Spammer Sues List Broker

BuckMulligan writes: "This article describes a lawsuit brought by a spam company against a list brokerage warehouse for selling e-mail addresses of persons who didn't opt-in. What this means is that those marketing lists created by data brokers aren't even accurate enough for sending spam."

Um....

[Wakko Warner]

...do lists of people who opt-in for spam even exist? Are they big enough to fit on one 8.5x11" piece of paper?

Who the hell would be stupid enough to opt-in for spam?

- A.P.

There's just no honor amongst thieves

[T5]

The sad part of this is that tax dollars are funding the ability for these cretins to sue each other.

It's not the marketers, then

[TrollMan 5000]

The company said it used the Mindset Interactive and Inurv lists to send messages to thousands of e-mail account holders. It claims the companies said the data were collected with the consent of the owners and could be used for direct marketing.

This is most likely false. How many e-mails have you received stating that you indicated you wanted to subscribe to some form of mass-e-mailing, but didn't? And how do people receive spam only 8 hours [slashdot.org] after setting up an e-amil address?

Are they spammers?

[Rick the Red]

It sounds like they don't want to be spammers. It sounds like they were trying to find people who didn't mind email adverts and were trying to avoid mailing to those who do mind. Nevermind how short that list may be, it sounds like that's the list they wanted and didn't get. It sounds like they were trying to be good Netizens, after all. And, of course, Slashdot calls them "spammers" and the readers just assume they are.

Would real spammers sue their list providers for this?

Assuming it's true, good for them!

[jdreed1024]

Assuming that Virtumundo really did get screwed when they were given a bogus database, then kudos to them for showing that they are a somewhat responsible company.

It would appear that they are different from Joe Spammer who uses Korean mail servers and provides a bogus reply-to address. The fact that they even read the complaints they got proves that they aren't out to (purposely) screw people.

I've gotten some things that I thought were complete spam, but when researching where they originated from, I realized there were times when signing up on a website, I forgot to uncheck all of the "I want to receive e-mail from our partner sites" buttons. While they really should be opt-in, instead of opt-out, it's my own damn fault for not double-checking my work.

I have no problem receiving advertising mail if it's because I forgot to uncheck a box, or accidentally checked a box. The problem is when there's no way to get off the list. It sounds like these folks actually read replies and care about whether they're spamming or not, and if so, good for them. Personally, I think e-mail marketing is a waste of bandwidth, but if I can prevent myself from receiving junk mails in the future, I don't have a problem with it.

(On the other hand, they could just be some schmoes who spammed knowingly or on purpose, and are now just trying to pass the buck.)

Re:I dont wonder

[frogstar]

Sometimes it does too good of a job and filters ads I have actually signed up to receive.
Uhh, that's not a "too good" job, that's what we call a "bad" job. I can write you a filter that takes care of 100% of your spam, if you like...

Re:I dont wonder

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh, look - more mindless zealotry. How about the ten million other non-liars, like myself, who have created less than "VERY random" Hotmail addresses and have yet to receive spam one?

There - now I've made a groundless claim too. Where's my +4 moderation?