I operate an Internet Service Provider (ISP) called Escape.com/Kazan Corporation. An ISP is a company
that connects individuals, businesses, organizations, etc. to the Internet. We provide domain web hosting
(e.g.. anychoice.com, "Anychoice" being the customer's domain), Internet Access, E-commerce Solutions,
and Consulting services. We have been an online service (BBS) since 1987 and began providing Internet
access in 1994. We have been in operation at 16 East 55 Street, 5th floor in Mid-town, Manhattan since
the onset of the business.
Kazan Corporation/Escape.com has over a few thousand customers for whom we provide Internet and
web related services. Our current advertising methods include a weekly advertisement on the front page of
New York Press, monthly advertisement in Computer User, advertisement in PC-Magazine (Feb.), direct
mailing, various Internet trade shows, and word of mouth. We have used many other methods of
advertising in the past as well.
In 1987 I began operating an Online Service for computer users (Bulletin Board Service a.k.a. BBS) on a
commodore c64 computer with one disk drive and a 1200-baud modem. This allowed users of all types to
connect via a modem to my computer and post and respond to messages. It was a hobby of mine; there
was no charge for its use. Donations helped it grow. The BBS ran on a part-time basis when it first opened
on a telephone line that was a voice/home phone number during the day. On an average night, the BBS
would receive 10 to 15 calls.
The BBS grew rapidly, and a full time line was needed. After three months of being online, a dedicated
single line was installed (with my parents help). The BBS kept growing. It was upgraded to a 2400-baud
modem and a total of five disk drives for the message bases, e-mail and file areas. It received an average of
30 calls per day. Eventually a few disk drives were sold, and a $1,200 40 MG hard drive was purchased.
This hard drive would have been considered quite large since most files were only a few kilobytes. The
40-megabyte drive would be equivalent to today's 10-gigabyte drives. Nothing was ever erased from it, and
it was never filled to the rim. There were thousands of messages on the BBS. The average number of calls
a day was 40 to 50. There were approximately 350-450 regular users.
The bulletin board was upgraded to a 386/dx33 with 4 MG of ram, 800 megabytes of hard drive space, and
2 14,400 hst baud nodes in 1990/91. Although many of the old C-64 users were lost and upset, there was
little that could have been done.
It (the BBS) quickly became popular for Amiga and Dos/Windows computer users alike. It ran on two
lines, and received about 70-80 calls per day. We needed an additional line (node), but the 386 was not
capable of handling it. Therefore, we upgraded to an Amiga 2000 with 4 MG of ram. It handled the 3 nodes
wonderfully. The board (BBS) received an average of 100 calls per day, and again needed additional lines.
It eventually had 5 14,400-baud nodes, averaging 200 callers per day and nearly 600 active users. Users
were removed after being inactive for 30 days, so many more than 600 had passed through.
I began raising funds to expand the online service (BBS) to 60+ phone lines. I imported computers and
sold them throughout the United States to help raise money. Eventually, enough money was saved to turn
my hobby into an online service. I found the capabilities of the Internet incredible and wished to expand my
BBS into an Internet Service Provider.
Towards the end of 1993, this BBS was taken down and Escape (Escape.com), the Internet Access
Provider, was preparing to make a debut online. It took many months to familiarize myself with the new
equipment, configure it, get all the programs and tools set-up, program, and plan the opening.
Escape acquired its Internet connectivity in February of 1994 and began accepting subscribers in March.
News of Escape was spread by word of mouth. Many former BBS users subscribed since the phone
number remained the same from the beginning days.
The service started out with 2 Unix Sun Sparc stations, 30 28.8 modems, and a 56kb digital high-speed
connection to the Internet. There were only a few Internet providers in New York City; one could barely
count them on one hand.
It is now the year 2000 and Escape is currently connected to the Internet with a few T1 connections. In a
few short weeks we will be upgraded to aT3 (equivalent to 30 T1 lines). We have hundreds of dial-up
modems in N.Y.C. We now provide access in over 800 cities (and growing) in both the United States and
Canada, most of which is outsourced. We have added dozens of high-speed servers to handle the
enormous growth of our client pool for our web hosting services. Escape also added supplementary Sales
and Technical support agents to handle our call volume. All this has developed and flourished in the past 12
years.
I have been helping to create an online community for people to enjoy and prosper for over half of my life;
it upsets me greatly that these giant corporations can declare falsities of a hard working person. In their
press releases and in many newspapers, I am labeled as an unlawful person who violates the copywrite law
and intends to pirate "DVD" movies and exploit them. I, Roman Kazan do not wish to continue to be labeled
as a "hacker" (as called by the MPAA), a very debasing word with negative connotations in most peoples'
minds. While I have done nothing, and am being blamed for the actions a customer of mine, James Thoms
(a.k.a. James Hensly). This customer owns the domain name krackdown.com and at any time may publish
his own content to the Internet using my service. 99.99% of all web sites on the Internet use an Internet
Service Provider to connect their domain name/content to the Internet. Even the MPAA.ORG (Motion
Picture Association of America) uses an ISP called Pilot.net. This information can be acquired from the
"whois" records of mpaa.org. As I am listed merely as the technical contact in the whois records for
krackdown.com so is Pilot.net for mpaa.org.
(WHOIS records of mpaa.org)
(My press release regarding this situation.)
This situation is very scary for INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS throughout the United States. Content
provided and published by their customers should not be considered the ISP's content; the ISP should not
be liable for these people's doings. It is impossible for an ISP to view all of the data being sent to the
Internet from its Network. The data/websites that an ISP hosts can be changed and published by the
customer at any time, any moment, any second. A technology does not exist to monitor this. Even large
ISP's like AOL who have billions of dollars cannot monitor its users (more later). There are over 8,000
ISPs, including Roadrunner Cable Internet and America Online, which are both divisions of Time Warner,
one of the companies suing me.
I recently have done some research to see if I locate this controversial material, the DeCSS on a web site
that is hosted or operated by one of the plaintiffs or affiliates of the plaintiffs. I spent roughly 15 minutes
searching for DeCSS via search engines to see if I can find it on America Online, a division of Time Warner
(plaintiff). After some quick searches I stumbled upon http://hometown.aol.com/ ****censored***
/index.html (AOL hosted website), which has not a link but a copy of DeCSS. This site is run under
AMERICA ONLINE's domain name (www.aol.com) and its servers. Obviously, it is not AOL who is
operating this web page; it is a customer of theirs. America Online who now owns the media company
Time Warner is indirectly suing me for something that they are themselves doing! However, there is a
difference. This site is actually on the domain name AOL.COM that they own. In my case, I, or
Escape.com / Kazan Corp. does not own the domain name that had DeCSS. According to the "whois"
records Krackdown owns krackdown.com and is administered by James Hensly (an alias for James
Thoms) who should be the named defendant, not Roman Kazan. Is America Online responsible and should
they be held liable for content that is ran on their own domain and servers that was published by one of
their subscribers?
Who is America Online? America Online is the world's largest Internet Service Provider. Many times
larger than the company I operate. They provide a very similar service. They provide is access to their
online service, access to the Internet, and space for a person's home page without domain. AOL did
provide domain name web hosting in the past as Primehost, which was then acquired by a company called
VERIO. Escape.com / Kazan Corporation offers Internet Access with space to a personal home page
under our domain (escape.com) and also domain web hosting. Very little difference save our sizes.
How to identify who owns a domain? Simply do a "whois" on Network Solution's whois server. Lets do
one on KRACKDOWN.COM the site that I do not own or operate but my company does provide it with
Internet connectivity. Whois krackdown.com will give the result of who the registrant of Krackdown is,
the administrator is James Hensley (a.k.a. James Thoms), the Technical Contact is Roman Kazan, and the
billing Contact is James Hensly (a.k.a. James Thoms).
(Definitions of what an administrator contact, technical contact and billing contact are according to
Network Solutions.)
Many years ago it was required by Network Solutions that a real person's name be listed on behalf of the
ISP for technical contact rather than a role name (recently accepted). Since Escape has been an ISP for
quite some time we have not changed our ways until just recently this week after this incidence. Roman
Kazan (I) was listed as the technical contact for thousands of domain names that we host Domain
Name Server records for our customers. Usually the technical contact does not operate/own the domain or
the content of the site. The technical contact is usually the ISP or the person in charge who manages the
technical operations. In this case, I am the person who operates and manages the ISP. This information
can be changed at any time by the registrant (domain owner). If for any reason the domain is unavailable
to the Internet or you have technical questions about the domain you would contact the Technical Contact.
(How to read a WHOIS record.)
How did MPAA and its affiliates get me involved in this mess? GOOD QUESTION, maybe they were
sloppy, maybe not. From my research I have learned a lot. The administrator contact who is listed as
James Hensley is not a real person, rather an alias for a Mr. James Thoms. In my research I found that
there is not a James Hensley in New York, which was verified by the address I have on file for him. The
phone number listed on the whois for James Hensley is disconnected. My assumption is the plaintiffs went
to the Technical Contact, Roman Kazan. My information is easily accessible as I do run a service business
and want to be reached for any reason.
The plaintiffs first attempt to notify or contact me of the DeCSS program on my servers was Friday, Jan
14th late afternoon via the material served to my Office. Prior to this I, my Company and its employees
had no knowledge of anything related to DVD on the web site krackdown.com. As soon as the documents
were served one of my employees called me at home to notify me. I immediately asked for the Plaintiffs'
contact number, in this case is Proskauer Rose, LLP. Once I got off the phone with my office Bloomberg
called. After I spoke to the press regarding the matter I made contact with Mr. William Hart. I explained
to Mr. Hart that the site his clients are suing for is not mine; that it most likely belongs to a customer of
Escape. I continued the conversation by informing him that I operate an Internet Service provider called
Escape.com / Kazan Corp. which hosts roughly a few thousand different domain names/web sites. I also told
him that I wanted to cooperate with them and could do so by helping identify the owner of the site,
however I would have to check my database at my company's office first. As soon as my phone
conversation ended Dow Jones phoned me to inquire about the site krackdown.com. I once again
explained to the newswire the same information I supplied Mr. Hart and Bloomberg; that I am merely the
ISP and that this site must belong to a customer of ours.
Once I arrived at my office I phoned Mr. Hart of Proskauer Rose. I asked him again what was the name
of the site in question; he told me krackdown.com. I looked into our database for "crackdown.com". I
told him I could not find "crackdown.com" and then asked for the spelling. He told me
KRACKDOWN.COM is the spelling. I retrieved the records of the customer. My records matched the
records he pulled up in Network Solutions whois database, save payment method and billing information. I
offered him the CREDIT CARD information of this user, which is the same billing information we have had
since 1997. With the credit card number I ensured Mr. Hart that he would be able to contact the credit
card company and get the true identity of this customer. I also added that I need a subpoena to in order to
release the private information of a customer. I told him I would make an acception (this did seem like an
urgent situation) and give the information first as long as he would then fax a subpoena. I also asked Mr.
Hart if he would like me to take krackdown.com down (my servers). His response was that it was entirely
up to me. Before doing so I wanted to contact a lawyer, but was unable to do to the fact it was very late
afternoon on a Friday.
Saturday Jan 15th, 2000 I received an e-mail message from the Administrator of Krackdown.com. The
e-mail message notified me that he was contacted by press regarding the DeCSS content on his web site,
and that he has taken it down and apologized for any inconvenience it may have caused. I responded back
and asked him for his phone number as the one I had was disconnected. He never responded back, so than
I finally went to go look at the site "krackdown.com", and found his number in on the main page. I then
phoned the user to tell him how I was named in suit. In the e-mail message his name appear as James
Thoms not James Hensley. I asked if his real name was James Hensley, he said no, rather he used it as an
alias because he didn't want his personal information on the Internet. He informed me why the phone
number I have of his in my records is disconnected. He told me that he moved since he last supplied my
company with his contact information. I then provided him with my contact information if he needed to
contact me regarding this situation again. Later that day I looked up the Reverse Directory for the phone
number 212-947-8023 which I found on the krackdown.com main page. I got Nicole Bomer, 501 West 28
Street, NY NY, 10001. I then proceeded to check if James Thoms resides at that address, and he does.
Which confirms to me his identity. From my understanding Nicole Bomer is his girlfriend. Since the initial
contact he has been phoning me on a daily basis regarding the status of this case. James made clear to me
that he wants to take rightful blame for the material he published on his web site/domain, and that it was
wrong that his Internet Service Provider had been brought into this. What I do not understand is why the
plaintiffs could not find him when his phone number is right on his main web site yet the press found it
easily accessible.
(E-mail from the Admin of Krackdown.com)
A similar situation has happened in the past. A customer published pirated computer software codes to the
web that we had no knowledge of. The New York Police Department Computer Deductive Division
contacted Escape.com / Kazan Corp., the ISP. They asked if we had any information on the
subscriber/site where this material was published. They provided us with the information they had
uncovered; we then retrieved the customer records. We told the NYPD that we had the customer records
for the person who was publishing such material. They then provided us with a faxed Subpoena the
following day. It required us to provide all the information we had regarding that subscriber. We honored
their request. This is the standard procedure and proper etiquette to inquire information about a user from
most ISP's. Not suing the ISP without contacting them first.
Escape.com has a zero-tolerance on SPAM, illegal content, illegal or abusive usage of service, etc. Once
acknowledged that a customer is participating in any such activities we will then suspend and terminate
their account immediately.
Once again, I do not own, operate, maintain or publish KRACKDOWN.COM. Krackdown.com is owned
by Mr. James Thoms. He has the ability at any given time to move his domain to any Internet Service
Provider in the world to operate his site in a manner that pleases him. There is no feasible way I can
prevent his doings, as I do not own this site!
I have had no past knowledge of the DVD DeCSS software before 01/14/00.
I did not know DVD was ENCRYPTED.
I do not own any DVD media.
I do not own a DVD player.
I did not have any knowledge that any of our customers had DeCSS on their web sites.
There is absolutely no excuse for such a heinous mistake to have been made: for naming me as the owner
and operator of KRACKDOWN.COM. Proskauer Rose did indeed visit ESCAPE.COM on 01/09/2000,
01/12/2000, 01/13/200 which makes it very clear that our business is an Internet Service Provider and that
we provide domain web hosting and Internet Access to our customers. Proskauer visited the following
pages on Escape.com:
http://www2.escape.com, /dpark.htm,
/webhosting.htm, /powerweb.htm,
/prodservices.htm, /iaccess2.html,
/iaccess.html, /contact.htm. These pages describe what
we do and all the services we provide. They made a total of 129 hits to Escape.com. In addition, Proskauer
Rose used Escape.com to search for domain name availability on 33 domain names for registration with
Escape.com, as do other prospective clients when using our website. I informed and showed my attorney
Peter M. Corrigan this information:
(Server Access logs of Proskauer Visiting Escape.com and what he did)..
(All of the pages Proskauer viewed on Escape.com)
(Server Access logs of Proskauer Visiting Krackdown.com and what he did)
(Server Access logs of MPAA visiting Krackdown.com and what they did)
(Server Logs of Proskauer checking domain name availability)
It upsets and hurts me greatly that my respectable name has been attacked in all of the MPAA's press
releases and in most publications. This will hurt my ability to be trusted in my Industry, which I have been
involved in for so many years. I wish to be acknowledged as the ISP and not the owner of the
controversial site krackdown.com. It is essential that Mr. James Thoms be recognized as the rightful
owner of the site.
I declare under penalty of perjury of the laws of the State of New York that the foregoing is true and
correct and that this declaration was executed by me this 30th day of January 2000.