There’s a bit of press (hype?) making the rounds on something called Neuronet (Link or maybe this Link), a supposed plan for a fiber optic-based, virtual reality-centric network intended to be separate from what we now call the Internet. It would, according to the website, supposedly be “the first network designed from the ground up specifically for the transmission of real-time virtual reality data.” Considering that I’ve argued that the future of online Metaverse-style technology isn’t just 3D but a mashup of both 2D (websites) and 3D (virtual worlds), the exclusion of the current Internet rang alarm bells in my head. This doesn’t make sense to me, so I did a bit of digging.
The obvious first step was to take a look at their site… actually sites. The first thing I noticed is a lack of substance to not just some, but all of the claims. There’s plenty of handwaving, but nothing that I couldn’t make up and post in a fictitious site in a day or two. It is, as the saying goes, a lot of talk with nothing to show (except the pretty website itself).
Let’s examine some of what that talk is:
From what I can tell the “International Association of Virtual Reality Technologies” is nothing more than the website. A quick search indicates that their history appears to go back to when they registered the domain name… a whole month and a half ago. Unless of course you check the other link I provided which is a duplicate site and goes back to March 2006 (maybe it had another name then, which would account for the switch from “iabit” to “iavrt”). That’s a frighteningly short time, all things considered.
Of additional interest is that both domain registrations are
– a) registered by Go Daddy which is, from my experience, one of the favored services for scammers and hackers, and
– b) devoid of organizational information so that there is apparently no public information provided when a WhoIs search is conducted.
Suspicious yet? I certainly am.
Now when I read that they’re an “international not-for-profit organization” that really piques my interest because “not-for-profit” is such a worthless tag. I can set up a non-profit too, and I’ll ensure the company never turns a profit by raising my own salary to prevent that from happening. So I dig a little deeper.
I’m not sure that there’s a registry for “international not-for-profit” organizations (you’d think there would be, but I’ve not yet been successful in finding one… though I’m trying and may have found it at UIA.org, only I’m now waiting for my account to be activated to check on IAVRT’s non-profit status, assuming it’s registered and available to me).
Lacking any other ideas, I decided to determine something about their location, so I did a search using, among other entries, “280 Nelson St” Vancouver BC”. That yielded some interesting bits such as the marijuana seed distributor apparently operating in the building. Of note was that there is both a Mailboxes Etc listed as a WiFi Hotspot and a fair number of what appear to me to be internet-only businesses run at that location; everything from what I suspect are earnest operations to questionable website-only redirection services. My guess is, based on the Google Map image of the location, that this is a converted warehouse that’s home to any number of tiny, artsy, web-based operations nestled in among a few more traditional outfits. Additionally, there seemed to me to be a healthy web design and support community (e.g. Infectious, Siberix, PowrTools Software, etc) at this location. That could easily explain the professional-looking site they have. In fact, it’s possible that IAVRT is nothing more than a front for a web-based outfit.
That last thought leads me to this comment on their Neuronet Domain Names Open Letter (Link):
Recognizing the considerable value of domain names in this new space, IAVRT will offer Neuronet domain names on a pre-registration basis in order to support the creation of the second generation Neuronet. It should be noted however, that Neuronet domains and their associated neurosites, will not become widely accessible to consumers until 2009 at the earliest.
Now I’m almost certain this is a scam. Pre-registrations for what? Heck, they may as well be leasing Mars condos, afaic. But at least this operation covers it ass:
In the future, Neuronet domain names may rival or exceed the value of Internet domain names, but until the Neuronet is mass-market accessible, investing in Neuronet domains should be considered speculative.
Interesting how the beginning of the letter starts with declarative statements such as “In 2007, the International Association of Virtual Reality Technologies (IAVRT) will launch the Neuronet to facilitate the global transmission of immersive virtual reality (VR) data.” or “Ultimately, the Neuronet will be able to provide mass-market VR and gaming connectivity on a global scale.” and the not-IF-but-“When that occurs, a tipping point will be reached that will in many ways mirror that of the Internet.“, but then gives us the whole “it’s all speculative” spiel.
Now that I feel like I have a real sense of what’s going on I go back to my hunch that this is a web developer with a get-rich-quick scheme. The best lead I had was the “iavrt” = “iabit” thing, so I do a quick search on “iabit” itself and find something interesting: a link to a press page on that domain that isn’t IAVRT (Link). And that webpage takes me to this page for an outfit called Stay Sane Communications (Link) (registration at Go Daddy, of course), which is – you guessed it – a web development house based in Vancouver B.C. (and probably now at the location on Nelson Street). From there I get some names that are almost certainly behind IAVRT. The first is Simmons (Link). From her bio:
After graduating from Concordia University, Montreal in 1991 Simmons moved to the west coast and began working as a technologist.
…
When Simmons is not working on technology projects, Susan can be found kayaking to scenic islands within British Columbia’s coastal waterways.
The other is Pederson (Link). From his bio:
Pedersen is well established as an industry innovator and skilled project planner in Canada and Argentina. His roots are in traditional graphic design, desktop publishing, and print.
…
He participated in the development of one of the first Flash based sites on the Internet and developed the first 3D photo web sites using Quick Time VR and VRML technologies.
…
Eiler has taught as…
Now the picture starts to clear a bit.
This appears to be a two-person operation, Susan Simmons and Eiler Pederson, with roots in multimedia and some ties to vr. And while their bios aren’t bad, they’re a long way from what I’d want to be reading before I started sending money for anything connected to IAVRT.
The idea has some merit, but until I see a name with a real reputation attached to this operation, I’ll give it little more credence than the hardluck-story-pot-of-gold emails I get from Africa.
via 3pointD
{Update 1: I see C|Net hasn’t learned much from the recent Second Life media-hype fiasco. Writer Stephen Shankland has posted a glowing story about IAVRT with the bold headline “Virtual reality to get its own network” (Link) but doesn’t appear to me to have any more information than what’s provided on that website. Too funny.}
{Update 2: To make it easier to see the link between Stay Sane and IAVRT, here are the links of interest:
http://www.iavrt.com {Note 16Apr2008: this now goes to inappropriate adult content}
http://www.iavrt.org
http://www.iabit.com
http://www.iabit.org
http://www.iabit.org/press
The first four all have the same IAVRT homepage and the last one leads you to Stay Sane’s information.}
{Update 3: I’ve been corresponding with C|Net on this and was just informed that they reached an individual who is lending his – and someone else’s – name to this effort. I don’t recall having heard of the person to whom they spoke, so at this stage I’ll remain skeptical. At the very least, as I told C|Net, the manner in which this is being handled is lacking in clarity. This may not be a scam as I suspected, but I’ll keep my skeptic’s hat on for now. It still looks to me like they’re raising money for something that’s incredibly risky and not beyond criticism.}
{Update 4: It appears that the C|Net article has been updated. They really should tag it with “update” or do something to alert people to that fact. Anyway, here’s some additional info from that article:
“The first-generation network is strictly an R&D network and will function as a sort of sandbox for virtual reality and gaming innovators around the world to develop new applications for a second generation network,” IAVRT co-founder Chistopher Scully said in an e-mail. No services yet are signed up to use the network, he added.
–
Scully didn’t name any of the organization’s backers or members in his e-mail, but said Mychilo Cline, author of a virtual reality book, is on the group’s advisory board.
–
However, some bloggers aren’t convinced the Neuronet is real. One is 3D designer Sven Johnson, who opined on his blog Thursday, “I’m almost certain this is a scam.” He was alarmed by the lack of identified IAVRT backers and the possibility that Neuronet is a “get-rich-quick scheme” funded by domain name sales.
Scully denied that position: “I can assure you the network is not a scam. Funds raised from the sale of network domain names will offset the considerable costs associated with the creation of the network.”
A shame they didn’t properly identify me; real product development and virtual development – including things such as experience design, market research and branding – go a bit further than “3D designer”, which is just one of the things I do. Oh well.
Okay, so who exactly is Christopher Scully and why should I, or anyone, trust him? It’s been a while since I’ve read any books on virtual reality, so his name isn’t ringing any bells for me.
Regardless, if nothing else, the manner in which this has been handled so far would give me serious pause as to how they would handle things in the future. As someone with a stake in the future of virtual worlds, I’d be happy to be wrong.}
{Update 5: I just took a quick look at Slashdot to read some of the comments about IAVRT (Link). Some funny stuff over there.}
{Update 6: Caught a comment over on Slashdot where ortholattice made an interesting discovery: “iabit” stands for (get this) – International Association of Brain Interface Technologies. From an earlier press release by IABIT (Link):
Vancouver, Canada – The International Association of Brain Interface Technologies (IABIT) is pleased to announce a US$10 million fund for the study and advancement of Brain Interface (BI) technology. The fund will issue one US$500,000 grant and two US$250,000 grants each year for ten years beginning in 2007.
Brain Interface refers collectively to the disciplines known as Brain Machine Interface (BMI), Brain Computer Interface (BCI), Direct Brain Interface (DBI), and Adaptive Brain Interface (ABI). BI is technology through which computers interface directly with the brain. In the field of medicine, the technology being developed promises miraculous advances that will someday enable persons with spinal cord injuries to regain mobility, blind persons to regain vision and deaf persons to regain the ability to hear. While medical applications are at the forefront of BI research, other commercial applications abound. Over the next decade, BMI technology is expected to revolutionize the video gaming, film & television, medical, and defense industries to name a few.
This just keeps getting better and better.}
{Update 7: This will probably be the last, or next-to-last, blog post update. For anyone finding this interesting, alarming, amusing, or any/all of the above, check the comments (which I hope stay spam-free for a bit). There’s plenty of new information popping up in them, especially in regards to someone named Nigel Malkin (thanks to “romem”). Best to just read those.}
{Update 8: I was beginning to tire of this thing (hence my last update) but instead it appears it’s re-energized by a threatening email coming from someone claiming to be Christopher Scully. You can read that on my follow-up post – reLink}
{Update 9: Just as an aside, Engadget has picked up on this story. That alone isn’t especially worth noting here; however, the number of people copying the article, shoving it onto spamblogs and tracking back to this post in order to get some ad revenue is … depressing. What a bunch of lowlife’s to rip off someone else in this manner.
The piece written by Donald Melanson didn’t track back here, so I took the first rip-off and turned it into one. The rest will be checked and deleted. And I’m especially glad to see that Melanson got it right:
The reBang weblog in particular has been doing lots of digging into the legitimacy of the group, and while not turning up anything conclusive, it has led to a wide range of speculation, even including remote possilibility that it’s all an elaborate Alternate Reality Game (ARG).
Worth reading in its entirely, so head over to Engadget (Link).
{Update 10: I never expected this would take off. If I had, I’d have posted a simple list of updateable links. Oh well. In any event, Ars Technica has picked this one up (Link). I enjoy that site and their readers’ comments, so you might want to peek in yourself.}
{Update 11: Broadband Reports has a short blurb on this story, “The Virtual Reality Network That’s Virtual” (Link). Hey, at least my post title is a question. These guys must want to get sued.}
{Update 12: Someone whom I suspect is Susan Simmons from Stay Sane Communications has posted a comment that might be of interest. Or not.}
Scam or not, the whole idea seems kind of silly to me. If they’re not utilizing existing network infrastructure, then it’s a waste of time. It’s not going to get built.
Anyway, dot VR doesn’t roll of the tongue like dot COM.
I agree and that’s what led me to the feeling that this was a scam.
So do you know who this Christopher Scully is? I did a search but didn’t find anything that seemed worthwhile… unless the cinematic angle is tied to the actor that pops up.
Nice detective work. I noticed a few things that intrigued me:
Images are stock:
http://www.crestock.com/image/5785-earth-com-.aspx
http://www.iavrt.org/neuro-consortium.html
Scripts are freeware:
“”
//Chrome Drop Down Menu- Author: Dynamic Drive (http://www.dynamicdrive.com)
//Last updated: June 14th, 06′
When I posted an application, I received a standard submission response page, stating my app wold be processed and I would be notified. The form did not have any error checking (I successfully submitted one with no data), and I did not receive an automated email.
Basically this means that this site, like many I build for myself, was patched together using borrowed and incomplete components. This is typical of 1-3 person shops or those run out of a home.
Also, the corporate name is a registry?
IAVRT Registry Operations Inc.
280 Nelson St., Suite 412
Vancouver, BC V6B 2E2
Not at all surprising. Thanks for the additional info. That registry part is interesting.
This does still smell of a scam to me; even well-intentioned efforts can smell that way when they’re asking for money upfront and pumping up the hype with statements like “Recognizing the considerable value of domain names in this new space…”. I don’t see anyone of note recognizing *anything*.
In the meantime, I did hear back from UIA.org and they *do* have a listing of international non-profits, but it’s a controlled access list for which I’d have to pay. And even if I was willing to do so, there seems to me to be a decent chance that a recently-formed not-for-profit operation wouldn’t yet be listed.
Don’t forget they are signing up members and companies for upwards of $1000 a pop…
And btw, for those who think this is only about domain name registrations, IAVRT is also selling “memberships”… and they ain’t cheap.
http://www.iavrt.org/org-membership.html
That’s a lot of money for the *privilege* to be a volunteer and workplace “Ambassador”.
Beat me to it, Ben.
they took down their old press release:
http://www.iabit.org/press.html
haha
Guess that wasn’t supposed to be there. No problem. I kept a personal copy of the page for future research and reference.
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You’ve been slashdotted.
Just a little bit fishy… Those memberships and the asking for monies for pre-orders.
Legend. Well done. Nice detective work.
Their website is hosted on shared web hosting, im sure they have many “Servers” . Its hosted at http://vervehosting.com . Possible someone should file an abuse report? Where would they string the wires for a new net?
also, sorry for duoble posting, the second google result for this
Scully person is some porno website.
Interesting, when I google for each of the books Susan Simmons has authored, I get exactly one hit: her biography. Some of the titles, like “Women, Democracy and the Internet” and “World Wide Web – World Without Women” only appear on that one page, and that is not even including her name in the search. They are obviously completely contrived [see my comment below which contradicts this conclusion – csven], especially when you consider that the books are all about the World Wide Web, and thus the author would obviously promote them heavily online.
There is proof that this is bogus.
It is complete idiocy to host the entire virtual reality network at one central facility. This is BS of the highest order. And they say the internet doesn’t scale to their needs… hah!
[I don’t consider this “proof”. Idiotic? Perhaps. – csven]
I don’t want to be slashdotted. All I did was get sick and spend a little time surfing instead of crawling back into bed where I should have been. That makes it seem like I did something special. I don’t know what IAVRT is; I just know I don’t trust them.
Hey Paul, it appears that the filter here actually works (it’s set pretty severely). Sorry, but could you post that link again? {Not the porn one, I assume you posted something with two links in it}
And btw, thanks. I never bothered to check those filters. Now I know.
Dan, when I went looking for businesses at that address, I came across something that sounds more relevant now: a WiredWomen-empowerment thing; some kind of organization with a chapter in Vancouver. After I discovered that Simmons was a woman, I immediately thought of that (but didn’t mention it in my post). Now I wonder if it’s her business.
the funniest thing is that they claim they’re going to fund the network infrastructure by selling domain names…right!
For what it’s worth, there’s no such thing as an “international” not-for-profit. “Not-for-profit” is a designation meaningful only with respect to tax-laws, and tax-laws, of course, vary from country to country.
btw, Dan, on that page, as far as I can see she doesn’t actually claim to have authored “books”. For all we know those are pamphlets or articles or something.
I should also say that while I regarded both their bios with skeptism, I *did* give them the benefit of the doubt. And in regards to being an “author”, I keep thinking about my Aerodynamics instructor who finished writing his book during my final year and handed it out to us as mimeographed copies. It was years later before it actually got published, but I would have called him an author.
That said, it does seem par for the course as I could see people reading that and immediately assuming she was a published book author when she’s perhaps not. Makes me wonder about someone’s character when they do stuff like that.
Herr Ziffer, I assumed they meant an internationally-operating non-profit, ala Green Peace. When I was looking for a way to verify if they were on some kind of list, I found a lot of companies that use those same words (Google “international not-for-profit”). They’re not alone by a wide margin. And there are probably good organizations mixed in with bad. And as it turns out, there is some kind of listing for that. More than that I don’t know.
The address, which you’ve identified as “having” a Mailboxes, Etc., undoubtedly simply _is_ a Mailboxes, Etc.
They’re using the address as a mail drop, as are the other businesses listed as being “at” that address…
@Stone Mirror – I started off thinking the same thing. Only some – not all – of those businesses seemed like they *might* have a real space. I just can’t be sure with the information I have.
It’d be cool if someone could confirm that though, as it’s part of why I spent the time I did chasing down some of that information. It’d be especially interesting if that corporate headquarters was – in fact – nothing more than a mail drop.
[updated: it appears that it has been confirmed to be a UPS box: http://www.hopstudios.com/nep/unvarnished/five/3343/ – csven]
in a way, you have to give these guys credit for trying. their PR has been picked up and rebroadcast a few times. but it doesn’t take a genius to see there’s nothing behind this but an effort to fleece unwitting fans of VR and next-generation technologies out of their money.
I guess they didn’t anticipate the power of the blogosphere to so rapidly analyze and debunk their entire effort as a scam.
there’s no two ways around it. this is a money grab rip-off straight out of the ‘Nigerian prince needs your help’ spam playbook — but with a little more care and attention to detail.
look, if there were IBM and Cisco logos on their site or some other sponsorship that was believable, it would be pretty interesting. but as it is, it’s transparently an effort to defraud people.
@Ben – That’s what I believe, but I’ll let someone else make the final determination.
And btw, they do have logos on their site… just look at the “Resources” page!
@Dan – I think I might have been right; not books… papers. The one listed on the Stay Sane site isn’t suppsed to be “Women, Democracy and the Internet”; it should be “Democracy, Women and the Internet”
I found some more info, but now I’m getting tired of this thing. It’ll be hard to top the Brain Interface stuff found earlier.
Personally, I love Godaddy, and recommend them to all my friends. They’re the best for self-managed domain hosting. And one of their most popular (and recommended) add-0n services is to anonymize your newly registered name by blocking registrant information from showing up on whois searches. I hate all the spam I get from those things.
So the first two basis that you quote for this being a suspicious scam are debunked. However, I do agree with you that it certainly seems like a scam. Especially considering that the IEEE is already working on the real-time reliable bandwidth/transfer problems.
I think it is unfair to be sliming godaddy.com as being essentially a home for scammers simply because some people who might be disreputable is on the order of claiming that a parking lot is a home for car thieves simply because all the car thieves are there, paying $1 a day and none of them are parked across the street at the $10 a day lot.
A lot of people – including myself – use Godaddy because they provide very inexpensive domain name services. Basically you can get a domain name, e-mail, and free website with database capacity for less than $10 a year. Other sites charge considerably more just for providing domain name services. Even if all you use them for is to have the DNS services, it’s still one of the least expensive registrars on the planet.
With their price about 1/4 of other places and with more features, it’s no surprise that there are a lot of people registering sites there. That some of them are or could be disreputable is no reason to tar everyone with the same brush.
@Paul and Eric
Please read my words again: “…which is, from my experience, one of the favored services for scammers and hackers“.
I’m not “sliming” Go Daddy in the least. Ever heard of a “Stinger” surface-to-air missile? Highly-prized on the weapons black market by a whole bunch of really bad guys… because it does something very, very well.
Go Daddy is obviously doing something well. Like guarding people’s privacy. Like self-managed hosting. Like keeping prices low. Good for them.
Personally, I see nothing wrong with Go Daddy being preferred by scammers and hackers. But then I don’t “love” them. To me, they’re just another service.
@Eric – As to the second point that you call debunked, there is nothing *to* debunk. These two things made me suspicious. Nothing more. Nothing less. Don’t make them out to be more than what I said they were.
Now, as to the reason for the second item – I rarely come across domains for big corporations with private/concealed registration information. Just the opposite; I see *more* information.
Now, if IAVRT was some kind of major effort (as it surely must be if they’re building a whole new internet), I’d expect it to behave in a certain way based on *my* experience and leave digital footprints just like any other big operation. It didn’t. I got suspicious. End of story.
If we really wanted to know if these guys have any chance of being legit, we’d check with the Cisco sales force. If their going to build a VR-net, you can bet Cisco would be all over them with router and switch sales folks.
The brain net thing makes me wonder if these guys rented the Matrix, ate some of those MJ seeds, and became a little wacko. ‘Yeah, dude, totally it could happen…’ Hey, its a surprise we haven’t seen more websites like this. :-)
[ As for Godaddy, few people realize yet just how good they are. I understand they are a target of scammers in terms of domain registrations, but they probably run the best operation – domain names and shared hosting; I understand their data center is years ahead in terms of effective technology and efficiency – no I don’t work for them – but I did just move some web sites over to their hosting… ]
this is a great story – a [potential] scam turned into great, shared amusement. Thanks!
and I love this line from stay sane about who is simmons – does it not sound like she was somehow associated with or was part of CERN?
“By 1993, when CERN (Conseil Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire) first made web technology available outside the physics community, Simmons worked as a webmaster. ”
Lets have fun, insert your own…
“By 1993, when CERN (Conseil Européenne pour la Recherche Nucléaire) first made web technology available outside the physics community, EP and his wife were working fervently to increase the population of potential future Internet literate contributors. ” [they were having sex]
I think some healthy skepticism never hurt anyone. I waited over 10 years before buying into the hybrid market (did some research on them in the early 90s, finally took the plunge and became dependent on one last year).
I love it the skepticism. Keep it up. I think it’s funny how a perspective can get turned around by focusing on something other than the intended subject. I wonder if this posting itself will get any more attention than it deserves. I hope not.
I think this whole thing is great. It’s like watching a boxing match between the hopeful and the hardened. Here’s something else (http://www.perplexcityacademy.com/) that got my attention, until I learned that it was closely related to an alternate reality game in London. Still interesting, though.
“@Dan – I think I might have been right; not books… papers. The one listed on the Stay Sane site isn’t suppsed to be “Women, Democracy and the Internetâ€; it should be “Democracy, Women and the Internet—
I don’t know what scares me most. People inventing fictional books, or authors that can’t even remember the titles of their own works accurately.
IABIT via google cache (because the url press you mentioned is not found anymore.. due to some vhost change i guess) leads to a guy nammed Nigel Malkin; the director of IABIT.
“BI researchers around the world are making quantum leaps forward and the field of BMI technology is poised to explode,†says Nigel Malkin, Director of IABIT. IABIT is a not-for-profit organization founded to enable the sharing of resources, knowledge and technology that will serve to advance the BI industry as a whole while at the same time affording the highest level of respect for proprietary knowledge and technologies.
Nice job..
It’s indeed strange, that lack of information. I work in the VR field and never heard of this initiative, no invitation to participate or anything..
The only reference to Mychilo Cline on VR I could find is his book and on Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtual_reality), and he could have added it himself.
Now let’s be patient and see where all this is going. Maybe this is just real and great ;)
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ok.. sorry for the double post, but it looks like i found something interesting linking Chris Scully, Stay Sane Communications,Vancouver and Nigel Malkin. Please see by yourself :
http://www.californiacarco.ca/testimonials.asp
The testimonial page of a Vancouver car broker company located in Vancouver/Canada, made by Stay Sane Communications. (check bottom left of the page)
[developed by stay sane communications ]
If you take a look at the first testimony, you will see it has been written by Chris Scully (Vancouver, BC)
[I just wanted to thank you again for such an easy and professional experience. By my calculations, you saved me about $7,300.00 over the best deal I could find here in Vancouver. The car is an absolute dream to drive. I’ll recommend you to anyone I know in the market for a high-end car.
Chris Scully
Audi TT Roadster
Vancouver, BC]
And if you look up The total bottom of the page/right.. to see the website creditentials, you will see :
[A Nigel Malkin Creation – Part of the Nigel Malkin Group of Companies – © Copyright Nigel Malkin Inc.]
@EP who said “Hey, its a surprise we haven’t seen more websites like this.”
I was thinking the same thing. Then again, maybe they normally don’t get this level of exposure so we just don’t know of them (e.g. IABIT, which never got my attention). And that CERN line made me do a double-take as well; factually correct yet…
@aage who said “I wonder if this posting itself will get any more attention than it deserves. I hope not.”
I agree. My credentials aren’t especially interesting; certainly not enough to have provided any help to the kirkyan concept I posted and which took some time to get higher level attention from people like Sterling and Cascio (wikipedia “gamers” sure didn’t give the idea much of a chance). I’d rather be known for some constructive things like that concept or the RadTag concept I did before there was even such a thing as a “blogject”; not be known as “the blogger who rooted out a scam”.
@Dan who said “People inventing fictional books, or authors that can’t even remember the titles of their own works accurately.”
That’s assuming the mistake is unintentional. I’m not sure it is. Just as I’m not sure that any of these names – Simmons, Pederson, Scully – are real people. Simmons (by virtue of that link) and Pederson (by virtue of another registration I found) are looking legit. Scully sounds to me like a work of fiction.
@romem who said ” leads to a guy nammed Nigel Malkin; the director of IABIT.”
I wondering if Scully and Malkin are related. Ya think?
@cb who said “It’s indeed strange, that lack of information. I work in the VR field and never heard of this initiative, no invitation to participate or anything..”
I found the entire lack of reference to the W3D Consortium especially curious, myself.
@romen – Nice find. I think with this we’re at a point where all we need is someone to find a real person and unravel this whole thing because something tells me this has been going on for a while. Thanks for that link.
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@csven :
Here we are… got the flu today so i had lots of time to spend to .. investigate, and here is the result of my investigation :
This has been going on and on.. This Nigel guy is very good.
Take an easy look googling for
“Nigel Malkin” Vancouver Scam
You will come accross this 2004 page from some “blog”
http://perdurabo10.tripod.com/id607.html
(you can also find some nice press releases for instance that one
http://www.ncalg.org/Library/Bulletins/BOB%20V2N3%20May%2004.pdf
)
Read it, its quite funny but here is some parts of it :
[Enhanced Air Technologies, of Vancouver, Canada, is marketing a new synthetic compound it calls Commercaire pheromone. When mixed with the air you breathe, it gives people a maternal sense of comfort and happiness. ]
…
[Nigel Malkin, director of development for Enhanced Air, defends the product. ]
…
[Malkin said the product is sold in various sized refillable cartridges ranging from $300 to $450 for commercial buildings, to $96 for home use.]
Then; if you look up for Enhanced Air Technologies, you will find a not anymore existant website enhancedairtechnologies.com
not valid anymore.. but by looking up it on web.archive.org
http://web.archive.org/web/20040610190110/http://enhancedairtechnologies.com/
An archive on 06 2004, you will find a page with some white text on white background :
Public Notice: Enhanced Air Technologies decided to remove our Commecaire pheromone products from the market voluntarily in January of this year (2004), only two weeks after our official product launch. While the Commercaire product is a harmless blend of naturally occurring pheromones, we had not foreseen how controversial the product would be. Nor had we foreseen some of the potential negative ramifications or potential misuses of our product line by various industries. Finally, a few concerned consumers and consumer groups contacted us to raise concerns that we shared about potential misuse of our products. Given the strong interest and demand, it was a difficult decision, but we felt it was the ethical decision to make. Should you have any questions about Enhanced Air Technologies, you may email us at: info@enhancedairtechnologies.com
And guess what :
site developed by
stay sane communications
To conclude :
We have to admit that Nigel and SSane got some smart ideas, and you can imagine that this VR website might disappear as soon as some money is invested in it.. as it seems to have happened for the EAT product years ago.
Slow Sunday morning. Figured I’d surf a little and found the following:
The names Scully and Malkin are on the IMDB and while I don’t know if these are related to IAVRT/IABIT, there’s something familiar here.
Nigel Malkin – http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0963012/
Christopher Scully – http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1296453/
Both appear to be low-level types: one on crew and one with a single film credit (for a totally-improvised film). Nothing impressive at all, but enough to show that they are both involved in the “cinematic” industry. Worth keeping in the back of my mind considering so much of this appears to be fiction.
–
On another front, the name “Nigel Malkin” also pops up as being involved in… of all things… a food delivery service in Vancouver. Did anyone notice the entry on the Stay Sane website having to do with meal delivery? What an odd wrench to throw into the works, but it does link them again. Anyway, the Stay Sane “live” example website includes a contact address for that company which just happens to be… big surprise… an address provided by Pederson for another one of their registrations, onemorediva.com (I’ll let you guys look up the address, but if you google it, you get what looks like a residential neighborhood).
Checking the mealsoft registration yields that it’s also registered to Pederson who lists a different contact email with irisware.com where we get a better name to search: Pedro Eiler Pederson. The irisware website also gives us another, offical-looking address:
Suite 450
650 West Georgia Street
Vancouver BC
ph#: 604-984-9330
Now after a check of the registration, I get that same seemingly residential address but the date goes back to 1998. I suspect we have a real person and a home address with it.
–
Google of the full name “Pedro Eiler Pederson” yields some interesting bits. The most interesting to me is one which associates him with Cathay Online (mentioned in the Stay Sane bio).
Interesting. Guess Via Technology is another lead.
–
btw, something more about our buddy Nigel off that site that eventually got us to irisware and the full name:
Another interesting tidbit.
All of this is pretty curious to me.
@romen – pretty funny that we’re both doing this bc we’re ill.
Nice background on Malkin and glad I didn’t hunt on that end too much since you’ve got it covered pretty well.
So we have Malkin who may be a creative-scheme guy with ties to the entertainment industry.
We have Pederson who … I don’t know what he is exactly. A multimedia guru or an identity thief or something else? I’m not sure.
And last we have Simmons who seems to be involved mostly with Pederson but was apparently involved in the early WWW stuff.
Now what about Scully? and are there more involved?
Still no online record of “IAVRT Registry Operations Inc.” at the BC registry of deeds. Incorporation takes at least 56 days and they recommend that no company advertise its name until the paperwork is finalised.
http://www.fin.gov.bc.ca/registries/corppg/CRContact.htm
@csven
Well, Scully must be an invented name.
If you check the California Cars testimonials page
http://www.californiacarco.ca/testimonials.asp
then you google for “Chris Scully” “Vance Campbell” for instance
http://www.vancourier.com/issues06/095206/urbanlandscape.html
you will find this article with most of the names used:
Not to be outdone, former Granville Entertainment’s Vance Campbell rolled out the red carpet […] above Denny’s the much-needed makeover was novice designer Chris Scully.
Its like the guy reads the newspaper and picks names from it, or the whole canadian “jet-set” is implicated in that conspiracy !
…
And indeed Malkin got ties with the studio industries :
http://www.locationscout360.com/
(registered at the same address as locationscout360.com) , and you will have guessed it in the about page http://www.locationscout360.com/about.html :
Locationscout360 is a virtual reality web design firm
yes.. a VR web design firm… :-)
—
To finish, a little webarchive part for enhancedairtechnologies.com 2004 scam :
http://web.archive.org/web/20040408043819/enhancedairtechnologies.com/contact.asp
white text/white background :
Contact Us
Ph: 1-888-323-7649
Enhanced Air Technologies
280 Nelson St., Suite 263
Vancouver, BC V6B 2E2
280.. Nelson St. :>
The best now would be to go on http://www.locationscout360.com/contact.html
Give a call to Nigel.. expose him the situation and see i guess the iabit/VR websites diseappear faster.
@Steve – thanks for checking that. Why am I not surprised? Amazing.
@romem – or Scully is a wannabe actor who recently got enlisted because they need a new front man. Maybe.
Good stuff on the rest. I figure we can pretty much put a fork in this overdone thing now (though I confess to finding all the links to stuff I’d never give a second thought – like Gizmotrainer(!) – fascinating because I’m sure someone doesn’t consider they might be scams).