Maybe I am preaching to the converted, but I have to get this off my chest. Because it seems that this crime is still being committed with impunity across the Internet.
Only this morning, I received an e-mail from someone who I thought knew better. It was a legitimate marketing mailing, sent to some 100 recipients, advertising a relevant product. Nothing wrong with that.
But how do I know how many recipients there were? Because the e-mail address of every single one of them was there for all to see in the TO: field of the e-mail. Including mine. Why do I have a problem with that? Because I have a problem with receiving spam (let's say I don't take kindly to it) and so I guard my e-mail address jealously, giving it only to those who I think will not misuse it. But now my e-mail address has been freely distributed to a hundred people, many of them unknown to me.
I think it is not unreasonable to fear that in the coming weeks and months I can expect all kinds of unsolicited mail, including chain letters, signups to various sites and probably eventually spam, as my address gradually widens its circulation.
The solution?
Actually, it's not a solution, it's a piece of basic netiquette. If you are writing an e-mail to more than one person, where those people are not known to each other or not part of a team, you MUST use the BCC: field, NOT the TO: field in your e-mail program. You can find out how to do this in your particular e-mail program very easily, so there is absolutely no excuse.
By placing all the recipients' e-mail addresses in the BCC: field, and a dummy address of some kind, or perhaps your own address in the TO: field, you will still be able to send your e-mail to multiple recipients, but they will not be able to see each other's e-mail addresses and in fact will have no idea of the circulation of the e-mail.
E-mail users have a right to privacy, and they certainly have a right to protect their e-mail address from spammers. If you are not using the BCC: field then you are part of the problem.
"A unique, wry and often satirical look at the Internet, the modern age and life in general" (there is way too much search-engine competition for the phrase "incoherent ramblings")
Thursday, November 15, 2007
USE BCC: NOT TO:!!
Comments welcome, nofollow and comment moderation are OFF, but our patented, human-powered spam-detector is most definitely ON, and we can tell that stink a mile off!
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
I heartily agree with this. People seem so careless about it. I never remember to tell people that I do not want group emails. Particularly if they are doing a charity event they seem to think it is OK.
Sigh... I really don't know the solution, only that I have taken to having multiple email addresses and am careful about whom I give which email.
But the unfortunate thing is it is often your friends who are guilty of this crime and you can't just shout at them like you would at a complete stranger (hmm, why is that!!?) and you want them to have your email address obviously!
Post a Comment