An interesting IP range on 69.36.7.x where x is one of the following:- 137 139-144 146 148-150 69.36.7.148 is www.bulkleader.com with a dubious claim to fame on their front page!
University Degree program clones Wow, nice detective work! It's like finding the nest of Alien eggs. Eeeuuwwww. 69.36.7.137 => Renshaw's College http://renshaws.ac.cy/ 69.36.7.139 => University of Switzerland http://www.swissu.org/ See http://www.osac.state.or.us/oda/oregon_north_dakota/index_or.html#univ_switzerland 69.36.7.140 => Strassford University http://www.strassfordu.org.uk/ See http://www.osac.state.or.us/oda/oregon_north_dakota/index_or.html#strassford_university 69.36.7.141 => Shepperton University http://www.sheppertonu.org.uk/ See http://www.osac.state.or.us/oda/oregon_north_dakota/index_or.html#shepperton 69.36.7.142 => Shaftesbury University http://www.shaftesburyu.org.uk/ See http://www.osac.state.or.us/oda/oregon_north_dakota/index_or.html#shaftesbury_university 69.36.7.143 => Online University Degree Program http://www.oudp.org/ 69.36.7.144 => International Centre for Distance Learning Education http://www.icdle.org/ but try http://69.36.7.144/ 69.36.7.146 => Dorchester University (not the same as University of Dorchester) http://www.dorchesteru.org.uk/ Graphics and page layout is from old University Degree Program pages: see Unconventional University Diplomas from Online Vendors 69.36.7.147 => http://www.chelseau.org.uk/ Not active yet. 69.36.7.149 => Ashbourne University http://www.ashbourneu.org.uk/ It appears to use the (RA) University of Central Florida list of concentrations for itself, as did many of the University Degree Program sites. See http://www.osac.state.or.us/oda/oregon_north_dakota/index_or.html#ashford for an example. 69.36.7.150 => Sherwood University http://sherwoodu.org.uk/ Site looks like a University Degree Program clone. G
Yes, great find. Galanga writes: > Sherwood University [...] > Site looks like a University Degree Program clone. You keep mentioning "clones", by which I gather you mean operations imitating the Romanian mill, but not actually part of it. What is the evidence for "clones"? If some of the sites in this IP cluster belong to the Romanian mill, wouldn't it be logical to assume that they all do?
I suspect the clue is in the information for the bulkloader site. It seems that they provide services for degree program operators. Sort of a franchised fraud!
clones Hi Mark, The notion that there are "clones" is based on information from a person who said he had been working for UDP as (if I recall correctly) a telephone salesman. When the FTC issued a temporary restraining order shutting down the US phone numbers of UDP (those were the numbers which fed calls to answering machines), their business dried up. UDP laid off most of their phone sales people. Some of them, according to the former telephone salesguy, took UDP web materials and started their own sites. At the present time it seems probable that some (many?) sites which show UDP material are run by people who are now independent of the original operation, or any present direct descendant of the original operation. So that's what I mean by "clones." I don't know of an assay to determine if a site which posts, for example, the (RA) University of Cental Florida's list of disciplines is mounted by the original gang in Bucharest or by an independent. I agree about the IP clustering as a good indication that the sites are related to each other! But are they run by the same hooligans who run/ran UDP, or the result of metastasis of the original UDP tumor? What do you make of the bulkleader.com site? Are they trying to franchise the operation? G
