Gawker
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online advertising
Federated Media slashes rates to $5 CPM
John Battelle has his own plan for riding out the holiday ad-buying slump. The founder of online-advertising network Federated Media, which brokers ads for sites like Boing Boing, GigaOm, and Dooce, can't fire writers, but he can cut the price of their ads. John, be careful. Your inbred network is made up of bloggers who are also endorsers, who also shill their own products. Your list of clients is months out of date — it includes Digg and Fark, who long ago dropped Federated. Cut ad rates too carelessly and your Rube Goldberg business model may backfire. I mean this as the highest compliment: If anyone can lay himself off by accident, that someone is John Battelle. Here's the spam that Federated sent to bloggers this morning: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by UpshawOrmberg: Paul, For the record, FM is not "slashing rates" but offering a promotion for "run of category" (not site-specific) buys for... 1 Responses | Other threads
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spam
Spam hydra partially beheaded
After McColo Corporation, a San Jose Internet service provider suspected of providing services for major spam operations, got its uplink service disconnected, the global volume of spam saw a detectable drop overnight. Some researchers say McColo accounted for a third of spam worldwide. Now, all we need is for people to stop buying fake Viagra off emails. [The Register]
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Comment by guyger: sucks for ironport, postini, webroot and all the other spam fighters. what are they gonna do now that half... more » | Other threads
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spam
28 people keeps the spammers working hard
A group of computer scientists from UC Berkeley and UC San Diego spent a month earlier this year infiltrating a spammer network and studying its operations. The scientists mimicked the methodologies of the spammers by hijacking computers and using them to send out emails soliciting orders for pharmaceutical products. In 26 days, almost 350 million pieces of spam were sent out resulting in only 28 sales — a response of 0.00001% — that netted $2,731.88 in revenue. Extrapolating their data, the researchers estimates the real spammers can make up to $2 million a year with billions of emails. Since they're riding on other people's computing power and bandwidth, they can still make a profit. [BBC] -
deathwatch
Uber.com is too legit to quit
With already pissed off VCs demanding their money back, Uber.com — a social network for hipsters — is doing anything but. Uber.com first called it quits last Friday but the LA-based website is now begging its users to spam its link on Facebook and MySpace in an effort to save it. A cunning strategy to let as many people know how small of a failure you are. [TechNews.LA] -
online advertising
Pity the poor 13-year who clicked on this "Let's Get Naked" video
In character, the used-car dealer is a close cousin to the Web spammer, so he appreciates the advantages of misleadingly labeling a car ad as porn in order to drive up views, which is what Massachusetts-based Clay Corp. did with a YouTube video titled "Let's Get Naked." Expect much, much more of this to come: There are 20,800 car dealerships in the U.S., and one in four use Web videos to market themselves, reports Ad Age. In 2006, General Motors stopped marketing its used cars anywhere but online. GM marketer Larry Pryg says car dealers made the move because Web video is often free to distribute and even cheaper to make than your average BUY! BUY! BUY! NOW! NOW! NOW! local car-dealer commercial. Clay Corp's deceptive video: More » -
great moments in journalism
Users booted for Facebook spam cry to the Washington Post about it
Elizabeth Coe sent 100 friends a link to her company's website. This feat got her booted from Facebook — and got her featured in the opening of a Washington Post story about Facebook's spam-fighting effort. Facebook is now banning users who ask too many people to be friends all at once, send too many messages, join too many groups, or "poke" too many people. "All I was doing is using it to communicate more efficiently, which is what I thought it was for," Coe told the Post, which goes on to explore the ins and outs of Facebook's unpublished rules. More »
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Comment by debbydeb: I can see it now: "Washington Post said thanks to that spam cry story, it upped their newspaper status to... more » | Other threads
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stats
Spam sells nearly 1 in 3, says survey
Security software maker Marshal claims that of 622 respondents to a survey, 181 said they have purchased something that was marketed to them via spam. There are two ways to look at that number. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by Nekoni: What's their definition of spam? Emails from a company who you once bought from, or emails for Viagra and celebrity... more » | Other threads
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media
BusinessWeek's new online strategy: search-engine spam
BusinessWeek has tried it all — comments, blogs, podcasts. But with its latest online strategy, it's really giving up on the idea of serving up quality content. Instead, its new site, Business Exchange, will specialize in gaming Google. Sort through the gobbledygook about "aggregation" and "verticals" and "user-generated content," and you arrive at this vision for the site: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by Hello_Newman: They are talking like it's all that easy to do. You need unique content, a domain that's more than 2... more » | Other threads
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spam
Microsoft acquires AOL, according to clever phishing scheme
MSNBC.com did not report this morning that in a long-anticipated move, Microsoft has acquired AOL. But after finding the above "MSNBC Breaking News" alert in my inbox this morning, I thought they did for a minute there. I even started drafting a post on the news ("Last we heard about the deal in mid-July, AOL negotiators were …"). Then my boss yelled at me. I looked at the email again and saw it came from
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Comment by miketime: Mine told me Microsoft had aquired Intel. But it was in my Spambox (thanks Gmail!) more » | Other threads
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explainer
What's "follow spam" on Twitter?
I feel sorry for Twitter founder Ev Williams. The self-appointed A-listers who've flocked to his service are building an echo chamber worse than the blogosphere circa 1999. Today's pretend crisis: Williams has set an arbitrary limit that allows most Twitter users to follow no more than 2,000 other users' updates. The hip response is to claim that of course you need way more than that. But seriously, why would anyone try to follow 3,000 Twits? I've summarized Williams's lengthy post explaining the "follow spam" problem. He left out the part where it costs you money: More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by MorvenErginus: Only in America.... they actually charge you to *receive* text messages? Gawd! That's ridiculous - no wonder you yanks always call!... more » | Other threads
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spam
No, you can't follow 2,001 people on Twitter
Search-engine-optimization specialist Brent Csutoras reports that over the weekend, Twitter forbade him from following any more users after he hit 2,000. Twitter made the rule to fight spam. Here's how spam works on Twitter: A SEO specialist — sorry, "social media marketer" — creates a Twitter account and then begins following as many people as possible. These people, when they see they're being followed, are naturally flattered and tend to return the favor, following the spam account. Then the spammer proceeds to bombard all its new followers with keyword-rich links about its products, hoping Google's search engine crawlers will notice. Some evidence shows that if a user has enough followers of their own, Twitter will allow them to follow more than just a mere 2,000.
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Comment by noodleman: The spammer doesn't need to actually follow 2000+ people. They just need to have as many tweets following as is... more » | Other threads
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spam
Angelina Jolie's lips make it into 2.3 percent of all email traffic
Angelina Jolie does so much good with her fame, she's almost like Bono, except her accent is more transatlantic than Irish. Or like Princess Diana, but alive. But sometimes, Jolie's fame is put towards evil use. For example, The Wanted. Also: spam. Jolie's name makes a lot of people click on emails. Secure Computing reports that each day, some 2.3 percent of all email traffic contains Angelina Jolie's name in the subject line. Think "Angelina Jolie naked," "Angelina Jolie nude movie," or "Angelina Jolie naked video,"writes InternetNews.com's Andy Patrizio. The 10 most common names associated with spam emails are below. We're glad to see so many people interested in nude movies featuring Barack Obama and George Bush. More » -
blogging for dollars
Blog-for-cash spam promises to be next San Francisco fashion statement
An email I got this morning reads, "Bloggers Wanted. Are you one the bloggers? I mean ... do you write blog?" Why yes, I do! A prediction: This idiot-savant spam illustration will end up on CafePress as T-shirts, mugs, and bumper stickers before the day is out.
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By Owen ThomasComment by flyover: I figured you might mean creepy looking gumby-esque fingers. And hairy. more » | Other threads
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spam
Convicted "spam king" escapes from prison, kills self and family
If you ever wished that a spammer would die, die, die, congratulations — you got your wish. But we hope that hearing the fate of Eddie Davidson doesn't make you feel smugly self-satisfied. Davidson of Benet, Colo., one of several convicted "spam kings," walked away from his minimum-security prison camp and shot himself, his wife, and his 3-year-old daughter, Department of Justice officials said Thursday. Davidson's spam scheme involved sending out massive volumes of emails with manipulated headers to pretend they were from legitimate companies pushing penny stocks. More »
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Comment by ydmos: All of this over a couple mil? he could have pitched a book/movie/series/etc idea and gotten more than that while... more » | Other threads
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social networks
Antispam bot goes sentient, tries to save us from Twitter
Too bad about your follower count. Sorry bro. Twitter's latest antispam measure got a little crazy, locking out new followers and — depending who you believe — either removing legit followers or showing just how much of your fan club are silicon instead of carbon-based. (Screengrab by ReadWriteWeb)
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By Paul BoutinComment by raincoaster: I just signed up last night and it keeps telling me I have no email contacts. I guess it can't... more » | Other threads
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crime
Yet another spammer gets the slammer
Robert Soloway became the third man to get prison time for spamming on Tuesday. Soloway has been sentenced to four years in prison — short of the nine that prosecutors sought. Assistant U.S. attorney Kathryn Warma told reporters that while Solomon had earned far less than other busted bulk mailers — $700,000 over three years, compared to that much in a month at times for recently-sentenced Jeremy James — the prosecution felt it necessary to send a message that the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 can and will be enforced. (This is where I'm supposed to add that spammers are evil and Soloway deserves to drop the soap behind bars for the next 47 months. Sorry, but my honest reaction: The drunk driver who killed my friend got a lighter sentence. My inbox isn't that sacred.)
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By Paul BoutinComment by NorthBeach: Paul, one of the spam kings just walked away: [www.msnbc.msn.com] more » | Other threads
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spam
Spam King sentenced to be Jail King for 30 months
Convicted "Spam king" Adam Vitale was sentenced to 30 months in prison Tuesday, for spamming more than 1.2 million AOL subscribers. Vitale had boasted of using 35,000 proxy computers to bypass AOL's spam filters with greater than 80 percent successful delivery to members. More »
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By Paul BoutinComment by MikeTy: haha... he's gonna get some good, old-time pounding! more » | Other threads
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online advertising
Yahoo spamming Twitter to promote Live video service
The Twitter account for updates from Yahoo's Live video service has a respectable 2,025 followers (worth a combined $3786.75 according to the latest estimates). However, the account is following 6,744 users. Which means the Live team is either really, really interested in what you each and every one of you ate for breakfast or it's adding any account it can find — and generating email and SMS notifications in the process. It's just bad form, really.
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By Jackson WestComment by GinaMuchava: It's bacon goddamit. Get it right! more » | Other threads
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your privacy is an illusion
Facebook profiles for sale on eBay
An eBay seller going by the handle pseudopr415 is offering 10 Facebook profiles, each with a minimum of 200 friends, for sale in an eBay auction that closes June 14. The seller writes: "I currently am testing the waters, and would like to see if any marketers are interested in using these." Facebook makes a lot of noise about how its users trust the site so much, they'll often supply their cell phone numbers, email and home addresses for their friends and contacts to see. Access to that information could be worth plenty to spammers as well as identity thieves. The product description pseudopr415 created — including a five-step fake profile plan, descriptions of the characters he's created for the 10 profiles and, in case you have any questions, an email to contact the sneaky bastard — below: More »
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Comment by PurpleCar: eBay would shoot this down, of course. But besides that point, look at the descriptions! How much more... more » | Other threads
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spam
Want to spam Craigslist? Google makes it easy
Google search advertising not only makes the company billions of dollars per quarter, because Google matches ads to user search terms, it's also actually useful. For example, those looking for an automated way to clutter Craigslist with spam need only use the search term "Craigslist spambot" to find a full complement of third-party vendors willing to serve. What's more, Google makes it really easy for these advertisers to sell their wares through Google's own shopping cart service, Google Checkout. That way, if Craigslist spammers own a Google account (these days, we're sure they do), owning their very own spambot is only one or two clicks away. The best thing about Google's whole ad system? More »
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Comment by Blight_Fighter: The issue isn't censorship. Google is MAKING MONEY promoting tools and services designed to Spam Craigslist and MySpace. ... more » | Other threads
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spam
Secret Service can't help Stickam keep users from saying "bye bye"
Stickam, the webcam site the New York Times says is backed by Japanese pornographers and Stickam PR says isn't, has a spam problem. CEO Steve Fruchter says last November, hackers broke into "an old community forum system" and stole 2 million Stickam user email addresses. Now users keep getting email from a company called SlickCam. A Stickam flack told the Times its contacted "the Secret Service and a specialized Internet security research firm" in effort to halt the onslaught. Is it working? More »
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Comment by SnarkTard: The best quote is at the very end of the NYT article: "Joined to watch twit and wife wakes... more » | Other threads
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spam
Careful whose emails you enter into your PBwiki — they might get spammed
A tipster tells us PBwIki — an enterprise collaboration site used by companies such as Cisco, AT&T and Citi — mines the content its customers upload for email addresses to spam.I got an email from pbwiki even though I wasn't signed up for any kind of a mailing list or anything, so I emailed them about it. They only had my email address because it was the content in a wiki hosted with pb wiki and they dodged the question and just talked more about the content of the email. They're definitely helping themselves to all the data in their user's business wikis,
PBwiki founder David Weekly denies the charge entirely and tells us: "PBwiki does not have any scripts to go through private wikis and scrape for email addresses." Update: In the comments, Weekly calls this story "bullshit of the finest and legally actionable kind."
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Comment by WhirlyBird: Wow, sorry I missed this one. I can testify about what a cry-baby Weekly is, however. They scrapped... more » | Other threads
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security
Google's Blogger flooded by spammers
Over the last few months, wily spammers may have figured out how to crack the security feature known as "captchas." With an army of compromised Windows PCs known as botnets, they've been using their new power to flood Google's Blogger with spam. Why Blogger? More »
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By Jackson WestComment by DaveMcClure500Hats: wait... Google's Blogger is being used by spammers?!? NO, SRSLY?!?!?! Shocked, i am shocked. yo jackson, might want to wind your... more » | Other threads
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webtards
Eleven Ways The Internet Can Kill You
While I was pulling an all-nighter this weekend watching YouTube, my stomach started to growl even though I'd had like a whole thing of goldfish crackers and a bottle of Kahlua, and as I popped a diet pill and scratched a couple scabs off my forearm, I had a vision of the eleven ways the Internet could kill you. (Please don't sue: Of course not all the sites and practices listed below are directly responsible for any deaths. But if you're already at risk, you might just get yourself killed when you use them.)
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By Nick DouglasComment by raincoaster: See, if you sub in gin for Kahlua you never have these problems. Trust. more » | Other threads
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sex trade
Are any of the working girls on MySpace real? Yes, and here's how to hire them
Not content to pin the blame for Internet prostitution on usual suspect Craigslist, Kenneth Franzblau — New York State's director of Human Trafficking Prevention — cites MySpace as a hotspot of criminal sexual activity. Franzblau is an Eliot Spitzer appointee. You'd think maybe, prior to the former governor's departure in a prostitution scandal, he'd have briefed Franzblau on how to actually find hookers on the much-blinged social network. Could someone forward him a link to the following helpful tips? More »
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Comment by Fidel on the Roof: @Nicholas Carlson: That's cool. But my browser opening and refreshing my comment pages throughout the day should factor in there... more » | Other threads
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self-demotion
Andrew Baron accelerates Twitter's descent into spam platform
Twitter has won kudos for being relatively resistant to spam. That may change. Rocketboom founder Andrew Baron, not pleased with the level of interaction his account has generated, has put it up for sale on eBay.It would be silly to just delete this account I have here, especially if there is someone out there that had like interests and had something to say or wanted to get involved in some relevant conversations.
By "something to say," we assume Baron means "something to sell" — after all, why else would someone up the current bid of $1,525? In order to reach Baron's 1,635 followers with breakfast updates and cat photos? More »
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By Jackson WestComment by dshah: What kind of crazy person would bid this kind of money for a Twitter account? What nefarious objective might they have? Who... more » | Other threads
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spam
Sometimes progress means getting spammed in Arabic
Last week saw news that a Saudia Arabian man murdered his daughter because she was using to Facebook to chat with a boy and that merchants in Dubai sold AMD processors to Iranians who built them into Iraqi roadside bombs. But let's be clear, the place where Silicon Valley meets the Middle East isn't all honor killings and distributed warfare. For example, there's this piece of spam I got my in inbox today. More »
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Comment by googoobaby: When's the Julia Allison Arab hot geek tour leaving? more » | Other threads
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spam
Mahalo walking fine, spammy line with Google
Last week, a 43-page internal Google document detailing guidelines for the company's search result "quality raters" was leaked online. It details exactly what qualifies as Web spam, and as SEO pro Aaron Wall points out, much of Mahalo fits the bill. Content copied and pasted from other sites? Check. Lots of AdSense ads and affiliate links? Check. Mostly links to other sites? Check. Anything left after that stuff is removed? Not really. Google doesn't differentiate between human-curated link farming and automated link farming. And a pagerank demotion for the domain would also affect the "how to" content Mahalo shifted its focus to, leaving founder Jason Calacanis and his investors to depend on traffic generated by Veronica Belmont obsessives.
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By Jackson WestComment by ZukeZuke: Yeah, I just don't get the Mahalo thing. Everyone and their mother knows to Google... Although Veronica sure is nice... more » | Other threads
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spam
ValueClick settles for $2.9 million in spam case
ValueClick's $2.9 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission of charges it spammed users with deceptive offers was filed in federal court today. While ValueClick publicly announced the settlement terms last month, and gets away without having to admit wrongdoing, the bad news couldn't have come at a worse time. The company also stands to lose eBay's affiliate marketing business next month The company's stock was down 7 percent today, hitting a one-year low at $16.20 a share. Look for the company to start offering free iPhones to anyone who buys 50 shares of VLCK, subscribes to Ladies Home Journal and applies for auto insurance. -
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Comment by matto: i thought only gizmodo was allowed to repost boingboing items more » | Other threads
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spam
HotorNot kindles true love
Founders James Hong and Jim Young sold HotorNot earlier this week, but so far, it's business as usual for the operation. Meaning, the site remains a very effective means of getting a date. Check out Daniya here. She's completely smitten with our secret correspondent and man of mystery, Tips. Sadly for Daniya, Tips prefers a different kind of "dating" site.
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Comment by matto: Give her a break. Amid the confusion of her impending layoff from Yahoo, she mistyped 'jobs@valleywag.com'. more » | Other threads
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stats
North America has been dethroned as the world's "king of spam." The crown now goes to Europe, which is now responsible for 44 percent of the world's unsolicited email. [Ars Technica] -
your privacy is an illusion
Intelius, the obnoxious assembler of a cell-phone database, has shut down its online directory of over 90 million mobile numbers. Its official excuse: It's clear the market is still not ready. [MSNBC]
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Comment by allegedlyyours: That article seriously pissed me off. I had no idea there was a company out there doing that. I'm glad... more » | Other threads
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your privacy is an illusion
Intelius has your cell phone number — and is selling it
That mobile-phone barrier you've built between yourself and telemarketers is about to crumble. The nice chaps over at Intelius, who provide services like name, address, and Social Security number searches, are compiling an online mobile-phone directory they'll sell to anyone willing to pay them a measly $14.95 a number. They're operating on the philosophy that if you're willing to give your mobile number to the IRS or Domino's, you've opted in to an early-Saturday-morning game of phone tag with telemarketers. The dastardly sorts have ensured that the only way to get off the list is by faxing in a written request alongside an ID card. A fax machine: So low tech, it may just stop the Web 2.0 crowd in their tracks. More »
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Comment by BartKela: Naaah, I only out give my GrandCentral number and block all the bad guys. more » | Other threads
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spam
NotchUp gets VC attention by pissing everyone off
Everyone hates NotchUp's spammy invitations. So much so that they can't stop talking about their loathing for the pay-per-interview online job board. Proving that there's no such thing as bad publicity, the obnoxious startup is getting all kinds of attention from Sand Hill Road, founder Jim Ambras told BusinessWeek. More »
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Comment by Whocares: Maybe my previous comment under the original article wen't unnoticed.. If you refer someone.. and they sign up.. then go on... more » | Other threads
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spam
Rupert Murdoch's newspaper caught spamming social media
The News Corp.-owned Times of London has been paying a search-engine optimizer to do the dirty work of shilling Times Online stories to social media sites like Mahalo, StumbleUpon, and MetaFilter. We can't believe it either — that The Times is actually paying an outside firm to submit stories. My boss makes me do it the hard way. More »
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Comment by John Handelaar: Go off to today's new waxy.org post for the comedy gold of Jason telling us that people who never ever... more » | Other threads
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notchup
Dear NotchUp, please stop spamming me
TechCrunch calls Los Altos-based job board NotchUp "a stealth startup." Wrong. There's nothing stealth about NotchUp's spammy membership drive. I've got five emails in my personal inbox to prove it. Each email explains how NotchUp works (headhunters pay you!) and that NotchUp remains in a private beta. That way the riffraff stay out. So, hey, riffraff. Want to see a copy of that email, private beta username and password included? More »
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Comment by Roughy: Has anyone bothered to read NotchUp's (or, should we say GrandCentral.com's knock-off?) Terms Of Service? Please, do so. Please, read LinkedIn's terms... more » | Other threads
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leaks
AOL encourages its staff to spam friends
Before the holidays, AOL products chief Kevin Conroy urged employees to send a form letter to their friends, family members, and business contacts talking up AOL's new products. "Team, excitement about the work we are doing ... starts with each one of us," Conroy emailed. His topdown directive did not spark any bottom-up fervor, it seems, as he had to forward the message again on Friday, asking employees for examples of get-out-the-users emails they'd sent. The full memo: More »
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By Owen ThomasComment by schvitzatura: Conroy: If you haven't plugged AOL to your "warm network" and have no evidence of having done so over the... more » | Other threads
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spam
Wikipedia brands Wikia as spam
A professed goal of Jimmy Wales's for-profit venture, Wikia, is to eliminate spam from search results. But it's reputation on Wikipedia may not help. Users of Wales's online encyclopedia have deemed the entry on his new startup as spam: "This article reads like a news release, or is otherwise written in an overly promotional tone." With Wikia and Wikipedia so closely linked, it's no surprise that volunteer editors would be optimistic about the new search engine. One wonders how long the "Criticism" section for the entry on Wikia will go empty. -
steve kirsch
Silicon Valley entrepreneur fights spam, deadly cancer
Steven Kirsch has cancer. Waldenstrom's macroglobulinemia, to be exact. It's rare and deadly. About 1,500 Americans are diagnosed with it each year and its considered incurable. But Kirsch, according to his New York Times profile, is an engineer known for solving tricky problems. In 1982 hedesignedimproved the computer mouse. He founded Infoseek. Kirsch has decided to take on cancer as just another problem to solve. It's just not quite at the top of his priority list. In fact its third, after "Who would make the best president?" and his top priority: "Eliminating spam." And he's got four years and $230 million in personal wealth to do it. More »
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Comment by svmike: I had the privilege of meeting Steve at Propel some years back when my employer was in the market for... more » | Other threads
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