Some "Remove me links" really work

Referencing: Delving Into The Land Of Spam Removals

Techdirt reports that at least some spammers really will remove your name from their lists if you tell them to. Of course that's useless information along the order of "some lions won't maul you if you poke your finger in their eye". Most spammers probably use any "Remove me" replies as a way to build lists they can sell to someone else or use for some other campaign - sure, we won't send you any more fake Rolex ads, but we've got a live one to add to the *redacted* list!

Brian McWilliams (author of Spam Kings) reports in Salon how he infiltrated that particular Rolex spamming outfit. You'll need to suffer through a brief ad to read the article, but it's worth the pain. As he explains, the "Remove" lists get published for affiliate spammers to view, supposedly to scrub their lists. Maybe some do that, but considering that any spammer is plainly lacking any trace of empathy for their fellow man, how likely is it that those lists wouldn't be misused?

Psst: wanna buy a watch?

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© 2012-06-17 Tony Lawrence

"As he explains, the 'Remove' lists get published for affiliate spammers to view, supposedly to scrub their lists."

And, of course, spam laws have had a positive effect.

--BigDumbDinosaur



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Some "Remove me" links really work Copyright © December 2004 Tony Lawrence

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