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DMA to Control Spam by DMA Members
Posted by
michael
on Fri Jan 25, 2002 03:52 PM
from the baby-steps dept.
from the baby-steps dept.
SiliconLawyer writes: "The Direct Marketing Association, the major U.S. tradegroup for companies using direct marketing techniques, will reportedly issue guidelines for how its members may and may not use e-mail as a marketing tool. Hopefully, this will influence other marketers toward more responsible use of e-mail. Details are on CNET here."
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DMA to Control Spam by DMA Members
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Ya right (Score:4, Funny)
Har de har har.
DMA not really the problem... (Score:3, Redundant)
Re:DMA not really the problem... (Score:5, Interesting)
Several years ago, when Canter & Segal (the "green card lawyers" who broke the ice for spammers) were abusing the internet, the DMA announced that they would be creating a "global opt out list". Supposedly, you'd add your address to the list, and no DMA member would ever spam you.
Except it didn't work. Many people at news.admin.net-abuse.email decided to test this list. They created virgin e-mail accounts and submitted the addresses to the DMA opt-out list. Within hours, the accounts were spammed. Since the addresses were never used anywhere other than the DMA list, it became obvious that either the DMA was spamming from that list, or they were making it available to spammers.
If they think I'm going to trust them this time around, they're crazy.
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
oh..kay (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Yeah Right (Score:5, Informative)
DMA members aren't the real problem... (Score:3, Interesting)
DMA member Amazon.com said such rules are already in practice at the online retailer. Amazon spokeswoman Patty Smith said the company gives customers a myriad of choices related to receiving company communications.
"It sounds like we currently comply with all these rules already," she said.
Generally speaking, I bet most DMA members already have an acceptable spam policy - that, or a policy that needs only minor tweaking to make it policy-compliant.
Marketing People: Spam Works (Score:5, Interesting)
I used the simple expedient of repeating the reasons against spam over and over again until they began to sink in. I even threatened legal action... ie: I told them that people were starting to successfully prosecute spammers for big money.
Even than, I had to answer the question... "Why would this be illegal? I get this kind of thing all the time."
The sad thing was, until I finally convinced the executive VP to bring the hammer down on the project, I was forced to compose graphical HTML-ized spam emails. Thank god they never saw the light of day.
Re:Marketing People: Spam Works (Score:5, Informative)
>
> I hope you were at least considering putting some obvious, easily-recognized string in, say, subject, so that most people's existing filters would trash the SPAM immediately.
You mean like <HTML>? ;-)
Actually, I think I know what happened to the bimbo in question. Or a clone of her, by the name of Laura "Boy, am I ever gonna have to eat some" Crow. She works at Earthpink. I got a pile of spam from her this morning.
I know it's from Laura, because her spam has her name in the comments as the document's creator, and I know Laura's somewhat bimbo-like because the spam had a bunch of IMG SRC tags pointing to "D:\11 12 01 Laura Crow\New Emails\CidcoEmail_FINALJAN_020121_files\t(1).gif"
Way to go, Laura Crow! Ur 733t HTML h4x0ring sk1llz r so 733t, u h0t b@b3!
A little Googling has revealed that I'm not the only one getting Laura's spam [google.com].
1) Spammers lie.
2) If you think a spammer's telling the truth, see Rule #1.
3) Spammers are stupid.
Rule #3 in action again.
But if you want a glimpse at the future the DMA proposes for "opt-out", look for the opt-out link in Laura's spam:
It's a Mailto: tag to "mailto:opt-out@earthlink.net?subject=Opt-out_Cidc o012202"
It doesn't opt you out of all Earthpink-generated spam. Only Laura's Cidco spam. When Earthpink wants to spam you again for another company, or even when Earthpink wants to send the next Cidco spam (hopefully coded by someone who knows how to make web bugs work, unlike our dear Laura) it'll be a different list, and a different Subject: in the opt-out request.
Doesn't that make you feel all pink and squishy inside?
Won't work! (Score:3, Insightful)
Second, who trusts the removal links?
Third, what prevents me from grabbing the removal database and using as a verified sucker database?
What would work is that DMA provides an email service that allows a member to submit a list and email to send to them, then they will test the address and if it is ok, then send it.
Spam control (Score:4, Funny)
1. Next time you get a "501 compliant spam" that starts off with something like "This is not unsolicited bulk e-mail. Buy me.", flood their server with messages stating "This is not a denial of service attack."
2. The following poem seems to work well:
I got your mail and wrote you back
just so that you'd have no doubt
that if you spam me ever again
your router shall cease to route
Preview of the guidelines... (Score:5, Funny)
I can just see those guidelines now:
It is funny... (Score:3, Funny)
What do you think that means?
Bad News. (Score:3, Informative)
... the trouble is, in this case, the private solution will be pitifull; it is, after all, being proposed by a group which claims that their right to call me during dinner time to sell me a time share vacation EVERY NIGHT FOR ABOUT A MONTH is protected by the first ammendment...
Spam can be amusing... (Score:4, Funny)
Why was this story posted? (Score:4, Interesting)
Who is SiliconLawyer anyway? Well, well, well, wouldn't you know, he's selling something on his website.
They don't really care about the spam problem (Score:4, Insightful)
So one of the ingenious ways they have of preventing spam is by posting a list of addresses on their website... anyone else see a problem with that? It is obvious to me that they don't really care about the spam problem, they just want to look like they are self-regulating so that congress doesn't interfere with their marketing plans.
Here's a good way to block lots of SPAM (Score:5, Informative)
FEATURE(dnsbl,`bl.spamcop.net')dnl
then run
m4
Works for me...doesn't block it all, but it seems to help a great deal.
Not the trouble makers (Score:4, Insightful)
Hell, I LOVE Amazon.com "spam" (Score:3, Funny)
They only send me stuff I would want to see, I get it no more than maybe 1-2 times a week, and it often includes a $5 off coupon or something.
Most of my bad spam is for absolute random crap or porn, with the same old line on the bottom informing me that the reason I'm being informed about all these Internet Cum Sluts is because I specificly requested to be spamed on their site or one of their partner's sites.
Plus, the latest thing is dating the message 3-4 days back, so you have to scroll back on your inbox to read/erase the spam. It stops the instant deletes by hiding it.
So what (Score:3, Insightful)
So what? Now Amazon and others will be able to send us email and claim they are within the guidelines set forth by the DMA. These guidelines are nothing more than a mechanism to allow them to legitimize their spamming operations.
Here's an idea (Score:5, Insightful)
OK, it's just an spur of the moment thought, so take it easy on me.
This is not enough anyway... (Score:4, Insightful)
- Until I ask to be added -- don't contact me.
- When I ask -- presume it was not me and e-mail me a confirmation request.
- Only, when such a request comes back affirmative can you add me.
DMA, which wants to spam you [mail-abuse.org], does not need to invent its own guidelines. They are already there [mail-abuse.org] -- by people, who know more about the Internet and e-mail, than, perhaps, the entire DMA put together...RFC3098 - How to Advertise Responsibly (Score:3, Informative)
This might be of interest:
RFC-3098 How to Advertise Responsibly Using E-Mail and Newsgroup [rfc-editor.org]