Direct Marketer Taking Down Spammers
from the forming-a-posse dept
We were just talking about how the Direct Marketing Association has been doing a sneaky job of redefining spam to suit their purposes. Fast Company is running an article that looks at this issue, by pointing out that they basically want to get rid of spammers, so that their own member companies can spam in peace. However, the more interesting part of the article is that a direct marketing expert (he once sold a company of his to the DMA) has built the Inbox Defense Task Force, which is a company designed to track down and punish spammers. Their goal is to teach companies and government agencies just how to track down and shut down spammers. Sounds like an interesting idea. There have been some "vigilantes" who try to shut down spammers, but for the most part, tracking down actual spammers is such a pain that most people don't bother. So, if this group can make it easier, and have a real impact on the spamming community, it sounds like it could be a good thing.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team