NONE: ONLINE-ADS>> Controlled Emailing; Buying Email Lists
ONLINE-ADS>> Controlled Emailing; Buying Email Lists
Mark J. Welch, Esq. (markwelch_at_ca-probate.com)
Thu, 27 Mar 1997 10:27:42 -0800
I have tried hard to stay out of the "email list" discussion, but today I
got added to another "request-only" mailing list (this one for adult web
sites), which I never requested to be added to, so I think it's time for
me to offer my opinion.
MY OPINION IS: SENDING UNSOLICITED COMMERCIAL
EMAIL IS ALWAYS WRONG.
It is clear that the "bad" spammers are going around deliberately adding
people who hate spam to other people's mailing lists. Indeed, I know
that on several occasions, when I requested to be removed from a list,
I was deliberately added to more mailing lists. In many cases, when I
call the 800 number in a spam, the person sending it swears that he
was told the list was a narrow, targetted list of people who specifically
asked to receive materials on this subject.
There are many con artists selling broadcast-spam lists and telling
clients that the lists are 'targetted' or 'request-only' when they are not.
I suspect that these same people -- or other spammers seeking
revenge after losing their internet access -- deliberately add my name
(and other complainers' names) to other people's mailing lists as a
form of harassment. Thus, even companies that legitimately want
to maintain and sell only 'request' lists will find themselves in the
spam business, selling names of people like me who react very
aggressively to spam.
(When I receive a spam, I nearly ALWAYS send an email complaint
to the sender, to the sender's ISP [postmaster, abuse, and root], and
I often go up the line if there is a string of ISPs or if it appears that
the spammer controls several layers. I know that my complaints have
caused at least 50 spammers to lose accounts or web hosting services,
and I am NOT going to stop complaining, even though it takes me
10-20 minutes every day to do it.)
I am sorry to see the entire potential market for "targetted email"
and especially "request-only" email advertising spoiled by a few
criminals who deliberately submit fake requests -- but as the victim
of these harassment techniques, I can assure you that it makes
no difference whatsoever to me if you claim that you "thought"
you were buying a "safe" list. Unsolicited Commercial Email is
illegal (in the US, at least, under 47 United States Code Section 227),
and if you spam me, I will complain and demand a reaction from
your service provider.
I also will NEVER do business with any company that spams.
In the past month, I have received junk email spams promoting
two companies whose products I WANTED TO BUY and who
would have received my business otherwise. However, after
receiving junk email, I took my business elsewhere, because
I will NOT knowingly do business with criminals.
A special note on "qualified" lists -- since I control my domain
and all aliases, when I submit my name to a company, I
frequently use a modified version of my email address
(for example, I might identify myself as "xyz_at_ca-probate.com"
so that I can identify all email that originated as a result of my
registration at the XYZ.COM web site). As a result, I have
been able to identify how my name got onto spam lists on
several occasions. In addition, I use special version email
addresses on web pages -- which is how I learned that many
spammers cull their lists from web sites using robots (each
time it happens, I get 6 or 7 copies of the same spam, one
for each address used on one of my web pages -- and you
can imagine how I handle THAT abuse).
Despite all these efforts to stop getting spam (or perhaps
because of my efforts to stop getting spam) I continue to
receive at least 5 pieces of junk email every single day,
and often as many as 15 or 20 in a single day (Friday
evening is the broadcast spammer's favorite day, because
they know most ISP's won't react to complaints until
Monday morning).
Finally, a paragraph worth repeating:
I will NEVER do business with any company that spams.
In the past month, I have received junk email spams promoting
two companies whose products I WANTED TO BUY and who
would have received my business otherwise. However, after
receiving junk email, I took my business elsewhere, because
I will NOT knowingly do business with criminals.
