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Serving the Internet Community since: October 2001
Today's date: September 2, 2010

Email Marketing Truth

Bulk Lists and the 'Zombie Computer'

'Bulk Lists' are probably the worst kinds of lists because they were 'harvested' using automated software programs that scourer Web Pages for email addresses. There have been many efforts to combat 'email harvesting' by encoding email addresses a certain way or to simply use an HTML Submission form that hides the recipients email address altogether. Unfortunately, many people freely place their email addresses in 'Talk Forums' and on their Personal Web Pages. Spammers then collect 'harvested bulk lists' which are nothing more than a list of email addresses, some working, some not. These 'bulk lists' are then used as the fuel for spam which is delivered by using 'zombie computers'.

A 'zombie computer' is one where a hacker has secretly placed mal/spyware (a virus) on an average everyday user home computer. (Typically users running Microsoft Windows) Since, many operating systems lack sufficient security, anyone with a computer connected to the internet could potentially be infected and turned into a computer that the spammers can control under the noses of the computer owner. According to some estimates, 50-75% of all the spam sent out into the World Wide Web is sent using 'zombie computers'.

We recommend installing mal/spyware detection and removal software, anti-virus software and ensure your computer's firewall is On. This will help prevent your own machine from becoming a 'zombie computer'. Keep in mind that it is a never ending 'arms race' between the hackers that support spammers, Operating Systems (DeskTops) and anti-virus software makers. I would like to suggest Comodo.com as they provide 100% free anti-virus, malware and advanced Firewall software! There is also the popular LavaSoft Spyware remove tool that has a free and paid version.

To take it a step further, we recommend running a Linux Desktop such as Ubuntu (ubuntu.com) or PCLinuxOS (pclinuxos.com). Linux is an alternative to Microsoft Windows and Apple OS X Operating Systems. Linux is arguabley the most secure Operating System in the world.

To learn more about Linux Desktops, you can read our blog/article entry entitled, 'The Peoples Desktop', by clicking here.

However, the #1 thing we can all do is never open email attachments or run any programs you download from the internet, unless you are certain it is safe to do so. Sometimes, it is hard to tell but that is what the mal/spyware software is useful for. It helps detect these viruses and quarantins them before they can 'burrow' into your hard drive and turn your own machine into a spammer controlled mail server!

Mailing Lists

This is a 'touchy' subject as it has political implications. 'Mailing Lists' are currently legal and protected under the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. These types of lists are even more massive than 'Bulk Lists' because large corporations collect email addresses, typically after a product/service purchase is made on the internet. Or, by running a raffle, lottery or 'entering to win your free...whatever'.

We have all seen the check boxes that state, 'Do you wish to receive notifications about products our company may offer in the future?'. Or something similar to that. Sometimes the checkbox is checked for you and you must uncheck it before clicking OK. This makes it very easy for people to simply not see or not completely read what they just agreed to! Yes, most of us are in a hurry and do not have the time to read everything on these Web Pages. Especially those that are cluttered with ADs and loads of small print, often with the font set to a color in order to make it difficult to spot.

After your email address (knowingly or not) gets on one of these large corporate 'mailing lists', you are subject to your email address being sold off, often to other large corporations participating in a sharing of customer 'mailing lists'. Yet, more dangerous is the selling of small 'portions' of the huge mailing lists to anyone willing to buy them.

This then begs the questions, "How does anyone know if the people that are buying these email addresses are not spammers themselves or just advertisers not knowing the difference between self control and over mailing? Also, what if they buy a portion of a list only to then turn around and sell them off themselves?" As a result, that purchase you made a week earlier, could turn into your email address being transfered or sold to anyone that wants to buy it!

An example of telemarketing (telephone) based spam, we have all seen those brand new cars in the middle of a busy shopping mall. Passer bys are presented with a simple 'sign up to win this car' form which, collects your name, address and telephone number via a drop box. Within a few days you are called, via telephone, by up to 5 different companies trying to persuade you to buy into completely unrelated products/services as compared to that car you entered to win! If you submitted your home mailing address, you will receive untold amounts of 'postal snail mail'! Email addresses are obtained, sold and transfer in much the same fashion, only this time using the internet and email as the communication medium. (So, in a way we can all be wary of receiving spam on 3 different mediums. Telephone, Home Mailing Address and Email Address.)

To give credit where credit is due, these corporations are following Federal Laws, in particular the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003. This 'Act' states that if you click on the remove me link in the email ad the corporation has no more than 30 days to completely flush your email address from their mailing list system. The reason the CAN-SPAM Act allows a full 30 days to let them process the removal request is because by then your email address may have probagated to several dozens of other mailing lists and so the combined corporations need to update their unsubscribe lists, collectively.

Remember, that telephone number you could call that would add your telephone number to the 'do not telemarket me' list? In other words, if you do not voluntarily spend your time and add yourself to these unsubscribe lists, you will continue to be advertised/spammed! It's big business as you can now imagine!

There have been recent debates in Congress to re-evaluate the 2003 CAN-SPAM Act. This has drawn a lot of lobbyists to contest such reform for obvious reasons of potential profit loss, if the CAN-SPAM Act was made to be more restrictive.

What makes SafeLists Safe, Secure and Go Beyond Current Laws?

First off, SafeLists protect member privacy, including email addresses, from all other members. Members' will receive email from others on the SafeList, but are assured that member information, including email addresses, can not be 'obtained' by any SafeList member, or any other entity for that matter. More importantly, our Safelists operate soley on Double-Optin based mechanisms.

We have personally consulted with the organization known as SpamHaus (spamhaus.org based in the U.K.). In fact, we agree with the U.K.s DOUBLE-OPTIN approach to the spam problem. The U.K. believes the U.S. to be lagging behind in the fight against spam. After all, it was the british comedy show, Monty Python, that first coined to term 'spam' as relating to unsolicited email ads!

All of this is detailed on our home page. We encourage you to read it. Not about Monty Python, but about how Planet X Mail operates. :-)

To conclude...

We do not condon nor point fingers at any company, because it is really hard to tell which companies sell their mailing lists and which ones use them legitimately. Example: If I buy a computer from Dell and I subscribe to their notifications/promotions, I expect to ONLY receive emails from Dell and no other company. (Unless I authorize otherwise.) Dell has not shown any such activity. That is why I run Dell computers myself! They are in the business of selling computers. There are some corporations that are in the business of trading and selling your email addresses and other personal information.

Regards,

Chairman and OEO - (Only Executive Officer)

P.S. We would like to note that all this information has been gathered by simply reading popular Web Journals, visiting various Web Sites and reading reading reading. It does not take a rocket scientist, ( well maybe a computer scientist ) to put the pieces together to understand the internet landscape. Everyone has the ability, rights and access to research this information using Search Engines like google.com to find out for themselves what the 'climate' is like online and offline. There is no 'undercover' secret way to educate yourself about issues. Love your Internet, and keep it Real, Safe and Neutral!