4 ms·

Let's not forget about the cases where the "unsubscribe" link is really just confirming that a person is receiving the emails so that more can be sent!

• lutusp 13y ago
  No, it's better than that. An advertiser that remails to someone who clicks "unsubscribe" risks prosecution, but he can share his unsubscribe list with a third party in the advertising business, and he can do it legally. This is a loophole in Can-Spam that no one noticed (and not the only one).
  • eli 13y ago
    Who would want to buy a list of people who unsubscribe? I'm having a hard time imagining a less valuable list of valid email addresses.
    • lutusp 13y ago
      > Who would want to buy a list of people who unsubscribe? A spammer. Before Can-Spam, spammers would always re-use and sell the address of someone who replied to a prior spam mailing, even if the reply was a threat of legal action.
      • eli 13y ago
        If you're a spammer, there are far easier ways to get lists of email addresses of people who are much more likely to buy something. People who take the time to unsubscribe from a mailing list are incredibly unlikely to buy anything from bona fide spam. Sorry, I'm just not seeing it.
        • lutusp 13y ago
          > Sorry, I'm just not seeing it. Before Can-Spam, spammers ranked e-mail addresses read by a human higher than dead addresses (no surprise). The economics of spamming dictate that a mailing list of living humans, however acquired and however unlikely to result in sales, will be spammed again and again, simply as a bet that some fool somewhere will respond as the spammer would like. Now that we have Can-Spam and unsubscribe links must be present, the spammers have changed tactics -- instead of collecting reply addresses known to be read by humans, they collect unsubscribe addresses known to be read by humans. Old wine in new bottles. > are incredibly unlikely to buy anything from bona fide spam. Yes, but let's say that an unsophisticated computer user receives, not a simple spam message, but a carefully designed phishing e-mail that is known to fool .1% of its recipients. For that scenario, e-mail addresses acquired as explained above would make perfectly suitable targets.
          • eli 13y ago
            Well now it sounds like you're talking about not just spamming, but phishing. I can believe that what you're describing has happened before, but it's certainly not endemic. I've never personally seen anything like it.
            • lutusp 13y ago
              > Well now it sounds like you're talking about not just spamming, but phishing. They're interchangeable activities, and both are fueled by a ready supply of e-mail addresses.
    • nnnnni 13y ago
      Someone who wants a list of verified-to-still-be-in-use email addresses.
      • deleted 13y ago
        [deleted]