April 21, 2005
CRN utilitizes mass mailing company.
The publishers of CRN -- a monthly periodical billed as "Vital Information For VARs and Technology Integrators" -- have allowed my email address to be either compromised, sold, or given away to spammers.
A technical consultant with an online presence, I receive numerous technical publications free of charge. The idea is that I'm in the position to recommend advertised technology to my clients must have something to do with the drivel I receive in the mail. Some magazines I read, some I don't. Most of them are crap, yet I still fill out the online surveys to receive them. Why, you ask? Once in a while I've found them to be helpful to be made aware of new products. Granted, I do use a specific email per publication -- and it seems that CRN was the first to spam me.
CRN is published by CMP United Business Media; the group responsible for Dr. Dobb's Journal, Network Computing, Information Week and dozens more.
Today I just happened to notice the following in my mail logs...
Apr 21 19:05:10 mx postfix/smtpd[10929]: 4A34C410E: reject: RCPT from unknown[205.183.255.242]: 554 <unknown[205.183.255.242]>: Client host rejected: Access denied; from= <D-9-861960-25722385-2-9424-US1-DB7C90AB@xmr3.com> to=<mag_specific_email@my_domain> proto=ESMTP helo=<memailout31.messagereach.com>
I've never received email from CRN, since I've opted not to receive any communications from them via email. So who is xmr3.com? Well, their web page forwards you to info.xpedite.com, which forwards you to Premiere Global Services. Tracking down all of the whois data on these domains is a nightmare as you could imagine. A flurry of cross-linked records and contacts. Mmm, business services... like spam processing? No thanks, but it seems they've already been in the access list before for peddling crap emails. I'm just thrilled that CMP has chosen a known processor of bulk mail to handle their mass mailings.
It makes sense. Wouldn't want to tarnish the reputation of CRN or any other magazine. Lest the parent organization be affected.
Posted by alexm at April 21, 2005 10:33 PM.Send comments/suggestions to contact@moundalexis.com.
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