| « Testing, Testing. Is this Test on? | Main | The Airlines' Other Busy Day » |
I just got another piece of spam Sunday, courtesy of the fine folks at Gratis Internet -- better known to the world as the people who brought the free ipods pyramid scheme to the Internet.
Actually it was not directly from them.
It came from these spammers, who do business as Clear Cool Water and Aim High Solutions.
The funny thing about this email is that it advertises the free ipods site.
Why is that funny?
As you may remember, I signed up with FreeIpods.com to see how the offer worked. I then tried to opt out of their marketing campaign. Gratis Internet's founders Peter Martin and Robert Jewell promised online that they would never sell or share customers' names or email addresses, only that the company would send email on behalf of other companies.
So after I opted out, the emails did not stop. So I contacted TrustE, which certifies Gratis Internet's privacy policy.
TrustE's intrepid Alex Yap took my case on. Many of you are familiar with Mr. Yap's prowess and know that no one is feared more in the spamming community than Senior Compliance Analyst Yap (Elliot Spitzer and Bill Lockyer got nothing on the Yapster, as we like to call him around here.)
Yapster looked into my case and totally made Free Ipods "strengthen and clarify their privacy statement." Damn how that must have hurt.
Now seeing how Yap straightened those guys out, I know he wants to figure out how these other spammers got a hold of Gratis Internet's email list.
Hell, I bet even Robert Jewell wants to know how this other company got his email list, since surely he did not sell it or give it to them in violation of his privacy policy.
But now I have a clue for Yap. See the email advertising the free ipods pyramid scheme sends me to a link that sends me to a link that finally sends me to a link to freeipods.com, but with an affiliate number (P=186) tacked on to the end of the URL. That number makes sure the spammer can get paid from Gratis Internet.
That means, the thief is known to Gratis and Yap can solve this case in two clicks of an optical mouse!
I called Mr. Jewell to let him know I found the thief, but he has yet to return my call. Anyone who wants to help me let him know about the theft can try calling or emailing him (202-595-9123 ext.712. or rob@gratisinternet.com).
I've no doubt Alexander Yap will certainly be on this (if he isn't already!!) and will be sending these spammers to the taxidermist by EOBD.
Posted by Ryan Singel at November 22, 2004 10:40 AM
Trackback PingsTrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.secondaryscreening.net/cgi-bin/mt-tb.cgi/56