[Ecommerce] Declan unfairly tagged as spamer by Fleishman-Hillard PR firm

Tue Apr 9 20:59:01 2002

----- Original Message -----
From: "Declan McCullagh" <declan@well.com>
To: <politech@politechbot.com>
Cc: <magnerc@fleishman.com>; <mcclurem@fleishman.com>;
<cravenl@fleishman.com>; <Mcclurem2@fleishman.com>;
<boudream@fleishman.com>; <mooneyr@fleishman.com>
Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2002 2:33 AM
Subject: FC: Fleishman-Hillard PR firm blocks all mail from well.com,
Politech

[On second reading, it's not entirely clear whether Chuck is blocking all
mail from the Well and Politech himself or just encouraging everyone at
Fleishman-Hillard to do so. In any case, it's a sad case of self-appointed,
anti-spam vigilantes run amok... --Declan]

---

>Date: Tue, 09 Apr 2002 23:22:09 -0700
>To: "Magner, Chuck" <magnerc@fleishman.com>
>From: Declan McCullagh <declan@well.com>
>Subject: Re: spam
>Cc: "Mcclure, Marna" <mcclurem@fleishman.com>, "Craven, Liz"
><cravenl@fleishman.com>
>
>Let's get the chronology straight:
>1. Marna McClure, from Fleishman-Hillard, which bills itself as the
>"leading" public relations consultancy in the U.S., subscribes to
>Politech. My records show Marna joined in April 1998 or earlier.
>2. Four years later, in April 2002, Marna wishes to unsubscribe. But she
>either forgets what email address she used or can't figure out how to
>unsubscribe -- even though clear instructions are on the Politech website.
>3. Marna complains to me a few hours ago that Politech messages are "spam"
>and threatens to report them as such. ("I will report this as spam if you
>do not get me off your email list immediately.") This is the first time I
>heard from her that she was having problems.
>4. I take time out of my day (Politech is not a for-profit activity, just
>a hobby) to check and see what email address she subscribed under and give
>her the appropriate instructions to unsubscribe.
>5. It looks like Marna changed her email address sometimes in the last
>four years from Mcclurem@fleishman.com to Mcclurem2@fleishman.com,
>according to a directory of PR folks
>(http://www.workinpr.com/industry/agency/pr_findbystate.asp). I'd guess
>she was trying to unsubscribe her new address from Politech.
>
>Your response: On behalf of Fleishman-Hillard, you complain that, somehow,
>Politech is "junk" and threaten to report me to the Net.spam.cops.
>
>You also say that you're blocking any mail from Politech to anyone else at
>Fleishman-Hillard, even though many other folks at the company are
>subscribers who presumably want to continue to receive messages. You say
>that Fleishman-Hillard will, in spite, block *all* mail from well.com,
>which is an Internet provider with (last I checked) over 10,000
>subscribers. Among those subscribers are hundreds of journalists with whom
>Fleishman-Hillard presumably wants to communicate.
>
>Two questions for you, Chuck: You ever see that Saturday Night Live skit
>where Jimmy Fallon plays "Nick Burns, Your Company's Computer Guy?" You
>ever wonder why everyone in the company hates him so much?
>
>-Declan
>
>At 12:51 PM 4/9/2002 -0500, Magner, Chuck wrote:
>
>>Considering your inability to comprehend the amount of inconvenience you
>>cause not only our users at the desktop by having to spend valuable work
>>time deleting your unsolicited emails, but also our IT department by
>>having to create filters to eliminate your junk. I have advised Ms
>>Mcclure and everybody else in our company to report all unsolicted emails
>>from you and those originating from well.com to;
>>
>>spamcop.net
>>
>>nofalsenegatives.stopspam.samspade.org blacklist
>>
>>http://mail-abuse.org
>>
>>Dorkslayers Zero Tolerance List  http://www.dorkslayers.com/
>>
>>Spam Prevention Early Warning System   http://www.spews.org/
>>
>>Spamhaus Block List  http://www.spamhaus.org/
>>
>>We will be notifying the business manager at Well: bizmgr@WELL.COM and
>>the technical contact dns@SALON.COM of your unsolicited spam activities.
>>As well as sending snail mail to their address at;
>>
>>  22 Fourth Street, 16th Floor
>>  San Francisco, CA 94103
>>
>>
>>  I consider it an honor and privilige to use all the technology tools
>> available at making you go away, I will be contacting you personally as
>> soon as possible.
>>
>>
>>
>>
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>>

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