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Spammer Sues List Broker
BuckMulligan writes: "This article describes a lawsuit brought by a spam company against a list brokerage warehouse for selling e-mail addresses of persons who didn't opt-in. What this means is that those marketing lists created by data brokers aren't even accurate enough for sending spam."
This brokerage warehouse wouldn't happened to be called HOTMAIL.COM ... would it ?? ;-)
...do lists of people who opt-in for spam even exist? Are they big enough to fit on one 8.5x11" piece of paper?
Who the hell would be stupid enough to opt-in for spam?
- A.P.
"Remember when the U.S. had a drug problem, and then we declared a War On Drugs, and now you can't buy drugs anymore?"
That all those fake addresses people have been 'seeding' the internet with have finaaly begun to have an effect. Maybe the whole industry will eat itself from the inside out. Hopefully the two sides here can sue each other to oblivion.
Do a google search before posting.
Drug dealer files lawsuit against drug supplier for selling him some bad weed, and some cocaine "padded" with baking soda and talcum.
A Google search did not return any information about Inurv Inc.
Personally, I think this is the best line in the whole article. Google, final proof that you do, or do not, exist.
42 - So long and thanks for all the fish.
It'd be interesting to have an agency that you could send your e-mail address and preferences to that could be checked by potential buyers of e-mail lists.
It could serve as a free service to the people who care enough to act on their need not to recieve spam. Any reputible company would check their databases with the 3rd party database and remove the e-mail addresses of people who opted out of all spam. Maximizing their direct marketing costs of sending out mailings.
) Human Kind Vs Human Creation
) It'd be interesting to see how many humans would survive to serve us.
Why, that wouldn't happen to be this bunch of spyware monkeys, would it?
And your telling me that their email list gathering methods might be unethical? Who'd have thunk it?
rOD.
Rod Begbie done this, and he's not
The best technique I have seen for this was a usenet
The poster had visited the websites the spammers were advertising (usualy p0rn sites) and collected legit e-mail addresses from the html source (usualy billing@ sales@ etc).
He/she added this to the usenet .sig (with the explanitory note) and let the spambots harvesting addresses do the work for them :-)
Anyone quoted by a reporter knows how little they understand
Don't believe what you read is the truth.
Here's a link to an earlier article than the newsbytes story although it's very sparse on details. Looks like they *might* have contact info for Inurv though... Phone number perhaps?
"Officials at Inurv could not be reached for comment."
Assuming that Virtumundo really did get screwed when they were given a bogus database, then kudos to them for showing that they are a somewhat responsible company.
It would appear that they are different from Joe Spammer who uses Korean mail servers and provides a bogus reply-to address. The fact that they even read the complaints they got proves that they aren't out to (purposely) screw people.
I've gotten some things that I thought were complete spam, but when researching where they originated from, I realized there were times when signing up on a website, I forgot to uncheck all of the "I want to receive e-mail from our partner sites" buttons. While they really should be opt-in, instead of opt-out, it's my own damn fault for not double-checking my work.
I have no problem receiving advertising mail if it's because I forgot to uncheck a box, or accidentally checked a box. The problem is when there's no way to get off the list. It sounds like these folks actually read replies and care about whether they're spamming or not, and if so, good for them. Personally, I think e-mail marketing is a waste of bandwidth, but if I can prevent myself from receiving junk mails in the future, I don't have a problem with it.
(On the other hand, they could just be some schmoes who spammed knowingly or on purpose, and are now just trying to pass the buck.)
There is no sig, there is only Zuul.
Better yet, give us his IP address and we can let our fingers do the walking.
"History doesn't repeat itself, but it does rhyme." Mark Twain
Got it ;o)
;o)
./ effect.. Probably the funniest thing there is that guy's name. So, Google has triumphed once again.
Posted somewhere down the page, I listed a link found on Google to a earlier article by bizjournal.com. In that article, they list Inurv Inc from Glendale, CA. No searches of general business directories for Glendale CA turned anything up, but this tells us a whole lot more... Of course, the Secretary of State should have some good info
I'll post the general info here in case Sec State website are susceptible to
Corporation
INURV, INC.
Number: C2381410
Date Filed: 9/28/2001
Status: active
Jurisdiction: California
Mailing Address
210 N. CENTRAL AVENUE #210
GLENDALE, CA 91203
Agent for Service of Process
GEORGI KARAYACOUBIAN
1443 ROCKGLEN AVENUE #4
GLENDALE, CA 91205
Yeah, except for the people microsoft sells your email address to. 3 months ago, as a test, I created a VERY random 16character email account name on Hotmail.com. 8 days ago, I received spam from four different servers, all corporate.
Phillip-Morris claimed that they didn't know cigarrettes were addictive.
Napster claimed that they were unaware of people trading illegal music on their network.
What's next? Some crack dealer claiming that because he bought his stash from someone else, he assumed the other person was selling a legal product?
Gee...I should have bought those offered speakers off the back of that van that one time and then claim I thought it was a legit store.
When websites ask for my address and I really don't want to give it to them, I have a very simple method:
abuse@[Upstream Provider of website]
Let's see them talk their "we didn't spam" asses out of that mess, shall we?
I disable sigs...do you?
A physical business fax-spammed you? That's great! Write them a polite note, explaining that sending bulk faxes is wrong. Attach a copy of their spam to it, with all identifying marks removed of course. Go to their office, tie it to a brick, and toss it through their damn window.
What's a plate glass window run, $100-200 dollars? If you do it in the winter, even better, no heat for the bastards when they come into work the next morning. Too many expensive lessons like that, and they'll quit.
Unfortunately, it's a lot harder to track email spammers. I usually try to have their accounts cancelled, but that's about it. Then a couple of weeks ago, some dumbass sent me one of those chain-letter "Buy Reports on Internet Marketing" pyramid scheme things. The one where you expect people to send you a five dollar bill in the mail. That's right, the moron attached his REAL ADDRESS. It's two hours from where I live, even better. Not worth a trip by itself, but if I ever happen to be in the area, I'll stop by. Saved the address.
Communication is only possible between equals
This post is a troll! This guy posts this every time there is a spam story - and gets +5 every time...
I'll pay for moderation - and look at the banner ads
From: LendWare Info
To: waldoNO@SPAMwaldo.net
Date: 07/13/01 2:16 PM
Subject: Thanks for Applying for a Loan OnLine
Dear Waldo Merideth,
Replace with Lender Name Here is pleased to inform you that your online loan application has been received and we will be contacting you in the near future.
Thank you for choosing Replace with Lender Name Here
Sincerely,
Replace with Company President's Name Here
President
I'll assume the OP was using the english alphabet of 26 letters. There are 26**16 different possible combinations, if a spammer is capable of trying one billion addresses per second (which he isn't, not even close) it would take nearly 1.4 million years to try every 16 character address. So, given that hotmail has existed for significantly less than 1.4 million years, no, I don't think that someone used a dictionary technique (which won't work for a random address) or another technique. It is possible, however, that an admin for hotmail sells the addresses without Microsoft's consent (which still doesn't make Microsoft blameless).
Microsoft does not sell hotmail addresses, if for no other reason than no one would buy them. The reason your random hotmail addresses are quickly harvest and spammed is because of programs spammers use to collect e-mail addresses. Basically the program just listens to all the traffic that goes through hotmail and when a new address is created it logs it. One of my friends had one of these programs which he used to get new addresses to spam for his new website. I really don't think that a lot of the big e-mail providers sell addresses, if it was ever proven it would be a public relations nightmare.
... should we still call them spammers?
If it's for people who have genuinely opted-in to a bulk mailing service then the mail is solicited, isn't it?
Surely spam is still defined as unwanted, unsolicited mail.
Even if some spammers do blatantly lie, telling me I've opted in for their mailing 'services'.
"Nine times out of ten, starting a fire is not the best way to solve the problem." - my wife
A spammer.. bought a product frequently offered in spam.. was upset when they discovered that the spam they bought into was misrepresented.. and sued... most likely.. another spammer.
Keep it up guys.. This takes care of the email listing spams... has someone's sex drive not grown by 581%?? You need to start suing!
-Restil
Play with my webcams and lights here