Spam that Appears to Come from Legitimate Companies
Lately I've noticed a disturbing trend in spam. Or maybe I should say a "more disturbing trend". Some of the spams look like they've been sent by legitimate companies. Most of them say that I'm receiving the message because I registered with them or with a partner, but that lie is revealed immediately when I examine the address the message was sent to and determine that it's an address I would never use to register with any site. But are companies such as Sears climbing into bed with spammers or is something else going on?
The spam at the right looks like it came from Sears, but maybe it didn't.
I wasn't sure, so I visited the Sears website and filled out a contact form for the company's public relations department on March 26. On June 19, I had heard nothing, so I made a second request, shown at left.
A few days before my deadline for finishing this report, Sears Responded.
Christian Brathwaite wrote "Bill - based on our information, you opted in to receive email offers via a third party vendor we work with. Our information shows you signed up at elitesurveygroup.com on Feb. 29th. If you would like to opt out from receiving additional communications from any Sears Holdings retail formats, please let us know."
That's interesting. As I told Christian, "I've never heard of elitesurveygroup.com and what I saw on their website didn't give me much confidence. The site appears to be one of the kinds of sites I warn people about. It makes me sad to see a company with the reputation Sears has use this kind of "marketing". So to recap, to the best of my knowledge: 1) I've never heard of the vendor you work with. 2) I have never filled out one of their surveys. 3) The e-mail the message was sent to isn't one I would use for something like this. If you can provide any additional information, I will be willing to review it."
Actually, I was rather kinder than I should have been. The only e-mail address Christian Brathwaite had for me was my techbyter.com address and I am absolutely certain that I have never used that address on any site such as that operated by the Elite Survey Group. The spam I had complained about was sent to one of my "unlisted" addresses. I hadn't mentioned that address in my message to Sears, so Brathwaite assumed that the spam had come to the address he had and attempted to mollify me with a canned response that uses a date far enough in the past that I might have thought that he was telling the truth. Except for the fact that I would never use my TechByter address for anything but communications with readers, listeners, and correspondents in the tech industry.
So was Christian Brathwaite lying to me when he said that I had signed up on February 29? Some might say that he was, and I would be one of them.
Have I heard anything further? No.
My advice: Don't deal with spammers. Unfortunately, that now includes Sears.
A Sour Note from Eharmony
The spam at the left looks like it came from EHarmony, but maybe it didn't.
The sender was micmark.com, an organization that was listed as the 38th most prolific spammer on the date I received the message. (Source: URIBL)
Does EHarmony work with micmark.com or is this just a run-of-the-mill click-fraud operation? Micmark is registered to TopEdgeInteractive.com, which claims to be in Santa Barbara. Micmark redirects to the TopEdgeInteractive website, which has very little information about the company.
On the same day I sent the first message to Sears, March 26, I also visited Eharmony's website and filled out a request form (at right). On June 19, I attempted to reach Eharmony's public relations department by phone, but never succeeded.
So, as with Sears, I can only conclude that spam is condoned as a marketing tool. Again, if someone from Eharmony would care to indicate otherwise, I will be more than happy to place the follow-up information here.
(Silence. More silence.)
Finally, on July 18, 2008 (nearly four months after my initial inquiry), I received the following reply:
Dear eHarmony Friend,
We certainly understand your concerns, and I want to assure you that this e-mail is not affiliated with eHarmony in any way. Anyway mail regarding eHarmony services will come from an "eharmony.com" address. If you wish, please forward a copy of the e-mail you received, and we will investigate the matter and take appropriate action.
Of course, we are happy to address any other concerns you may have, and we wish you the best in your search for the love of your life.
Sincerely,
Ross L.
eHarmony Customer Relations
Medical Spams?
The spam at the right appears to have come from a legitimate organization, but maybe it didn't.
The address the message came from (Cordblood@moneymuddle.com) doesn't give me a great deal of confidence. "Money Muddle"? Yeah. According to the registrar, the domain belongs to TopVirtualInteractive.com, which claims to be located ant an address occupied by a large shopping center in Carlsbad, California.
I don't know if there is any validity to claims made for storing umbilical cord blood, but I do know that those who store it often charge $100 or more per year to store a few milliliters of blood. According to Wikipedia, "Cord blood banking is controversial in the medical and parenting community.... Cord blood is rich in hematopoietic stem cells," but Wikipedia quotes The American Academy of Pediatrics 2007 Policy on cord blood banking: "Physicians should be aware of the unsubstantiated claims of private cord blood banks made to future parents that promise to insure infants or family members against serious illnesses in the future by use of the stem cells contained in cord blood."
Are you willing to trust a spammer with something that's potentially this important? Neither am I.
The message at the left claims to come from some unidentified "tech support" company.
No question, tech support is a good thing, but this message was sent from an address that raises suspicion: DYbdcebdcemhbZA@goodtraps.com. The random letters in the sender's "name" strongly suggest spam. And Good Traps? Could they write "spam" in neon 60-feet tall? URIBL lists GoodTraps.com as the #24 most prolific spammer today and it's owned by TopVirtualInteractive.com, mentioned in the Money Muddle account above.
One More Spam I Didn't Open
Subject: william.blinn's - We can hsip your medicatinos overnight FERE.
From:
Levitar iVagra <wpolk@nist.gov>
It's probably not necessary to say that I'm not too likely to do business with a company that can't spell "ship", "medications", or even "free". It's also probably not necessary to point out that it's unlikely anyone is named "Levitar iVagra". And I'm sure you know that the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) doesn't run a drugstore.
Oh, and then there's that little problem with the apostrophe in my name. Didn't need to mention that, either, did I?
Could You Live without Microsoft?
This is something I think about from time to time because I like the idea of open source software, but so far it's not been possible for me to move from Microsoft to open source. Linux and open source applications largely have failed to catch on because the people who would be most able to use them haven't started using them.
Linux can handle word processing, number processing, Web browsing, and e-mail. These are the most commonly used programs. If these applications are all you need, there's nothing to stop you from moving to Linux and OpenOffice.
I thought it might be interesting to see how well Linux and the open source community would serve my needs, so I'll list the applications I use most often and indicate whether there's an acceptable Linux alternative:
- The Bat: This is my favorite e-mail program and it works only with Windows. I could probably get along without it by using Evolution.
Score: 0 - Firefox: The Mozilla browser is, in my opinion, far better than Microsoft's browser, so the switch wouldn't be a problem. Firefox works with Linux.
Score: +1 - Pidgin: Although I don't use AIM a lot, it does help me keep in touch with some people. I won't use AOL's AIM client and my preference is Pidgin, which is available for Linux.
Score: +1 - Dreamweaver: My websites are designed around Dreamweaver's capabilities and I cannot bear to be without this application. Although there are open-source HTML editors, none does what Dreamweaver does.
Score -1 - Photoshop: I'm still a novice when it comes to Photoshop, but it's the standard for image processing and there's nothing on the Linux side that comes close to matching Photoshop's capabilities. Yes, the GIMP does many of the same functions, but not in a way that I can adopt it. Yet.
Score -1 - InDesign: This is the only page layout program I use these days, although I still have a lot of affection for Ventura Publisher. In any case, both are Windows only. Linux has no acceptable equivalents.
Score -1 - FileZilla: This is my preferred FTP application and fortunately it's available for Linux.
Score +1 - Timeslips: I use Timeslips for time billing. There's nothing that I've found on Linux to take its place.
Score -1 - ThumbsPlus: This is an application I use every week to perform automated tasks I need to prepare TechByter Worldwide. Nothing similar exists for Linux users.
Score -1 - Word: Word has a lot of features that I don't use. OpenOffice Writer also has features that I don't use. I use a word processor for processing words. Writer is more than adequate.
Score +1 - Excel: As with Word, Excel has a lot of features that I don't use. I could probably get along with Calc, even though it doesn't support some of the add-ins I use.
Score +1 - Access: Access is Microsoft's database program. I use it a lot, but I use little of it. Most of what I do could be done in Calc, but the OpenOffice version of a front end for MySQL seems a little weak.
Score 0 - Powerpoint: Yes, OpenOffice has Presentation, but it doesn't have the features I've come to depend on in Powerpoint.
Score -1 - UltraEdit: This is a text editor without rival on the Windows side. Several open-source competitors exist, but I haven't found one that offers what UltraEdit does.
Score -1 - Carbonite: What I like most about Carbonite is that it makes backup so easy. Linux has lots of tools for backup, but nothing this easy.
Score -1 - CorelDraw: I can't imagine a graphics application that's easier to use than CorelDraw and this is an application that's available only for Windows.
Score -1 - Itunes and Winamp: Itunes is for Windows and Mac computers only. You might be able to run one or the other (or both) under WINE. My preference is for Winamp and this is mainly a Windows application.
Score -1 - SnagIt & WinZip: These are two utilities I can't do without. Some screen capture applications exist for Linux and I could probably make do with them. File compression applications exist, too, although not as robust as WinZip. Score 0
The Bottom Line
For me, the bottom line is -5, so I can't really consider Linux as a replacement for Windows. A lot of people could, though. Are you one of those? To find out, set up a test such as this for yourself. If your list contains Windows-only applications that you must use, you are not a candidate for a Microsoft-free existence. But you may be surprised.
Nerdly News
Palm Posts a Loss and is Anyone Surprised?
Palm, the maker of the Treo smart phone posted a loss in its fiscal fourth quarter. Revenue declined sharply and was below Wall Streets expectations. That will make the situation even worse. Who uses Palm devices these days? Sony selected Palm as its platform for the Clié devices. Sony no longer is in that business. The Palm device I owned stopped recognizing stylus input, which made it a high-priced paperweight. I paid $175 to have the problem repaired only to have it recur less than 6 months later. Palm wanted another $175. I bought an HP device that runs a palm-top version of Windows. I suspect that my experience is not unique.
Palm's fiscal year ended May 31 and the company posted a 40-cents-per-share loss compared to a 15-cents-per-share profit for the same quarter a year earlier. By performing some bookkeeping tricks, Palm cut the loss to 22 cents per share, but that didn't make the picture any less bleak: Revenue was down 26% to $296 million. A year ago it was above $401 million.
Wall Street had expected a loss of about 18 cents per share and sales of $301 million. A company that misses speculators' expectations is all but doomed.
Rubbing the RIAA's Nose in its Own ****
You already know that I'm no fan of the Recording Industry Association of America. The RIAA's greed kept it from negotiating reasonable rights payments with the file sharing services. Instead, the RIAA seems to think that physical media (records, CDs, and DVDs) are the only viable way to distribute music and the organization has been filing suit against anyone who dares to suggest otherwise. In some cases, the RIAA has filed suit against dead people and children. Some courts give the RIAA a taste of its own medicine.
In 2005, the RIAA filed a copyright infringement suit against Tanya Andersen. The suit accused her of sharing files illegally on KaZaA. In most cases, the RIAA has picked up $1000 to $2000 when the defendant panics, gives up, and pays. Andersen was different. She fought back. A year ago, the case against her was dismissed "with prejudice" and she was awarded lawyer fees. This makes me chuckle.
Is the recording industry seeking "justice" or is it just a bully? Electronic media watchdog site After Dawn says that the RIAA spent nearly two years getting through the discovery process. When the investigation was complete they actually had a weaker case than when they started, and still they claimed the moral high ground, even going so far as to assert their lack of evidence shouldn't be held against them.
After Dawn has about the same opinion of the RIAA as I do, saying: In fact, there was evidence to suggest that someone other than Tanya Andersen was responsible for the "illegal activity" but the RIAA's crack(ed) legal team didn't bother to follow up on that. As a result, US Magistrate Judge Donald Ashmanskas awarded significant damages to Andersen.
The RIAA's brand of justice seems to involve bringing someone into court, even if that person isn't involved in what the organization considers to be a crime, and intimidating the defendant (aka "victim") into paying up even if no "guilt" can be established.
Judge Ashmanskas says, "In poker terms, defendant didn't call; plaintiffs folded."
After Dawn points out that the RIAA chose to ignore the relevant case law and instead argued that the judge should take a case of trademark violation into account. Judge Ashmanskas shot back: "In that case, the Ninth Circuit addressed the calculation of attorney's fees under the Lanham Act, not the Copyright Act."
So in the next week or two you'll probably hear the RIAA crying about the justice system. The bottom line seems to be this: When the RIAA comes calling, don't give up; you're probably more on the right than they are.
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