First Test of Utah Anti-Spam Law Dismissed

fwoomer writes "Apparently, Utah feels that once you've 'opted-in' you can't opt back out as fast as you've opted in. From the story: 'Gillman requested removal on May 14, 2002, from the e-mailing lists his visit to Audio Galaxy a month earlier had linked him to. Two days later, he received a Sprint ad, and on May 28 he filed suit. The court found his attempt to have himself removed from the lists was insufficient to void the pre-existing business relationship.' If he was receiving spam in May after 'opting in' in April, I don't see how it could be unreasonable to expect to be removed from lists as fast as he was added. Unfortunately there's not much detail in this story. A good read, nonetheless." I don't see how signing up with Audiogalaxy establishes a business relationship with Sprint, but, whatever. Presumably some of the other lawsuits filed are against people that have no possible claim to the receiver opting-in.

Comments

Dangers of "Opting Out"

[TrollBridge]

I don't get a whole lot of spam, and I suspect it's because when I DO get spam, I NEVER click on the "Click here to remove yourself from our mailing list" link.

For those who don't know this already, all that does is validate that there is a user who actively checks/reads that email account. A list of valid email addresses is VERY valuable to other spammers, who eagerly shell out the $$$ so they can send you MORE spam.

So in reality "Opting out" often will only bring you MORE spam, not less.

Re:Dangers of "Opting Out"

[myov]

Except that now, many spammers are sending
So they've got your address the second the mail is opened (if your client defaults to HTML mail. The only flaw in Apple's mail client).

Time to add a new filter...

Re:Linked Advertisements?

[poofmeisterp]

See my earlier comment. Simple - they sell the address once they have it. So what if you opt-out of THEIR email list; the rest of the freaking world now has it.
Man that pisses me off.

Re:As to be expected

[FesterDaFelcher]

You don't delete someone from your list when they asked to removed, you flag their account as "do not mail." That way, if they are added again at a later date you know not to mail them.

No way of tracking-- unless

[oliphaunt]

Unless you use sneakemail. Whenever I encounter a webform where it seems like I need to provide a valid email address, e.g. to recieve a tracking number or an initial PIN code or some such thing, I just pull up sneakemail, create a new address, label it with the date and the party who is getting the initial address (March 14 03, audiogalaxy).

That way, if audiogalaxy sells that address to someone else, not only do I know where that someone else got my address from and (approximately) when it must have happened, but (and this is the important part)

I CAN CUT THEM OFF
Sprint can send as many emails as they want to the address from audiogalaxy... that address is no longer valid, because sneakemail let me kill it.

yes, i'm a paying subscriber, and i've been using it for about 2 years now.

Re:Two points of note

[BWJones]

My bullcrap-meter is pegging. I'd like to know how you can make that claim, especially considering how secretive the companies are about their adult entertainment revenues.

There was a big legal case where a local video store was accused of distributing porn and this was part of the findings. See this link for details.

Re:Telemarketers

[oliphaunt]

Really, this is ON-topic... just not till the last point i guess :-/ This filter suggestion you have:

Beef up your filters and accept it.

is good. Your logic about the marketers needing 30 days is also reasonable. But since this is a board for nerds, I think it warrants something more involved... you want maintain control over your mailing addresses, and whether or not you recieve mail sent to them. The solutions are out there- you just need to take a few minutes to put the pieces together.

I just started using a new account for my main email address, and I'm taking this opportunity to try to break the chain of spam that I developed over 6 or 7 years of using my last address at a .edu domain. What steps am I taking? (note- of course, this is a linux-centric view. If you're using hotmail/outlook/AOL, and you're really concerned about the spam you get, my only suggestion is "find something else.")

1. Set up Procmail. If you're root, it's a little more involved... if you're not root, odds are procmail is already running somewhere on your system. "man procmail", "man .procmailrc", "man procmailex" should be enough to get you going.

2. Use Spamassassin. Once again, if you're the only user on your domain, it's more work because you have to dl/install/configure the SA program. Lucky for me, i don't have root on my mail domain, and my friendly new sysadmin had it running already- so all I had to do was set up a new procmail recipe like this one. In fact, i think i used that one, exactly.

3. Use sneakemail to generate new email addresses for any public post/contact information. Point the sneakemail account you set up to your real address. Don't ever list your actual REAL address ANYWEHRE that a bot can pick it up off the web. Don't give it out to anyone on the phone. Don't use it to send email to anyone at hotmail. Don't list it in the text on your resume or write it out in your .signature. Don't fill it in on warranty registration postecards.

#3 is the really important one- which is why i brought it up in an earlier post in this thread. You probably have another account that is getting a lot of spam right now, which is why you've read this far. So you .forward that address to your new address, where everything that comes in gets run thru procmail and SA just like any new mail. Procmail lets you set up separate delivery folders for mailing lists, so if you use Sneakemail every time you join a new mailing list, or give your address to another company online, you can direct mail coming to that address into its own folder, because sneakemail tags the "From:" headers with information as to which address someone is sending mail to. SO- to take this particular case in point, you make an "audiogalaxy" sneakemail address, and when you get spam from Sprint on the audiogalaxy address, you know that audiogalaxy sold you out. So you call them up, complain, AND THEN YOU LOG INTO SNEAKEMAIL AND TURN THEM OFF.