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FSF trying to contact Google about spammer sending 10k+ mails from Gmail account

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Re: FSF trying to contact Google about spammer sending 10k+ mails from Gmail account

#111
post #88

I gave up on trying to report abuse to Google, Amazon or Microsoft. It seems reports simply get ignored and the big providers do nothing. I hope the FSF with its weight and media presence can finally do something. Google, Microsoft, and Amazon are my major sources of spam. These days, this is where spam comes from. At this point, they are also too big to block. We allowed this to happen, through neglect and laziness.…

Not me, but then most people are allergic to paying $10 a month.

I figure an email is worth a beer.

Re: FSF trying to contact Google about spammer sending 10k+ mails from Gmail account

#112

gmail, outlook and salesforce create about 90% of the spam that gets through blacklists. Salesforce is simple to fix: I just block anything from salesforce from our network, as it just seems to be 100% used by spammers. Gmail and outlook are the major problem, as there is no way of addressing their spam issue.

Yeah, Salesforce clearly has some kind of whitelisting at Gmail. I get so much nonsense from that domain.

Re: FSF trying to contact Google about spammer sending 10k+ mails from Gmail account

#114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On YouTube I reported bot accounts for a couple days, the only reaction I got was that at some point it showed a popup that told me too many false reports would lead to a ban. Not sure what Google gets out of it, but there is no way they could be that bad at fighting bots unless they're not even trying. Even trivial tricks like copy-pasted texts keep working.

They're not trying. I've seen an advertiser remain active for months with literally tens of thousands of ads where clicking them directly downloads a malicious exe file that most antivirus scanners flag.

They make money on those ads, you’re asking a mega corporation to make less money. Good luck.

Re: FSF trying to contact Google about spammer sending 10k+ mails from Gmail account

#116

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mailchimp and other legitimate services (other than salesforce, which is best just blocked) don't permit spam, whereas gmail and outlook don't give a fuck unless the spammer gets a large amount of abuse reports. Certainly mailchimp and the like make things simpler, but the price can be quite high.

This seems to be a laughable claim? I don't get anything but spam from Mailchimp.

I don't think your definition of spam matches the one that I understand it to mean. Spam is random email from someone you have not had contact with before firing messages to every address they can find anywhere on the web, the dark web, etc. Or if you ask not to be added to a mailing list and are added anyway. They often use fraudulent tricks to try to get the email through filters, such as fake from addresses.

Spam is not email from legitimate companies with valid contact details that have an opt out that you forgot to click when you signed up with them. That's legitimate marketing emails. You might argue they also shouldn't exist, but they are a different category.

I get plenty of the second from mailchimp (it's what they do), almost none of the first. Marking the second kind as spam, rather than clicking the unsubscribe link is dangerous because it teaches your anti-spam filter to reject messages from legitimate companies. You might find that if they need to contact you for a genuine reason e.g. a reciept for a future transaction, the message is blocked.

Re: FSF trying to contact Google about spammer sending 10k+ mails from Gmail account

#117

It honestly is a bit dissapointing that most of the internet's "infrastructure" is tied up in large corporations that just get money for free by being the only provider and face little to no backlash (because of their monopoly) when they neglect things like basic customer service.

Gmail is free. How much customer support resources should someone reasonably expect a company to dedicate towards their free-of-charge services?

Gmail is profitable. How much harm should profitable services be allowed to perpetuate in the world to enable their profit?

Re: FSF trying to contact Google about spammer sending 10k+ mails from Gmail account

#118

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where does it say on their website that it is specifically for sending spam?

Someone’s marketing emails are someone else’s spam. Mailchimp is specifically made for mass email emission, for marketing a newsletter and whatnot. So yeah, a lot of people will consider them spammers.

Spam is defined as unsolicited bulk email. Marketing is only spam when it isn't previous customers, or people who have specifically opted in.

Re: FSF trying to contact Google about spammer sending 10k+ mails from Gmail account

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where does it say on their website that it is specifically for sending spam?

Someone’s marketing emails are someone else’s spam. Mailchimp is specifically made for mass email emission, for marketing a newsletter and whatnot. So yeah, a lot of people will consider them spammers.

I think thats a really wrong definition of spam. Spam is untargeted junk from people you don't know, who are probably hiding there real identity using fake email headers etc. If it's a legit company with legit unsubscribe options, it's not spam.

It worries me a lot that people clicking "mark as spam" on messages from legit companies because they subscribed to the newsletter will mean that my messages with important information (order confirmations, e-tickets etc.) will get blocked.

Re: FSF trying to contact Google about spammer sending 10k+ mails from Gmail account

#120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This seems to be a laughable claim? I don't get anything but spam from Mailchimp.

Indeed, Mailchimp is a tool specifically built and advertised to send spam .

Mailchimp is for sending emails that people signed up to receive. If enough recipients click "unsubscribe", the whole email campaign gets suspended.
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