh..
THEN he added fuel to the fire, here and everywhere else...
THEN he arranged to spam his site from an Australian server to drive both traffic and more controversy to his site.
THEN, he again pointed the dirty end of the boomerang at you guys (with his post here today) to get everyone pissed off and talking about it and him and he quietly lets the cycle repeat itself.
It was like when Al Gores wife wanted to censor music in the States. The more they attacked certain "offensive" rap groups, the richer those groups got from the publicity and the more children wanted to listen to them.
This is why he constantly creates situations where people will openly attack him. When people bitch about him, they empower him and make him stronger.
If all the people that do not like him would never mention his name again, he would drift silently away, like a pigmy fart in the outback. ;-))
<< Luke, finish copying here >>
Perry writes on Netpond: Luke, I ran those headers through http://www.spamcop.net and it came back that person responsible for the email host is benno@edge.net.au. That second Recieved line: has a forged hostname in it. 203.166.249.26 shows the real IP of the spammer. Using dig to track down the owner of the IP doesn't work. So try whois 203.166.249.26@whois.apnic.net and see what ya get. inetnum: 203.166.224.0 - 203.166.255.255 netname: EISA001 descr: Edge Internet Services descr: Located in Australia. country: AU admin-c: BR3-AP tech-c: BR3-AP remarks: Internet Service Provider mnt-by: EISA-MANT-001 changed: hostmaster@apnic.net 19980924 source:
APNIC person: Benno Rentinck address: Lvl 6 459 Collins street Melbourne address: Australia 3000 phone: +61-39-677-9677 fax-no: +61-39-887-3806 country: AU e-mail: benno@edge.net.au nic-hdl: BR3-AP mnt-by: EISA-MANT-001 changed: benno@edge.net.au 19980831 source: APNIC
Justreading: Perry, Luke has an e-mail address which is not this board. You should let him do his own legwork. Ahh s---, nevermind... he does not even do his own journalism. ;-)
CJ: woo hoo!! the aussie porn mafia stretches to melbourne!!! (other end of the country, about 3000k's away, for those of you who think australia is the size of hawaii)
just reading, you are right... completely 100% totally... if we ignored him he would go away... quite the opposite of toe fungus but with similar qualities... but he's just so damn funny!! He brings out anger and childish teasing in all of us and its hard to stop... plus, I don't get much time to play and luke provides that entertainment for me within my working hours... but, alas, you are right... *trying really really hard to ignore luke from now on
Creed: I was feeling really quite depressed last evening. IBill has chosen to ignore my documented abuse reports about JON TWILITE AKA THE SPAMMER [Jon Atherton] even including his confession here that he sent out his beastiality spam to over 7 million addresses. So I'm sitting there bummed out considering whether to cause s---e with the RBL when the wife says to me 'Stop being such a sourpuss over inconsequintial nonsense. Do something nice for yourself'. She's a bright girl. Nothing cheers me up like good porn. When I joined Jon Spammerz click-for-sex program I have to admit his sites looked like they kicked arse. I really wanted to see his http://www.sexamateursex.com site badly. Amateurs is my favorite niche and Spammerz site has over 250 Personal Webcams! And thousands of dirty home amateur movies. I was sure he had leased those excellent Homegrown Video feeds.
My problem was that as bad as I wanted in that site I would NEVER EVER EVER give Jon Atherton the Spamming s--- 50 dollars for anything. So I went to Undernet on IRC and joined #xxxpasswordz and begged for a sexamateursex password. Three hours later finally some cracker got me one and I traded five passwords to my own paysite to get inside Spammerz site. For 50 dollars a month a site coming from an industry giant with a MILLION dollars in programming alone I was really expecting the MOTHER of all Amateur paysites. I've seen them all. AmateurPlayground, AmateurAvenue, SexyNoelles, KarasAmateurs, AmateurBeaver. I didn't want to get my expectations too high and be disappointed. I admit that a part of me wanted to find Jon the Spammerz site full of stolen MikeAI content. But I was hornier than a rhino and at the time just wanted great amateur porn pix videos and webcams and LOTS of it! I know this board isn't the place for paysite reviews so I won't describe what I found inside unless somebody asks
Creed: My post was...aimed at the Australian spam and scam f---ker Jon Atherton of Click-for-Sex. No processor should give this asshole service. I know CCBill wouldn't nor Epoch. IBill would gladly process for a mass murderer selling off body parts imho. My next post will show you what kind of sites Twilite runs. He's a parasite.
3/26/01
howardk@cts.com writes on news.admin.net-abuse.email: Aliases used by this spammer: Jon Atherton, Jon Patterson, Peter Powell, The Tech Guy, Mr. Ins.
E-Mail addresses used by this spammer: jon@ATHERTON.NET.AU, admin@SPOTZZZ.COM, jon@SPOTZZZ.COM, jon@SPOTWIRE.COM, internic@INS-WEB.COM, JON@INS-WEB.COM, jon@SAFECARD.NET
Company names used by this spammer: Supabill Services Inc. (or just SUPABILL), Shervale Pty Ltd, The Atherton Family Trust, Interative Network Services
Addresses used by this spammer: PO Box 1240 MILTON, QLD 4064 AU, PO BOX 48953 595 BURRARD STREET VANCOUVER, BC V7X1A8, 1/1 Fort Lane Milton QLD 4064 AU, KEIZERSGRACHT 12 N/A AMSTERDAM, CS 1015 NL
And who's currently harboring (aiding and abetting?) this parasite: Global Crossing (abuse@gblx.net)
Ken (kwh0@hotmail.com) writes: gblx.net:
You apparently host the spammer's website www.teenisex.com:
You apparently host the spammer's website : www.teenshave.com:
You apparently host the spammer's website www.sickanal.com:
You apparently host the spammer's domain SPOTZZZ.COM
This was apparently relayed through your mailserver
