Sep
27

Political Spam Today: Now Obama and Boxer Pile On…

Today’s take: several spamtrap hits from President Barack Obama, with his name front and center in the From header, four spamtrap hits from Senator Barbara Boxer, a few spams from SuperPACs, and a single spam from a peace activist group that only creeps into the category of political spam because it expresses support for a few candidates. If somebody had planned this to remind me that both political campaigns are running less-than-opt-in mailing lists, they could not have done a better job. (The Romney campaign appears to have taken the day off.)

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Sep
27

Ringling Brothers: Glad Tidings for a Spamtrap ;)

The Ringling Brothers, Barnum & Bailey circus Center for Elephant Conservation, and their corporate parent Feld Entertainment, today sent an email advertisement to a spamtrap email address that, if it was ever live, was closed in 2003. The ESP is Yesmail, a subsidiary of Infogroup.

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Sep
26

Political Spam Today: Romney and Warren Pile On….

Today’s spam take: seven spam emails from one presidential campaign, one senatorial campaign, and our old friends the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee (DSCC) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC). The DSCC, DCCC, and MittRomney.com are really pumping it out today. :/ Mailings from the DSCC, DCCC, and ElizabethWarren.com are blocked by SpamCop, a major blocklist. So far MittRomney.com has escaped listing on any widely-used blacklists, but if the spamtrap hits continue at this rate, that won’t last.

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Sep
25

Political Spam Today: Democrats, Republicans, and Libertarians Alike

I admit it. I’ve been hesitant to talk about the flood of political spam that is hitting my spamtraps because there’s so much of it that I don’t know where to start. But the situation is crazy and getting worse by the day. So welcome to the new Political Spam Today report on the MainSleaze blog.

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Sep
25

Louisville Courier-Journal: Hiring an Email Appender? :(

Sometime towards the beginning of summer 2012 the Louisville Courier-Journal, a newspaper serving north-central Kentucky and southern Indiana, began sending email updates to an email address at a domain that was closed over seven years ago. The Courier-Journal’s parent company is U.S. media conglomerate Gannett. Their ESP is ExactTarget.

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Sep
12

O’Reilly Media: We Spam You Because You’re Our Customer?! :(

Computing and technical books publisher O’Reilly Media, an old favorite of mine from whom I recently purchased several books directly, just sent a bulk email advertisement to the tagged email address that I provided them during the purchase. This email address has never been used except for that purpose. The ESP is iPost, a company that I had not heard of previously.

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Sep
12

Nordstrom: More High-End Clothing for a Spamtrap

Seattle-based department store Nordstrom is sending email advertisements to a recently re-enabled email address that closed in 2005. This spamtrap almost certainly never existed at all; the domain never had more than three or four live email addresses. The ESP is Cheetahmail, a subsidiary of Experian.

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Sep
12

Brooks Brothers: Fine Men’s Clothing for a Spamtrap

Brooks Brothers, the iconic U.S.-based high-end men’s clothing store, is sending bulk email advertisements to a recently-reenabled email address that, if it ever belonged to a real person, closed in 2004. The ESP is ExactTarget.

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Aug
30

Keekoo: Dodging a Bullet by Confirming a List

Keekoo, a U.S.-based members-only pregnancy and baby supplies service, today sent over a dozen bulk emails to my spamtraps. Keekoo appears to have bought another company, AllAboutTheBaby.com. Fortunately, Keekoo sent confirmation requests instead of welcome messages to that company’s list: users must respond to the messages to stay on the list. The ESP is IContact, which does not tolerate spam on its network and might well have advised Keekoo to confirm the list.

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Aug
29

Expedia: Offering Wedneday Travel Deals to a Spamtrap

Travel portal Expedia just sent a bulk email to an email address that, if it ever belonged to a real person, closed in 2005. The ESP is ExactTarget.

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