• silicon.com
• Technology
• Security

By Will Sturgeon, 4 October 2004 14:10

NEWS Last week silicon.com published news of a popularly received new company, called jeftel, which offers 'secure, leak proof email' - funded by a mysterious backer.

silicon.com has now learned that backer is Yorkshire-based millionaire Jeffrey Morris, who is also the man behind several other online businesses registered at the same address in Leeds as jeftel, including Worldwidetender.com, or WWT Media as it is now known.

Worldwidetender.com has been accused in the past of sending unsolicited spam email - although this is an allegation the company categorically denies.

AOL currently blocks all email from Worldwidetender.com and the organisation has also been blocked by Spamhaus and the DNS providers blacklist in the past.

Robert Barr, head of development at jeftel and former managing director at Worldwidetender.com, said: "jeftel and WWT are separate businesses with separate staff."

A source close to the company confirmed Morris as the money-man behind both ventures, but claimed his involvement in jeftel ends there

Barr added: "WWT is a legitimate enterprise which has excellent relationships with the regulator and its customers."

A spokesman for AOL told silicon.com: "I can confirm that we are currently blocking emails from [WWT Media] due to the volume of spam reports from our members. We have had no response from the organisation in this regard."

Worldwidetender.com was also the subject of a series of blocks from Spamhaus in the past after it allegedly hit spam traps, according to Steve Linford, founder of Spamhaus.

Linford confirmed to silicon.com his organisation has previously put blocks in place against WWT.

"Earlier this year we first listed one of their resources for spamming," said Linford.

Linford confirmed that block was lifted after receiving assurances from WWT that it would change its practices.

On a more practical level, Spamhaus's Linford said he was unconvinced the jeftel product offers a viable solution to companies.

"We don't really understand what market they are aiming at. I don't think it is a very good idea," he said. "This is something companies could do for themselves over a VPN."

According to the NetBenefit Whois directory, Andrew Bland is the administrative contact for the jeftel.com website. Andrew Bland is also listed as the registered owner of Worldwidesalesoffice.com which redirects to Worldwidetender.com. Both entries give the registered address as being the same street address in Leeds.

According to Companies House, Bland is a director of WWT Media.