We all receive varying (and maddening!) amounts of advertising in our email boxes every day. Surveys suggest that some people act on this advertising, buying (or at least trying to) some of the products and services being offered. In this rant I will attempt to dissuade you from doing so...
Below is the result of your feedback form. It was submitted by XxStRoKeRGuRLze@msn.com (XxStRoKeRGuRLze@msn.com) on Tuesday, December 3, 2002 at 11:16:17 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
You have recently responded to one of our affiliate companies about improving your economic opportunities. If you wish not to receive future emails, please reply with unsubscribe in subject line.
========================================================= This is not spam. You are receiving this because you signed up at one of my websites, or submitted to my FFAs or Classified Boards. Easy unsubscribe instructions are at the end. ===================================================
My email address isn't XxStRoKeRGuRLze@msn.com, so obviously I didn't submit the feedback form. I've never asked anyone's affiliate companies about improving my economic opportunities, never signed up at the advertiser's website. I have no idea what a "FFA" or "Classified Board" is, I'm pretty confident I've never submitted to one! And I've never opted-in for email advertising.Your email address was obtained from an opt-in list. If you wish to be deleted from this list, please click on the following link: http://www.digitalcraftsmanship.com/remove/remove.html and you will be removed from the list. If you have previously dealt with this matter and are still receiving this message, you may call our Abuse Control Center at 1-866-667-5398
I'm sure everyone reading this has received advertisements with similar disclaimers. Think about it: Have you opted-in to an advertising list? Have you responded to someone's affiliate company? Are you XxStRoKeRGuRLze@msn.com?
It's pretty obvious: these tag lines are lies. They have been written in the hopes you'll believe them, won't report them as spammers, won't get their accounts closed.
Received: from hotmail.com ([200.28.6.235]) by imf05bis.bellsouth.net
(InterMail vM.5.01.04.19 201-253-122-122-119-20020516) with SMTP
id <20021125212749.QZVE5687.imf05bis.bellsouth.net@hotmail.com>;
Mon, 25 Nov 2002 16:27:49 -0500
Uh-oh. 200.28.6.235 is NOT a Hotmail computer. It belongs to an Internet company called "Terra" in CL - Colombia. The "hotmail.com" part was forged. Why?nslookup 200.28.6.235 Server: sun00bna.bna.bellsouth.net Address: 205.152.150.254 Name: 235-6-28.dial.terra.cl Address: 200.28.6.235
Actually this is Hotmail's usage agreement - not Terra's - but most Internet companies have similar terms. (Terra's terms would be in Spanish...) At the very least, the Terra user's account would be promptly closed when they learn of its use for advertising. The sender hoped to deflect complaints to Hotmail.NO SPAM; DAMAGES Microsoft may immediately terminate any account which it determines, in its sole discretion, is transmitting or is otherwise connected with any 'spam' or other unsolicited bulk email. In addition, because damages are often difficult to quantify, if actual damages cannot be reasonably calculated then you agree to pay Microsoft liquidated damages of five dollars (US$5.00) for each piece of 'spam' or unsolicited bulk email transmitted from or otherwise connected with your account. Otherwise you agree to pay Microsoft's actual damages, to the extent such actual damages can be reasonably calculated. You agree that Microsoft may charge such damages to your selected Payment Method, as set forth in the Microsoft Billing section, below.
Not really.
How about this one:
Subject: R-a-t-e-sare down again
Date: Mon, 25 Nov 2002 14:00:30 -0300
MiME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: multipart/mixed;
boundary="----=_NextPart_000_00E0_13C56D2D.A6488B85"
X-Priority: 3 (Normal)
X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.50.4522.1200
Importance: Normal
X-UIDL: PeIHNtHkIfdjngE
Status: RO
Content-Length: 48117
Lines: 792
------=_NextPart_000_00E0_13C56D2D.A6488B85
Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64
WW91J3ZlIGdvdCB0byByZWFkIHRoaXMgb25lDQo8aHRtbD4NCg0KPGhlYWQ+
DQo8YmFzZT4NCjx0aXRsZT5DcmVkaXQgSXNzdWVzPC90aXRsZT4NCjxtZXRh
IGh0dHAtZXF1aXY9IkNvbnRlbnQtTGFuZ3VhZ2UiIGNvbnRlbnQ9ImVuLXVz
Ij4NCjxtZXRhIGNvbnRlbnQ9Ik1pY3Jvc29mdCBGcm9udFBhZ2UgNC4wIiBu
.... {ad nauseum}
Email can only transmit printable characters - letters, numbers, punctuation marks. Pictures, sound, and computer programs cannot be transmitted. But if you try to email a picture to your mother, it works - she will receive the picture. How? The picture is "base-64 encoded", converting the unsendable picture data to a string of letters and numbers that can be emailed. The resulting string will be gibberish to a human, but will make perfect sense to the computer at the other end, which will convert it back to a picture.
The text of an email message, however, is already letters and numbers. There is no need to "base-64 encode" it. Why would you?
To evade email filters. Filters work by searching for particular words/phrases in message text. "sexxxy", "to be removed", "this is not spam", "no risk", any of these phrases may be considered evidence a message should be deleted. Base-64 encode "to be removed", and it might become "ZWFkIHRoaXMgb". Voila: it gets past the filters.
(note also the unusual punctuation of "R-a-t-e-sare", presumably attempting to avoid filters that activate on "Rates are"...)
The sender of this message has gone out of his way to foil those who have decided they don't want to receive his message. Dishonesty again.
, attached to the end ofIf you have any questions of the legality of this program, contact the Office of Associate Director for Marketing Practices, Federal Trade Commission, Bureau of Consumer Protection, Washington, D.C.
Quoting Federal Trade Commission official Eileen Harrington on the FTC website:===== Order all 5 reports shown on the list below ===== For each report, send $5 CASH, THE NAME & NUMBER OF THE REPORT YOU ARE ORDERING and YOUR E-MAIL ADDRESS to the person whose name appears ON THAT LIST next to the report. MAKE SURE YOUR RETURN ADDRESS IS ON YOUR ENVELOPE TOP LEFT CORNER in case of any mail problems.
Now, if it isn't Ms. Harrington's job to approve these letters, whose job is it? That would be the Postal Inspection Service. They're a lot more terse, but they're saying essentially the same thing:... Q: This chain letter says to contact the Associate Director for Marketing Practices at the FTC. Is this part of your job - to approve chain letters and chain emails? A: No, that's not my job. I manage a division of the FTC's Bureau of Consumer Protection that works to protect consumers from businesses and individuals that defraud consumers. My job is to stop and sue them and to alert consumers to the illegality of these fraudulent activities. Starting and sending chain letters are fraudulent activities. The senders of this particular email probably did a lot of potential victims a favor by referring them to me. Most of the calls went to the FTC's Consumer Response Center. I've probably taken four or five calls a week on this for the past few years. It's good to be able to set people straight rather than have them go on in ignorance. Q: Is it legal to start or forward an email chain letter like this one that promises extravagant earnings? A: It is illegal to start or forward an email chain letter that promises any kind of return, let alone an extravagant one. Q: If I forward a chain email that promises something in return, what could happen to me? A: If you start or send a chain email you could be prosecuted for mail fraud. That's a serious offense. You could receive a fine and actual jail time, depending on the seriousness of your violation. ...
(I find these disclaimers particularly amusing when some of the participants in the chain are outside the USA. As if the U.S. FTC has any authority to pass judgement on the sending of chain letters by Canadians. Incidentially, chain letters are illegal in Canada too...)Do not be fooled if the chain letter is used to sell inexpensive reports on credit, mail order sales, mailing lists, or other topics. The primary purpose is to take your money, not to sell information. "Selling" a product does not ensure legality. Be doubly suspicious if there's a claim that the U.S. Postal Service or U.S. Postal Inspection Service has declared the letter legal. This is said only to mislead you. Neither the Postal Service nor Postal Inspectors give prior approval to any chain letter. Participating in a chain letter is a losing proposition. Turn over any chain letter you receive that asks for money or other items of value to your local postmaster or nearest Postal Inspector. Write on the mailing envelope of the letter or in a separate transmittal letter, "I received this in the mail and believe it may be illegal."