Valleywag
online advertising
Posts Tagged “
Spam
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online advertising
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 »
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 »
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 »
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."
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 »
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 »
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 »
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 »
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.
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.
clips
The first spam email Boing Boing reenacts in this clip was authored by one Mr. Howitzer Cannonpants. It explains that while a rod in Moses's hands may part the seas, nails in yours could only build a birdhouse. Also, Mr. Cannonpants notes, women freak out when they see his crazy-sized huge brother in his hands. In the second email, Maurice asks for cash. He needs it because large-busted women — wearing no bras — tried to push him into a lake when he visited Canada's manpower office.
Spam, brought charmingly to life
The first spam email Boing Boing reenacts in this clip was authored by one Mr. Howitzer Cannonpants. It explains that while a rod in Moses's hands may part the seas, nails in yours could only build a birdhouse. Also, Mr. Cannonpants notes, women freak out when they see his crazy-sized huge brother in his hands. In the second email, Maurice asks for cash. He needs it because large-busted women — wearing no bras — tried to push him into a lake when he visited Canada's manpower office.
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.
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]
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]
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 »
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 »
spam
