"We suspect we were put on the list by including a link in the body of an e-mail in a mail-out; but I think there is more of a tendency to blacklist people who send out links. As far as we can tell the issue has been resolved, nothing has happened after the 48-hour deadline, but we have shut down communications (with People Telecom)."

Stewart said the shutdown "threat" was only one in a "ludicrous chain of events" of which the whole process was "reminiscent of a Middle Ages witch hunt", adding that the whole issue hinged around being put on the SpamCop Web site (www.spamcop.net).

The original e-mail to SpamCop quite possibly came from the UK, according to Stewart. The original Total Block e-mail was sent from a server in the Philippines and was reported to SpamCop, an American-based service.

Both People Telecom and SpamCop were contacted by Computerworld. Neither was willing to respond to a request for comment.