I Am Spam, Spam I Am
Filters of junk e-mail could toss out legitimate communication from e-tailers along with the spam.
It seems that the federal government may finally have the solution for unsolicited sales calls on personal phone lines with the advent of its new opt-out phone-blocking regulations and technology, which will take effect in October.
Meanwhile, the fastest-growing intrusion into our personal and business communications is going largely unchecked and promises to get even worse as telemarketers turn to the Internet as a means of solicitation.
“Spam”—unsolicited bulk commercial email promoting everything from pornography and home mortgages to herbal medicines and anatomical enlargements—is clogging up in-boxes in a way no one could have anticipated.
The nastiest spam comes with a cute subject message (e.g., “the answer you asked for”) and a viral attachment that could plunder your address book and send itself to all of your colleagues and contacts.
Brightmail Inc., a San Francisco–based provider of spam-filtering software that serves six of the 10 largest U.S. Internet service providers, estimates that 46 percent of all e-mail traffic in April was spam. That was up from 18 percent a year ago and from 10 percent in October 2001.
America Online Inc. recently stated that it blocks 2.3 billion spam messages a day. Earthlink Inc., Microsoft Corp.’s MSN and Apple Computer Inc.’s new Web browser all promote their spam-blocking capabilities. Yet, the time-wasting, trespassing stuff still gets through.
“We’re at a tipping point,” said Jason Catlett, president of New Jersey–based privacy-advocacy company Junkbusters Corp., in the E-Commerce Times. Catlett predicts that no less than the future of the Internet rides on taking care of the spam problem.
Regulators have only recently begun to step up enforcement actions against spammers. The Federal Trade Commission reported that 53 enforcement actions have been taken against spammers for deceptive and unfair practices since 1997 and about half were filed in the past year. Unlike telemarketing and direct mail, the cost of sending spam is extremely low per message, and the identity of the spam sender is easily disguised. In addition, with increasingly fast Internet connections, it is now possible for spammers to send more e-mails for even less money. Profitability is possible on a response rate of only a fraction of 1 percent.
Spammers also have become adept at using software programs referred to as “spiders” or “robots” to sniff out just about anything online with an @ symbol. The economics and technology to annoy and deceive millions of people have become routine.
Federal laws exist for unfair marketing and deceptive practices, and they carry stiff penalties. And 33 states have specific anti-spamming laws on the books. The U.S. Senate’s Commerce Committee wants to get an anti-spam bill to the Senate floor this summer. Strategies for taxing the practice are being considered, and increased criminal measures for violations are being explored.
The downside of these anti-spam initiatives is the impact they could have on reputable e-tailers. Apparel e-tailing is one of the Web’s strongest e-commerce sectors. It accounts for some $7 billion in sales yearly, with a double-digit growth rate year over year, and it currently ranks number five in online sales categories.
As the public’s anti-spam sentiments grow more hostile, we offer the following suggestions to apparel e-tailers:
bull; Limit the messages you send to your established customer base announcing aftersale promos. Once you gather customers’ email addresses, your future communications with those customers are not considered spam because they have “opted in” to your list. But too much hype will make your customers feel they are being spammed and will backfire on your intended marketing goals.
bull; Be aware that as spam-filtering technologies become more sophisticated, the content of your messages will be the subject of scrutiny. A technology that Apple calls “latent adaptive semantic analysis” allows its new browser to search through a message’s entire text for patterns of words. In short, phrases such as “clearance sale” could cause your message to be filtered out.
bull; Make sure that your e-mails clearly offer an “opt-out” function for removal from your list. Indeed, new laws may soon mandate this practice.
Meanwhile, all Internet users should know not to reply or respond to unsolicited sales pitches. Don’t be a part of that fraction of 1 percent that keeps the monster going.
