SPAM

Oh dear oh dear.

I've been getting a lot of spam recently from a company here in Dubai. It's particularly irritating because I usually get at least three copies of it, and it requests an acknowledgement that I've read it (which I never ever give). The messages they send are very heavy on graphics and take a noticeable amount of time to download. I'm not remotely interested in the product they are offering, and they do not supply an opt-out link. But today's edition of their message contained an email address. So I sent an email to that address, politely requesting them to remove me from their database.

In hardly any time, I got an email back saying that they were using Spam Arrest, and I would have to go to the Spam Arrest website and complete a verification process before the intended recipient could read my email. Alarm bells start ringing. How do I know that Spam Arrest won't start spamming me? So I do a little research on the web, and apart from discovering that Spam Arrest are being sued for copyright infringement by Hormel Foods (who make the kind of Spam you can eat if there's nothiing else in the house), I came across this little gem: http://www.doingfreedom.com/nas/spamarrest.htm

Interesting read, eh?

Back at the ranch, I'm bemused that a person / company who has spammed me is using such a service to 'protect' themselves from spam! And for me to communicate with the original spammer I have to sell my soul to another set of much worse spammers. However, I now know the phone number and location of the original spammer (they're in my building!), so words will be had after the weekend.