Some of the spammers we're tracking and why
We've been annoyed by spammers nearly as long as we've been online - and that's more than 20 years. We've been managing our own mail servers since 1994 and have watched with dismay as the percentage of spam to legitimate email went from irritating to annoying to destructive.
We have a long held policy of never, ever doing business with spammers. But that's obviously not enough.
Now that email is on the verge of annihilation, and since there's little we can do to beat back the scourge of the worst of the criminal spam gangs and since the mainstream media we used to write for have run out of either interest or money (they have their own problems these days), we're going to engage in a small battle here against the so-called legitimate companies who seem to think it's ok for them to hurry email into the grave.
Here's a short list of some of those spammers you'll be able to read and hear more about and from in future posts:
Delta Hotel Montreal
Authorhouse.com and writer Connie Countie
Geeknet.ca and Tri-Star Mercedes (Tri Star Fine Cars) of Saint John, New Brunswick
CCH Canadian Ltd., a Wolters Kluwer business
MyLife.com / Reunion.com (I'm not sure if they should be included in this list of so-called legitimate companies because a quick browse of the 'Net for them and the word spam turns up a litany of horror stories such as this one: http://techpaul.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/just-say-no-to-mylifecom/
Admittedly, that's just the tip of the iceberg. And who knows if it will do any good. But enough, already. Especially since they're now starting to spam cellphones, shoving the cost of their advertising onto our phone bills. If that's not a crime in this country, it should be.
- G
