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Politech is the oldest Internet resource devoted to politics and technology. Launched in 1994 by Declan McCullagh, the mailing list has chronicled the growing intersection of culture, technology, politics, and law. Since 2000, so has the Politech web site.
Remember we had a related problem with MailWiper, which I recall was spamming ads, not just displaying them on its website (big difference): http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=mailwiper And SpamArrest: http://www.politechbot.com/cgi-bin/politech.cgi?name=spamarrest In the range of good-to-bad online behavior, Mail-block.com's ads are hardly noxious. They're just tacky. Couple that with poor integration with an email client that doesn't whitelist folks in your outbox, and you get this result. Mail-block.com appears to be run by DirectPop.net. I invite them to reply. Also it would be helpful if they could explain why there is no privacy policy or terms of service agreement visible on their home page or where prospective customers sign up for an account (https://directpop.net/secureWebMail-Block/signup.cfm). -Declan --- http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=31 Posted by David Carlson 10:04:31 AM Go Ahead, Spam Your Friends Now here's a novel idea: You can eliminate spam in your in-box by spamming everyone else! That's what a product called Mail-Block does for you. "Mail-Block© lets you receive only the e-mail you want to receive and nothing else!" the website boasts. "Mail-Block© intercepts every message coming into your e-mail and processes it based upon your set of preferences; if the e-mail is from someone your Mail-Block© doesn't recognize, it immediately sends back a verification e-mail." Isn't that just the horse's behind? And it only costs $29.95 a year! I found this "product" because, the other day, a complete stranger sent me a message asking a quick question. My reply generated a spam from Mail-Block: "This letter is being sent to you because you have used our Mail-Block System. You sent a message to (name removed to protect the guilty), who is currently using this system, and now you can see the power of using the Mail-Block Technology. To complete the delivery of your e-mail, please click on the link below." This was followed by four paragraphs of unsolicited commercial message attempting to sell Mail-Block and Internet access to go with it. Guess what: The stranger never got her answer. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/ Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/ Like Politech? Make a donation here: http://www.politechbot.com/donate/ -------------------------------------------------------------------------