Feb
25
Mayor Mike McGinn: Promoting himself to spamtraps
The Mayor of Seattle, Mike McGinn, is mailing out to spamtraps that have been dead for ten years. The ESP is Postini.
Feb
03
Global Exchange: Still Emailing a Years-Dead Email Address
Global Exchange, an international coordination and support organization for mostly left-leaning activists, is sending bulk emails to an email address that was closed in 2003, which appears to be before this organization existed. The ESP is Salsalabs, the ESP side of liberal U.S. political activist group Wired for Change.
Feb
03
American Seniors Association: Wants a Spamtrap to Join
The American Seniors Association (ASA), which describes itself as “the conservative alternative” to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), is sending bulk email advertisements to an email address that never existed. The ASA only started spamming this email address last week. The ESP is Streamsend.
Jan
19
Fight for the Future: Repurposing Contact Email Addresses
Fight for the Future, a newly-formed nonprofit group that opposes the SOPA and PIPA antipiracy legislation currently under consideration in the U.S. Congress and that runs the sopastrike.com web site, is sending bulk email to email addresses that were entered into that web site as contact email addresses in case there was a problem with the user’s blacked-out web site or some other technical issue. The bulk email makes no claim to opt-in, although it offers an opt-out link. The ESP is Blue State Digital.
Jan
13
Rick Santorum: Campaigning to a 9-Years-Gone Email Address
The campaign of Republican Presidential candidate Rick Santorum is sending bulk email to an email address that was closed in 2003, asking for the support of his “fellow conservative”. The email nonetheless indicates that the email address was added to the system on January 10, 2012. The ESP is BlueHornet, a division of Digital River.
Jan
11
SalsaLabs: Inviting More Spamtraps to Webinars :/
SalsaLabs, the ESP side of liberal U.S. political activist group Wired for Change, is sending bulk email to yet more email addresses that were closed years ago, inviting the owners to a Webinar on the tools and techniques for advocacy organizations. Since SalsaLabs is an ESP as well as an organization that provides tools and training to mostly-liberal and leftist advocacy groups, this email was sent by them from their own IPs.
Jan
01
John Waltz: Spamming Spamtraps to Solicit Campaign Contributions
John Waltz, Democratic candidate for U.S. Congress in Michigan’s Sixth Congressional district, is sending bulk email to email addresses that were closed before 2008. Either Mr. Waltz previously ran for office before 2008 and gathered a list of supporters at that time that he has not contacted since then, or his campaign has purchased or otherwise obtained a list of email addresses that did not request bulk email from him. The ESP is Salsalabs, the ESP side of liberal U.S. political activist group Wired for Change.
Dec
15
Americans United: Another Example of Why Subscriptions Should Be Confirmed
Americans United for Separation of Church and State, a U.S.-based advocacy group which campaigns against attempts by religious groups to unduly influence politics and government, has just started sending bulk email updates to an email address that was closed in 2007. This email address was in timeout from 2008 through late 2009 before being turned into a spamtrap. Until today, it has received no email from Americans United. The ESP is MailChimp.