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07 Jan 04 - 02:25 AM (#1087665) Subject: BS: 'National Anti Spam Registry'... NOT!!! From: YorkshireYankee I got an e-mail this evening from the "National Anti Spam Registry", telling me if I go register at their website, I can opt out of receiving spam. An appealing idea... but I was suspicious (I'm SO cynical, I know...), did a Google search on the name & found the following article The highlights (for those not interested enough to check it out for themselves) include: "...CAN-SPAM [legislation] calls ... for a "a nationwide marketing Do-Not-E-Mail registry." "...also specifically mentions that the registry is not to be implemented less than 9 months after the enactment of the act. ...October 1, 2004 is the earliest that we could see its "nationwide marketing Do-Not-E-Mail registry." [snip] "The site is filled with misspellings and grammatical errors. Some of what the site claims to do is plainly phony, some of it tempting, but suspicious, and some of it is impenetrable gobbledygook. "But who is behind the National Anti Spam Registry? The only contact information on the page, apart from a few e-mail addresses, is a postal box in Hammond, La. Much more interesting is the Whois information for nationalantispamregistry.com. The address for all the contacts is in Tonawanda, N.Y. ... "On closer inspection, the zip code... [is] not a valid zip code), and there doesn't appear to be a street with that specific name... "Now, it's not illegal to put inaccurate information in Whois records... but it's suspicious from an organization trying to engender trust in the public. [snip] "The real fun begins when you read the site's privacy policy. I suppose it's just a stock privacy policy on which they did a search-and-replace. [big snip of excerpt from the privacy policy] "This doesn't give me a warm fuzzy about registering with the National Anti Spam Registry Corp. It tells me that I will get e-mail from other companies with which I did not register. "Anti Spam Registry" indeed! In addition, I don't take much comfort from the company's assertion that I can opt out later. "So CAN-SPAM is not even up and running and we're already seeing entrepreneurs sleazing off of it." ===== Bottom line -- it's yet another angle on trying to sucker you into "registering" your @ddress with them so they know they've got a live one. Quelle surprise... Cheers, YY |
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07 Jan 04 - 06:53 AM (#1087794) Subject: RE: BS: 'National Anti Spam Registry'... NOT!!! From: John MacKenzie It's a bit like the unsolicited e-mails that give you the option to take your name off their list [sic] The only way they can be sure that their machine generated e-mail has hit a "live" address is when you ask to be taken off. "Ah so he does exist!!" John |
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07 Jan 04 - 10:31 AM (#1087958) Subject: RE: BS: 'National Anti Spam Registry'... NOT!!! From: Rapparee In the United States, the Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act of 2003 (popularily called the "CAN-SPAM" Act) provides that " (a) IN GENERAL- Not later than 6 months after the date of enactment of this Act, the Commission shall transmit to the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation and the House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce a report that-- (1) sets forth a plan and timetable for establishing a nationwide marketing Do-Not-E-Mail registry; (2) includes an explanation of any practical, technical, security, privacy, enforceability, or other concerns that the Commission has regarding such a registry; and (3) includes an explanation of how the registry would be applied with respect to children with e-mail accounts. (b) AUTHORIZATION TO IMPLEMENT- The Commission may establish and implement the plan, but not earlier than 9 months after the date of enactment of this Act." By definition, "The Commission" means the Federal Trade Commission. So, there is NO official do-not-spam registry yet and there won't be for awhile. |
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07 Jan 04 - 02:49 PM (#1088092) Subject: RE: BS: 'National Anti Spam Registry'... NOT!!! From: JohnInKansas I haven't followed the FTC activities too closely on this one, but the "summary" I saw a few days ago implies that about all the "act" will really do is require that anyone who sends advertising has to include "advert" in the subject line, and must include a contact for people to request to be removed from their mailings. Since so much of the crap that comes in seems to be aimed more at getting you to confirm you addy, requiring them to collect your address doesn't seem too productive. - - - or am I missing something here. The No-Spam list is still a "work in progress," and a couple of "usually knowledgeable" commentators don't seem to think it will ever happen (or at least will ever work.) But if you get someone trying to sell it to you now, it's definitely a phony. John |