If it looks -- and annoys -- like spam

Brian Haberstroh is not a spammer. Take his word for it.

After all, Haberstroh's company, Sendmails Corp. of Manchester, N.H., doesn't flood electronic mailboxes. Instead, Sendmails gets other people to do it.

''We're a technology company," said Haberstroh. ''We're not a marketer." Actually, Sendmails is both. The company's VirtualMDA technology is the latest thing in e-mail marketing -- a system that pays home computer users to turn their PCs into bulk e-mailers.

It's an interesting variation on one of the nastier trends in the spam business. The biggest spammers are finding it tough to send out mail from their own machines; these digital garbage scows are identified and blocked within hours by most major Internet providers. So spammers have begun using Internet worms with names like Webber and Magmaf, which turn infected machines into spam relays. The spammers can bounce their messages through thousands of infected computers, thereby making it much harder to block the unwanted messages.

Sendmails has come up with what Haberstroh claims is an honest variation on this method. His company will pay people $5 to install a bit of software called VirtualMDA, which relays marketing e-mails. Each VirtualMDA user gets $1 for every hour the software runs. In exchange, Sendmails gets an easy way to route mass e-mailings through thousands of computers all over the Net.

Haberstroh admits that VirtualMDA was invented to sneak messages past spam filters. But he correctly notes that today's antispam systems capture vast amounts of legitimate mail along with the rubbish. That's why Fortune 1000 companies use VirtualMDA to get their messages out, according to information posted at the Sendmails website.

Which Fortune 1000 companies use the service? Haberstroh won't say -- must protect the clients' privacy, don't you know. And what kinds of messages does VirtualMDA send across the Internet? Again, Haberstroh won't tell. But he insists that the messages all comply with the federal CAN SPAM Act, which regulates e-mail marketing. In addition, VirtualMDA messages can't feature ads for pornography or sex-related products.

''We don't send anything that would be inappropriate for children, or offensive," Haberstroh said. Again, the only proof is his word of honor.

Which is worth . . . what? Let's see.

Suppose you're a VirtualMDA subscriber looking to make a few extra bucks by sending e-mails in your computer's spare time. According to the VirtualMDA contract, you won't get paid until the value of your computer's time hits $50.

According to Haberstroh, no individual computer using the software will ever send more than 10,000 messages a day; indeed, the average computer will only send 1,000 messages. But for a modern PC, pumping out 1,000 messages is just a few minutes' work. So it'll be a mighty long time before you run up a $50 tab and can cash in on your VirtualMDA account.

And long before then, you may well lose your Internet service. That's because virtually all consumer internet services explicitly forbid customers from sending bulk e-mails. If your ISP detects thousands of e-mails being pumped over the network, you'll get a warning notice. Continue the spamming, and you'll wind up with a canceled account.

You might think that Sendmails would warn people about that, but you'd be wrong. The website says not a word about it. Haberstroh admitted that it'd be a good idea to put up a notice and said he'd consider it. But he added that VirtualMDA users are responsible for contacting their Internet providers to make sure they can run his software.

Haberstroh insists that VirtualMDA sends messages only to people who've signed up to receive them. So how did Steve Linford end up getting so many of them?

Linford runs Spamhaus, a London-based antispam service that uses a clever and well-nigh-foolproof way to catch spammers. Spamhaus has set up thousands of ''spam trap" mailboxes on Internet services worldwide. The addresses of these mailboxes are kept secret; no permission-based e-mailer could possibly have them. And yet, the boxes keep filling up with spam. That's because bulk e-mailers send millions of messages to randomly generated addresses, hoping a few get through.

Linford said that a lot of VirtualMDA ads wind up in the Spamhaus traps, which can only happen if VirtualMDA uses the random mailing technique popular with spammers.

''He's hitting huge amounts of these every day, in very large volume," Linford said. He added that the messages feature the sorts of hazy, sleazy subject headers we've come to know and love, such as ''Your cash has arrived" or ''Someone wants to date you." Just the sort of messages that Fortune 1000 firms send out every day.

And one more thing: Linford says he's tracked down the owners of PCs that are relaying the trapped messages.

''When we trace them back to their computers, they've never heard of VirtualMDA," Linford said. That would mean that VirtualMDA was installed on their computers without their knowledge, just like those spam viruses infesting the Internet.

Then again, the computer owners might have lied to Linford. Or maybe Linford himself is lying. Or maybe the nation's Internet providers are just kidding when they forbid customers to send bulk e-mail. Sure, that must be it. Otherwise, we'd have to conclude that Brian Haberstroh is a spammer, and we know that can't be true. He's told us so.

Hiawatha Bray can be reached at bray@globe.com.