Slashdot Mirror
Anti-Spam Site Accused of Spamming, Fixes Error
An anonymous reader writes "According to this article on CNN, banthespam.com is accused of spamming its visitors. Excerpt: Even if an Internet user chose not to receive e-mail updates from the Telecommunications Research and Action Center, one of the effort's sponsors, the Web site replied with the message: 'You are currently signed up for news and information.' This doesn't help guys . . ." As the article states, the problem was quickly caught and corrected -- and banthespam.com looks like another force for good in the world.
I can hear it now -- the voice of a thousand Slashdotters crying "Why wasn't this opt-in," even though it was an accident and has been fixed. Hey, anyone fighting spam ahs to be good, right?
/gleffler
...that these guys aren't spammers trying to harvest our addresses?
It seems that this is much ado about nothing. It seems that it was a case of overzealous cutting and pasting.
According to this response by the alleged spammers:
The TRAC site did indeed for a short period of time state "You are currently signed up for news and information." - but that statement was inaccurate and was just a template response that was generated when a person's story was submitted (standard language from a script that was copied).
Don't ascribe to malice that which can be better explained by incompetance...
While it's not really a good thing for any large or visible company to make a mistake, it happens. This was probably just a 1-line or even 1 word fix in a script. Hopefully this won't become a reason for users to roast banthespam over a slow grill. People always seem to remember the bad things most... must be human nature.
However, it is somewhat of an amusing irony to cover in slashdot...
Now, I'm just left wondering if it was an honest mistake to spam the visitors, or if someone thought the irony would boost visits...
/. posting some news that really didn't matter, just in an attempt to be funny...
'Cuz that would be like
=D
Karma: \Kar"ma\, n. [Skr.] (Buddhism) One's acts considered as fixing one's lot in the future existence.
After all, (so far :) we're only human. Hell, when I go to make a beer run, sometimes I get to the store only to find I've left my wallet 3 miles away. Hate when that happens.
db
Cig:
ôô
...to stop spam is to filter all the email that says "this message was not sent unsolicited."
"Derp de derp."
Heh.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Spamming me with ways to eliminate spam! Whoa...
When I was just a lad, I read all about 'em. Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote about Captain Carter, Barsoom, and the dreaded banthespams... Very dangerous.
Dunno, sounds like the auto-reply message was simply a cgi (or equivalent) bug. I've been known to write a few goodies in my life, too. Anyway, assuming it was a bug, no big deal.
Although I don't think this was going on here, there seems to be the perceptions from nonprofits/groups/personal websites that if isn't selling something it isn't spam. I run a couple of large email lists and many people feel offended when I deny usage of the list, because sending unsolicited messages might be seen as spam.
-Sean
I can't help but admire the irony of the spam messages I receive offering to "remove pop-ups for ever!!!". I am just waiting for the first spam that offers to "eliminate spam today!!!"
Okay, so the web designer put the wrong message for the 'No mail' option. It was an embarrassment to the site and somewhat funny to the rest of us but not really all that news worthy.
Oh well, at least I went to there site and read an article that did have value. Apparently the Telecommunications Research and Action Center is asking the FTC to rule that unsolicited commercial email is "deceptive and therefore unlawful"
The email would have to meet certain criteria that are similar to the Washington State's anti-spamming law.
Email would be considered illegal if it:
Misrepresents the sender (in source or routing information)
Misrepresents the subject or content of the email
Fails to provide reliable contact information for the real party in interest
Fails to provide a reliable opt-out system
Is sent to an individual who has opted out or resigned from sender's list, or to whom sending unsolicited, commercial email is otherwise prohibited by law.
Laws like this are seen as being a balance between our rights to privacy and a companies rights to communicate. Unfortunately, with any 'opt-out' strategy, the victim is overwhelmed by SPAM because he/she can not opt out as fast as his or her name is sold.
We really need laws that make the selling of email addresses illegal.
The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!
Microsoft was found to have several pieces of software (including the ever popular BOB) which had licenses that looked suspiciously like GPL. However, after being called the "prince of open source movement," Company spokesdrones declared that it was in fact a clerical error, and Microsoft has every intention to continue on the path of Evil Empire (tm), and promptly put very restrictive licenses onto the aforementioned software, therefore continuing to be a force of evil in the world.
My life in the land of the rising sun.
You have been placed in this opt-in message by banthespam.com -- If you want to be removed, please click our link.
In the meantime, here are some products that you may be interested in... This is not spam! Remember that! Spam is bad.... so on with our ploy^C^C^Cresentation..
"PC Load Letter? What the $@#% does that mean?!"
I've been following the anti-spam newsgroups and organizations for something like five years now, and I've never heard of banthespam.com before now.
Are they for real or what?
Whilst you may feel a little sorry for their foolishness, the fact that something is a 'mistake' doesn't excuse it.
You wouldn't be saying it was alright if they made a 'mistake' by not stepping on the brake pedal and running someone over, or made a 'mistake' by not locking their firearm away.
Ignorance has never been an excuse and increased accountability is appropriate.
Meanwhile, I look forward to reading how the RIAA moves were (ahem) a mistake and the information was errantly posted by a web-developer who really didn't know what he was talking about...
Do you or your partner snore? - Visit www.snoring.com.au
I've already seen that one once or twice... wonderful irony...
that it was bathe n spam.com.
| - | - |
it's been mentioned a couple of times already, first in March, then in the most recent Slashback (http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=02/09/03/01382 16)
timothy
jrnl: http://tinyurl.com/c2l8yr / foes: http://tinyurl.com/ckjno5
How about a pop-up ad that promises to remove pop-ups forever?! I forgot the software's name (it wasn't one that I was familiar with, either), but I've seen the ad for it-- in pop-up form-- at least twice this week...
And the first response to a story completely unrelated to Microsoft to actually mention Microsoft goes to you! However, your response time of 28 minutes was simply unacceptable.
You moron.
Use the force (Mozilla)... get rid of pop-ups
i've received this, and in three languages
portuguese, french and english
-- SouNerd.com
Which means, I suppose, that spammers are "evil."
*sigh*
Look, I can understand if you find spam annoying. I sometimes do, as well. But evil? Spammers, like 'em or not, are just exercising their rights to free speech and to free capitalistic enterprise. These are the two things that Osama bin Laden and his ilk hate most about the West; it's interesting that you would choose to call the bulk mailers evil instead of the terrorists who have our way of life in their targets.
Get some perspective, please. There IS a lot of evil in this world, but it ain't coming from American small businesses.
Just as amusing is the spam that offers to sell me a million "carefully selected e-mail addresses that are receptive to direct marketing". If my address is on that list then the selection process obviously isn't all that careful.
Funny that the site should come from TRAC. This is a classic example of Washington "astroturf", phoney grass roots organizations. TRAC is run by Sam Simon of Issue Dynamics, a P.R. firm that works for incumbent telephone monopolists like Verizon. Their main activity is publicizing anyone but AT&T as being a better long-distance alternative to AT&T. There's a long and bitter blood feud between AT&T and Verizon (fka Bell Atlantic). Sam's a hired gun.
In this case, it's likely that Verizon is smarting over the cost of spam to its Verizon Online operation. Verizon is trying to get the FCC and/or Congress to give them an absolute monopoly over DSL ISP service. The FCC has a proposal on the table now (FCC NPRM 02-33) to remove common carriage rules from ILEC DSL, so that Verizon can say that if you use their DSL telecom service, you must use their ISP. Bye-bye to all the local ISPs who buy Verizon DSL to reach their subs. There's also the Dingell-Tauzin bill in Congress which effectively repeals the Telcom Act, and bans competitive LECs from accessing ILEC raw wire in order to provision their own DSL. Also note that Verizon Online forces you to put @verizon.net in the From: field of mail sent through their SMTP relay; you can't be From: your choice of mail hosts! Forced advertising, no less.
So when they come out with an anti-spam site (and Sam doesn't brush his teeth without a Verizon top exec's permission), I take it with a boulder of salt.
I have Mozilla, but through force of habit, I'm still using IE for most of my web browsing.
Please pray to the computer gods now. That is all. Isn't this story a bit like hearing the Cancer Society has been driving people around in busses.
Saskboy's blog is good. 9 out of 10 dentists agree.
We sometimes get blamed for spam at Sneakemail.com. The funny thing is when we get blamed its because the user just forgets they are using Sneakemail and when spam gets sent through their disposable email address we provide its so transparent they forget whats happening and think we're spamming them. Actually when they get spam it means Sneakemail worked perfectly since their real email address wasnt actually spammed, as it would have been. This actually got us kicked off our first net provider.
:P
I work for Sneakemail.com. We are an anti spam site. The first and longest living disposable email address site for what its worth, over 2 years. See the sig for the link. Sneakemail is an online application that truely fights spam and lets you catch spam easily. What is this, a anti-spam petition? Thats so much easier than thousands of lines of code, why didnt we think of that, damn?
If we screw up and actually send people spam do we get a story on slashdot?
Thanks for reading, this has been a shameless promotion for Sneakemail.com
Sneakemail is to spam filters what an ounce of prevention is to a pound of cure.
The backlash against unsolicited marketing is really incredible these days, and it makes me happy to see people 'taking up the fight'.
:)
My own company produces anti-spam software, and we have actually been accused of 'unsolicited marketing' in the past - when in reality we were mentioning our product in a valid medium, where announcements for new products were actually requested!
In the end, the accusations turned to apologies but our reputation as anti-spam company almost went down the drain. The Internet Activist community is a scary force to be reckoned with ; and that type of power requires some checks and balances from time to time.
Do I believe this particular company was trying to spam its own users? Yes, it seems pretty obvious they didn't care, and in all likelihood it was not a mistake.
Does this mean the company can not be shown the error of its ways, and reform? I believe it's possible. If online businesses knew the power of legitimate marketing methods, they would never take the chance at getting a negative slashdot.
Ace
If spammers insist on spamming so that we have to waste our time and resources dealing with it, we should send bills for our time.
Lets see. $200/hour, 1 hour minimum, per spam...
I get rid of telemarketers the same way.
them: Hello - I'm a complete stranger calling because your (unlisted) phone number was generated by the computer...
me: My time is billable, can I have your name and credit card number please before we continue...
- nobody has yet to make up a name and credit card number, they just hang up.
Would spam stop if nobody bought anything advertised on spam? Who the hell is it that buys things or clicks links from spam? Perhaps we could get these people disconnected from the internet too.
-- it must be true, it's on the internet.
Can you delete me now? Good!
Pigs aren't big enough to make more than a couple dozen cans of Spam... so now they're making Spam out of Banthas? I hope the Sand People don't find out... they'd probably get upset.
Oh, and just because all Spam posts need a haiku:
Bantha: Shaggy beast
with big horns, on Tatooine
now in small tin cans
Whoever stated that signature sizes should be limited to one hundred and twenty characters can just go ahead and kiss my
What we need now is a pop up offering to remove spam. Put them in the same room and duck - it might be like mixing matter and anti-matter.
Read reviews of shopping cart software
The thing is, there are some quite interesting perspectives out there on spam, which should be given a bit more consideration all-round.
First, there's the guy who received an email from a colleague at my previous company, sent only to addresses of folks at a local computer expo who expressed an interest - ranting loudly, "I'm sure Spews will be interested to hear of your bulk-mail!" (to all of 20 people anyway) etc etc. Strangely enough, after I replied in person I didn't hear as much as an apology. Rate this chap how you may.
Second, there's the role of a sysadmin in a company where several forms of regular and/or bulk mail-shots are either required and/or requested. Specifically, I can think of at least one financial-services website where there was a weekly newsletter, a monthly newsletter (both opt-in at signup time) and a service for receiving stock-price alerts as well. Of course you get people who forget they opted-in to things, or make a mistake and click the wrong buttons, or change their mind and want to opt out... that's where being a real sysadmin who *does* honour the "mail us here to opt out" line in an email gets quite interesting as I'm well aware of it being a spam-harvester line (as is everyone else) rather than a genuine attempt, which it actually can be.
And thirdly, there's the dubious joy of being on the receiving end of a spammer using an open relay somewhere in Turkey with envelope headers set to your domain name. Just watch all the net-weenies reply to *you* complaining lots thinking "from, subject, to" constitutes "all the headers"...
There are these extremes, but if people know the companies with which they have regular dealings, and if they stop to think, a lot of the heat and anger can be taken out of this "anti-spam activism" crap, and a genuine mission to stamp out real spam undertaken in a more gentlemanly / professional / calm-headed manner.
~Tim
--
Rushing on down to the circle of the turn
--sigh...-- I just received one of those yesterday...
It's one more spam in a sea of them. Go to a spammer, buy a million addresses worth of SpamAssassin ads. Make sure that you let people know up front that you are not associated with SA, so they don't get busted. Even give your own contact info and take the heat.
The point is that if you just do this once for a mailing list, you've already devalued the spammer's list, while getting a bunch of people on SpamAssassin. Any chance this is a case where the end may justify the means?
Last post!