Personal Website of Yakov Shafranovich

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The “big guys” send spam too

Among the tons of spam that I usually receive, two particular pieces have caught my attention. One was an advertisement for some photo-mosaic thingy BUT it was sent to an email address at my domain that has only been used for one single company - Godiva Chocolate. Now their privacy policy OBVIOUSLY states that they WILL NEVER sell your information. Well guess what - they LIED!!!!! And to rub it in, they are even certified by the BBB. I have emailed them but so far - no response. If my second email does not get a response, it is time to go to the BBB and the FTC (yes, privacy policies can be enforced by the FTC).

Going to exhibit #2, is an email that was received today actually on behalf of Gartner, Inc. and sent by Exact Target, LLC of Indiana. OF COURSE they have a no-spam policy and a privacy policy TOO. Well guess what - the email address they emailed to, was the one used for my cell phone which I NEVER share with anyone since it sends messages DIRECTLY to my phone. Now suprise, suprise - so much for “opt-in” and “anti-spam policies”.

To make things more interesting, they are based in Connecticut and the company that actually sent the email in Indiana. BOTH states have anti-spam laws (see SpamLaws.com). The Indiana one required “ADV” and an unsubscribe link BOTH of which were absent. So I FAXED them a letter with the original spam message (all 16 pages of it. he he), and we’ll see what happens.

The lesson of this is that even the big guys endulge in spam no matter how they may scream that they don’t. Perhaps the consent framework or a Federal Law is the only thing that can stop them…

For interested parties, I saved copies of both spam emails, contact me if you want to see them

Tags: spam —

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