The Times: Tech column - Spammers
By David Rowan
IN THE past week, this columnist has been offered three fantastic breakthroughs for removing fat, five chances to help a Nigerian bank manager dispose of $31 million, two unbeatable new home-working opportunities, and the key to increasing sexual potency by 75 per cent... Which is nice. From Internet casinos to Britney and friendsnaked.com, the e-mail in-tray has filled with more than 70 unwanted solicitations. And the barrage is set to grow.
E-mail marketing, from unwelcome "spam" to "permission-based" sales pitches, is enjoying a boom, largely because it works. Compared with direct mail which, even before anthrax, would be lucky to generate a 2 per cent response, e-mail is cheap, quick, and, if correctly targeted, highly effective. DoubleClick, the American advertising firm, claims that 82 per cent of Internet users surveyed have spent money online after receiving an e-mail ad. And if the scatter-gun spam lists can generate profits with tiny response rates, think what the corporate sector can achieve.
The marketer Digital Impact, which last year sent out around two billion messages for the likes of Priceline and Dell, told us it can attract 15 per cent response rates in Britain "by focusing on messages that are relevant to customers". But what if you do not want to receive commercial e-mails? Although you have limited options against the determined spammers (see panel), governments are increasingly keen to regulate the legitimate sector. On Wednesday the European Parliament will announce how much protection consumers will receive from unsolicited e-mails. If the UK Government has its way, the answer will be far less than privacy activists are demanding.
The debate hinges on whether e-mail lists should in law be "opt-in" (to which you have actively asked to receive further mailings) or "opt-out", (you'll get mail unless you have specifically asked not to). Although a European Parliament committee recently found "an overwhelming case in favour of a ban on unsolicited e-mail and other personally addressed messages", the Direct Marketing Association is hopeful that Europe will leave the decision to individual states, and that Britain will continue to back opt-out.
"People always have the option when giving their details to say 'don't send me any more information', and that has to be respected," says Lara Shannon, the association's marketing manager. "Making them opt in won't solve the spam problem and will bring the industry to a standstill."
Small British marketing companies, she says, unable to compete with the unscrupulous US-based spammers, will be be forced out of business.
Consumer protection in Britain is currently limited. If a known UK company is misusing your personal details and refuses to remove you from its list, the DMA recommends contacting the Information Commissioner (formerly the Data Protection Registrar), who can impose fines of £5,000. The DMA is less confident about how to prevent "dodgy outfits in the States" from spamming, beyond reporting the abuse to their Internet service providers (ISPs).
More startling is the projected growth of SMS (Short Message Service) adverts to mobile phones, which are forecast to grow from a £4 million industry last year to £439 million in 2005. So far, Technobabble has been immune to the scourge of unwanted text messages. But when they start arriving, we're thinking of copying Bibliotech, a British company which last year sued an American spammer - and won $1,000. Maybe we can all make money out of junk mail.
HOW TO CAN THE SPAM
Set up a separate account for use in news groups and other public forums.
If spammed, never reply, even to request removal: you will simply confirm that your address is valid and thus increase its market value.
Before giving your e-mail address to a website, think why they need it and read the privacy policy.
Tell the sender's Internet service provider: they will often suspend an account. But a determined spammer will have others.
However frustrated you are, do not spam back: you could be breaking the law.
Try a filtering system such as SpamCop (spamcop.net): it will parse e-mail headers to block trouble-makers and alert administrators of originating websites.
Software such as SpamKiller, MailWasher and Mail Snoop can filter out junk-mail or make it harder to steal your e-mail address from your website. But filtering programs can slow your PC considerably.
Get a lawyer: start with trespass, theft of phone line, breach of privacy . ..
(The Times, November 5 2001)
IN THE past week, this columnist has been offered three fantastic breakthroughs for removing fat, five chances to help a Nigerian bank manager dispose of $31 million, two unbeatable new home-working opportunities, and the key to increasing sexual potency by 75 per cent... Which is nice. From Internet casinos to Britney and friendsnaked.com, the e-mail in-tray has filled with more than 70 unwanted solicitations. And the barrage is set to grow.
E-mail marketing, from unwelcome "spam" to "permission-based" sales pitches, is enjoying a boom, largely because it works. Compared with direct mail which, even before anthrax, would be lucky to generate a 2 per cent response, e-mail is cheap, quick, and, if correctly targeted, highly effective. DoubleClick, the American advertising firm, claims that 82 per cent of Internet users surveyed have spent money online after receiving an e-mail ad. And if the scatter-gun spam lists can generate profits with tiny response rates, think what the corporate sector can achieve.
The marketer Digital Impact, which last year sent out around two billion messages for the likes of Priceline and Dell, told us it can attract 15 per cent response rates in Britain "by focusing on messages that are relevant to customers". But what if you do not want to receive commercial e-mails? Although you have limited options against the determined spammers (see panel), governments are increasingly keen to regulate the legitimate sector. On Wednesday the European Parliament will announce how much protection consumers will receive from unsolicited e-mails. If the UK Government has its way, the answer will be far less than privacy activists are demanding.
The debate hinges on whether e-mail lists should in law be "opt-in" (to which you have actively asked to receive further mailings) or "opt-out", (you'll get mail unless you have specifically asked not to). Although a European Parliament committee recently found "an overwhelming case in favour of a ban on unsolicited e-mail and other personally addressed messages", the Direct Marketing Association is hopeful that Europe will leave the decision to individual states, and that Britain will continue to back opt-out.
"People always have the option when giving their details to say 'don't send me any more information', and that has to be respected," says Lara Shannon, the association's marketing manager. "Making them opt in won't solve the spam problem and will bring the industry to a standstill."
Small British marketing companies, she says, unable to compete with the unscrupulous US-based spammers, will be be forced out of business.
Consumer protection in Britain is currently limited. If a known UK company is misusing your personal details and refuses to remove you from its list, the DMA recommends contacting the Information Commissioner (formerly the Data Protection Registrar), who can impose fines of £5,000. The DMA is less confident about how to prevent "dodgy outfits in the States" from spamming, beyond reporting the abuse to their Internet service providers (ISPs).
More startling is the projected growth of SMS (Short Message Service) adverts to mobile phones, which are forecast to grow from a £4 million industry last year to £439 million in 2005. So far, Technobabble has been immune to the scourge of unwanted text messages. But when they start arriving, we're thinking of copying Bibliotech, a British company which last year sued an American spammer - and won $1,000. Maybe we can all make money out of junk mail.
HOW TO CAN THE SPAM
Set up a separate account for use in news groups and other public forums.
If spammed, never reply, even to request removal: you will simply confirm that your address is valid and thus increase its market value.
Before giving your e-mail address to a website, think why they need it and read the privacy policy.
Tell the sender's Internet service provider: they will often suspend an account. But a determined spammer will have others.
However frustrated you are, do not spam back: you could be breaking the law.
Try a filtering system such as SpamCop (spamcop.net): it will parse e-mail headers to block trouble-makers and alert administrators of originating websites.
Software such as SpamKiller, MailWasher and Mail Snoop can filter out junk-mail or make it harder to steal your e-mail address from your website. But filtering programs can slow your PC considerably.
Get a lawyer: start with trespass, theft of phone line, breach of privacy . ..
(The Times, November 5 2001)
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