The opt-out from hell

Steve Riley — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 22:22:03 GMT

One problem with making your email address available (which I will continue to do, don't worry) is that folks with something to sell assume you're interested in their stuff. To wit, let's consider an email I received today (copied, headers and all, after my griping).

Note that if I want to opt out of further communications, I have to do two separate things -- which actually becomes three things.

First I have to click the last link to opt out of future TechTarget spam. (Yes, I deleted the actual links. But certainly none of my trustworthy readers would attempt to re-subscribe me, right...? <g>
But that isn't enough -- I also have to separately opt out of future Avaya spam! (Why does the no-more-from-Avaya link live on a techtargetmail.com server? Whatever.) Clicking on that link eventually does land me on an avaya.com page, where I have to confirm my email address and indicate they don't have my permission to send me spam. Hmm, too difficult to embed my email in that link, when the other techtargetmail.com link did embed my email?
Then after submitting it, another page pops up telling me that I'll soon receive an email with additional instructions! In this email there's a link -- to avaya.com with my email address embedded -- that I must click, I guess to double plus confirm that yes, I really really really do wish never to hear from you again. Clicking that link takes me to a page that promises my "permissions have successfully been set. Thank you."

A pox on both your houses, TechTarget and Avaya. I never asked for your stuff. Go away.

Spam, my friends, is only going to get worse. It was so easy to ban junk faxes in 1991. But even those regulations were weakened in 2005. So do you really think we'll see anything even remotely logical for outlawing spam? I doubt it, unless we the citizens foment a revolt. Let's get cracking!

Received: from SVC-EXGWY-E801.partners.extranet.microsoft.com (10.251.24.242)
by tk5-exhub-c102.redmond.corp.microsoft.com (157.54.18.53) with Microsoft
SMTP Server (TLS) id 8.1.291.1; Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:27:56 -0700
Received: from mail139-wa4-R.bigfish.com (216.32.181.113) by
mail04.microsoft.com (10.253.160.184) with Microsoft SMTP Server (TLS) id
8.1.291.1; Tue, 16 Sep 2008 11:27:55 -0700
Received: from mail139-wa4 (localhost.localdomain [127.0.0.1])    by
mail139-wa4-R.bigfish.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 018C11184C2    for
<steriley@microsoft.com>; Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:27:50 +0000 (UTC)
X-BigFish: ps16(zz18c1K1936K2b7wcak69jzzzz2af1jz2fh6bh5eh65h)
X-Spam-TCS-SCL: 4:0
Received: by mail139-wa4 (MessageSwitch) id 1221589667478982_28100; Tue, 16
Sep 2008 18:27:47 +0000 (UCT)
Received: from pp.techtargetmail.com (pp.techtargetmail.com [65.211.80.227])
    by mail139-wa4.bigfish.com (Postfix) with SMTP id 46566978071    for
<steriley@microsoft.com>; Tue, 16 Sep 2008 18:27:47 +0000 (UTC)
DomainKey-Signature: a=rsa-sha1; q=dns; c=nofws; s=s1024; d=pp.techtargetmail.com; b=iOmibOrM91/1Ugy2gj3QbWo74T2m3GuhmwxZCXJQpFT+nwRES8QKg+4vjt48SNp7WWJExG61Ge+DtnKD3KVI3KwqTKzkPRVrEBF0DCHhYot6VAG/EyEr5vb5RhBz+91yvNhbIqITzGnuQ+uBDJzyc6gU0FHfBl0Fa3S/phcPELM=;
Message-ID: <a818b044.724694.236c8ee748f7dd97.1.n.4.2971370188@pp.techtargetmail.com>
Date: Tue, 16 Sep 2008 14:27:47 -0400
thread-index: a818b044.724694.236c8ee748f7dd97.1.n.4
Reply-To: Avaya <a818b044.724694.236c8ee748f7dd97.1.n.4@pp.techtargetmail.com>
From: Avaya <Avaya@pp.techtargetmail.com>
To: Steve Riley <steriley@microsoft.com>
Subject: 7 Tips to Ensure Readiness for UC Deployment
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit
Content-Class: urn:content-classes:message
Importance: normal
Priority: normal
X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.3790.4133
Return-Path: a818b044.724694.236c8ee748f7dd97.1.n.4@pp.techtargetmail.com
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-PRD: pp.techtargetmail.com
Received-SPF: Pass (SVC-EXGWY-E801.partners.extranet.microsoft.com: domain
of Avaya@pp.techtargetmail.com designates 65.211.80.227 as permitted sender)
receiver=SVC-EXGWY-E801.partners.extranet.microsoft.com;
client-ip=65.211.80.227; helo=mail139-wa4-R.bigfish.com;
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-PCL: 2
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-Antispam-Report: DV:3.3.6916.600;SV:3.3.6916.813;SID:SenderIDStatus Pass;OrigIP:65.211.80.227
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-SCL: 2
X-MS-Exchange-Organization-SenderIdResult: PASS

The following message was sent to you as a subscriber to third party offers from a TechTarget property, including our network of Search sites, Bitpipe.com, CIO Decisions Magazine, Information Security Magazine, Storage Magazine, KnowledgeStorm, TheServerSide.com and/or TheServerSide.NET. To unsubscribe, see below.
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When implementing unified communications, there are a number of important issues to think about and questions to ask. This E-Guide analyzes seven phases to ensure you reap the full benefits of UC in each. If you're ready to take the plunge but you're not sure your business or your infrastructure is - download this E-Guide now.

Click here to learn more: http://pp.techtargetmail.com/c.asp?724694&236c8ee748f7dd97&1

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My blog is not a forum for advertisements

Steve Riley — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 08:17:00 GMT

It's bad enough that the blasted spammers pollute the value of blogs and open forums by hijacking them with their nefarious comments for questionable pharmaceuticals claiming to extend particular body parts. I have recently received, only via private email so far, exhortations to explore mostly unknown security products claiming to magically eliminate a variety of security pains. (OK, I'm exaggerating. I doubt magic is involved.)

I've continued to endure the spam and have kept my comments open and unmoderated indefinitely. Fortunately, Telligent is putting some additional anti-spam measures in place. But folks, please don't use my blog to sell me or anyone else any products, ok? That's what your own web sites are for. :)

Cluelessness abounds

Steve Riley — Wed, 14 Sep 2005 19:08:00 GMT

So yesterday I received a rather interesting email. Subject: "INFOSEC Scholarships & Fellowships for PhD or MS + Free CISSP Exam Prep Events." Hm, I didn't know that "information security" suddenly became an all-caps acronym. How come no one asks me first about these things? Anyway, it purports to come from the University of Fairfax, who seems to be outsourcing their spam to IQMailer.net. I suppose if you're gonna set up an outsourcing business, spam is as good as anything. There's no paperclip icon next to the message, so I open it. Sure enough, it's an ad enticing me to "advance my INFOSEC career to the next level" (the next time I hear "to the next level" I'm gonna throttle whoever says it) because "the federal information security budget will grow to $20B+ by 2008, will your INFOSEC career grow as fast?" I'm so happy that the University of Fairfax and Aladdin Knowledge Systems care so much about me! I'm honored! Yeah right.

Here's the clueless, somewhat frightening, and hugely ironic part. This message -- sent to me because I'm a subscriber at SearchSecurity.com, advertising a way to learn more about security through courses and exam prep, had an ActiveX control attached! You'd think that people teaching security would know better, and you'd also think that SearchSecurity.com would know better too and at least make sure the email abides by standard security practices. I guess not. Shame on you SearchSecurity.com, and shame on you University of Fairfax. You're doing exactly the wrong things to appeal to your intended audience.

Steve Riley on Security : advertising

The opt-out from hell

My blog is not a forum for advertisements

Cluelessness abounds