Curiouser and curiouser – Scott Richter RejectedRealBig by Ironport’s Bonded Sender Program
From the “things which make you go hmmmm….” department, it turns out that Scott “I am a legitimate businessman who is also the King of Spam” Richter, who is suing Ironport Systems over their listing of his IP addresses in their SpamCop anti-spam database, also applied to participate in Ironport’s…
Microsoft and Ironport’s Bonded Sender: Good Sense, or Unholy Alliance?
The industry is abuzz with today’s announcement by Microsoft that they are “implementing Ironport’s Bonded Sender program” – whatever that means. For those of you not familiar, Bonded Sender is one of the whitelists out there – bulk email senders can post a bond to guarantee that the email they…
Dear Internet Patrol: Spam with No Unsubscribe Link – What to Do?
We received a note from a reader who was trying to unsubscribe from a mailing, but it gave no option to unsubscribe. Here’s what to do when that happens.
Dear Internet Patrol: Love/Hate Relationship with WinXP SP1
Dear Internet Patrol, Time and again I have heard and read that after one installs WinXP SP1, there is a 20% to 40% chance it will damage your computer in one way or another. I did install SP1 in my computer and it crashed. I had to use a floppy…
New Sasser Virus Worm Attacks Windows Computers
The newest of the sinsister worm types of viruses, Sasser, has attacked Windows-based computers around the world. Even more insidious than its earlier siblings, Sasser scans the Internet for computers with the Microsoft security flaw which allows it to do its dirty work, and then Sasser installs a copy of…
Is the FTC Going to Come After Me for Not Including My Mailing Address?
The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, which is the new Federal anti-spam law, only applies to commercial email. It does not apply to the private, personal email which you send
Dog eat Dog: Scott Richter’s OptInRealBig Sues SpamCop
In a move which surprised many, but others not at all, Scott “I am a legitimate businessman” Richter, and his Evil Twin Scott “I am the King of Spam” Richter, of OptInRealBig, sued SpamCop and Ironport over a recent SpamCop listing of OptInRealBig. Ironport, manufacturers of the Ironport email sending…
What is Website “Email Address Harvesting”, and How Can I Prevent It?
The term “address harvesting” refers to the unsavoury practice of finding and copying email addresses from the pages of websites. You know all of those lovely “contact us” webpages which everyone has? Well, spammers just love to pick those tasty little ripe email addresses from the orchard of your website. So here are a few tips which will allow users to contact you through your website, while not allowing your email address to fall into the wrong hands.
Spam Filtering and Your Duty to Your Users
Spam filtering has always been a hot topic around the IT water cooler. The question most frequently asked is “how”. But increasingly, a question which needs to be asked is “whether”, followed closely by “how not” in addition to “how”. (If you’re stilll back at “why?” then a) I want…
Gmail’s Spam Filter Isn’t So Hot, But We Can Get You to Zimbabwe Cheap!
I’ve been testing Google’s Gmail for 5 days now, since April 18th. Woohoo. In addition to openly soliciting email to the account, and even posting the address on the web, I’ve forwarded all of my email coming to my other accounts to the Gmail account. I wanted to give Gmail…
Gmail, Gmail, GMAIL!
Everywhere you look, everyone is talking about Gmail (including me). But what’s amazing to me is that for the most part those who are heralding it have had only the most glancing access to it, if that. Those who are actually test driving it are … :gasp”… barely whelmed, let…
Spam or Not? How Can You Be Sure?
Today I received email with the subject line: “urgent query” The opening lines were: “Dear Madam, I am writing to you out of great desparation.” So, here’s the test: Do you think that this email was spam, or not? Perhaps I should have asked this instead: Is there a one…
Opt-Out “Do Not Email” Suppression Lists – Who, What, and How?
In a law rife with grey areas, the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, one of the greyest is the requirements surrounding the handling of opt-outs, and the related creation of suppression (“do not email”) lists. This is a responsbility which falls squarely on the shoulders of the marketers..er, the postmaster..no, wait,…
Gmail Ad Nauseum II: Those Wacky AdSense Ads
As we’ve mentioned elsewhere, Google’s Gmail’s “sophisticated spam filtering technology” isn’t. And I’m beginning to wonder about their AdSense technology as well.
