BibleBoy's Blog

Thursday, March 20, 2008

Followup: Spokeo Spam

Last night I made a post about Spokeo skimming your information and using it to spam you.

Today after Googling "spokeo spam" I am finding that the majority of the internet is with me in my feeling that this is an absolutely horrible way to start a company. Additionally I am finding one single guy spamming message boards apologizing for him being responsible for spamming a lot of his contacts. I don't understand what's going on here but I think any way you look at it, we need to seriously avoid using the Spokeo service.

I don't understand how a company thinks that spamming random users thinks its a good way to break into an area of the web that is a sector that is under constant attack for unwanted spam and information harvesting. Instead of working on a way to combat this problem, this new start up has embraced the process.

While I will admit that the company certainly is creating a buzz about themselves, is this the buzz that they want? The Facebook application invites was the start of this backlash and that was messages sent only within the facebook system but now this company is taking that annoyance and delivering it directly to your email addresses.

If anyone has an account with Spokeo, I urge you to cancel it now. Firstly because companies who resort to these practices should not be supported but secondly because you may find yourself apologizing to many of your friends for being the reason they received spam from this company.

See also: http://blog.evanweaver.com/articles/2008/03/06/spokeo-spam/
This guy's girlfriend got spammed to her cell phone and it woke her up because her cell phone address was in his address book.

Labels: privacy, social networking, spam, spokeo

Posted @ 11:49 AM // 1 comments // View Links // Create a Link //

Spokeo skimming your information

I just received this spam and it is definately upsetting. I don't care if it says its one time only or not - they still skimmed my contact information. I did not request this email nor have I done anything with this company.

Sure, there are options on some of my social network accounts to filter more information but that's not the point. I know this type of thing was bound to happen but its frustrating just the same. Social networks are trying to tell us that only your friends can see your information but at the same time they are pollinating your friends for them to carry your information with them.