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You always knew spammers are an incestuous bunch, but just how incestuous is about to become a bit clearer. Clueless Mailers presents version 3.21 of The Spamdemic Map(TM). Preview Image Image hosting generously donated by Chris Holland of The Christopher Holland Consultancy. Our sincere thanks go to Chris for supporting the Clueless Mailers site, and the message we're bringing to our visitors! Thanks to all who have provided mirroring of the Spamdemic Map images! Since Cluless Mailers' images are now generously hosted by TheCHC, the mirroring isn't desparately needed as it was. So, we've pulled the mirror links— at least for now. Thanks again! About the Spamdemic MapTM It's long been known that spammers sell victims' addresses to each
other. Keep that in mind as you look at the map... and remember that
— despite their cries of "Permission Marketing Works!"
— I have not given my email address to a single one of the companies
that appear on the Spamdemic Map, nor have I given them permission to
send me email... yet nearly all of them seem to have one or more of my
addresses, and most are spamming me. Items in black on the map indicate
entities that have spammed me or are involved in supporting the spammer;
grey indicates companies that haven't spammed me, but may now have my
address, due to their relationships with the spammers; green indicates
ownership; dashed lines indicate tentative connections. First, take a
gander at the Preview Image. Then brace yourself, and step into the Full-Size
Version. (Don't forget your waders.) I'll soon have a more in-depth explanation
of what's going on... I also hope to try to track the actual flow of each
of the spammed addresses amongst the spamhausen. But right now, I need
some sleep. Have fun... and don't say I didn't warn you! BTW—
Due to popular demand, I've made the Spamdemic Map available as an EPS
file for the sake of printing (see links above). The map measures about
62" x 41", with the smallest type at 8.8pt. If enough requests
come in, I may consider selling prints, since few people are able to print
at or even near that size. Have fun! INCLUSION CRITERIA (added 3/24/2002) — Please note that criteria for inclusion on the Spamdemic Map are extremely broad... Domains, companies and even individuals are included there that have not spammed me. In fact, to my knowledge, many of them haven't spammed anyone. The purpose of the Spamdemic map is to show not only actual spammers' relationships, but also relationships among spammers and other entities — legitimate or otherwise — and to illustrate the *potential* for abuse that can arise when and if irresponsible policies are followed — as when addresses are shared among mailers/marketers without the recipient's knowledge/permission, or when permission for mailing is not actually obtained through closed-loop opt-in confirmation. This means that inclusion on the Spamdemic Map does not indicate or imply anything about the included entities except for what is specifically noted there, e.g. "shares addresses with", "is a marketing partner of", "formerly at", etc. Since large and (currently) non-spamming companies like AOL Time Warner, CNNSI, Travelocity and USAToday are also on the Map, inclusion doesn't necessarily mean an included entity is a "black hat" — and it puts them in with some darned good company, even if some of the other occupants aren't very appealing. <g> In short, any entity that is connected, either directly or indirectly through ownership, affiliation, marketing partnerships and agreements, provision of Internet services, etc., with an entity that has spammed me, is eligible for inclusion on the Spamdemic Map. This is not an all-inclusive list, and the criteria may change at any time. So, to sum up, inclusion on the Spamdemic Map is not a smear or an attack or even an implication of "guilt by association"... It's simply one small part of the overall concept of wide-scale general connectivity, and serves as a reminder to the marketing community to stay vigilant and to be sensitive to the need to protect recipients' personally-identifiable information. I just thought you'd like to hear that. <g> —Bob UPDATE 2/27/02: All I have to say is... Oy. The Spamdemic Map is becoming a monster. The new version 3.0 is bulging at the seams with new connections, new domains, new spammers. What's really interesting is how often a few extremely active mailers are pointed to by new advertisers and marketers. And if you thought the previous version of the map had some big corporate names in it, get a load of this one. I'm currently trying to collect WHOIS data for every domain on the map... privacy policies will be next. Even now, I already have enough information and enough new spams to create a whole new version 4.0. But the next version may be completely redesigned. Since the map is becoming so physically large, it's hard to navigate it or find spammers that may be hitting you. So in the next version, I'm going to try to establish some sort of hierarchy or pyramid structure that places marketers on one level, mailers on another, and advertisers on a third. Or something like that. I also have this vague yet grandiose idea squirming around in the back of my brain... An idea that says "Flash! Build the map using Flash, and automate the user's navigation!" Hopefully, the manic-depression drugs will kick in soon, and those evil thoughts of Flash will go the way of all flesh. <g> UPDATE 1/19/02: More connections, lots of ownership research, and version 2.0 of the map is more frightening than than the first. It's pretty convoluted, so I'm going to try to rearrange v3.0 for more clarity. I've also got a preliminary map of address-sharing, which shows which companies and sites are passing your address off to each other. The network marketers aren't the only ones guilty of revealing your personal information. Publicly-available Web documents including privacy policies and lists of "marketing partners" show that once your address is harvested against your will and introduced into the "system", you're stuck with spam for life. Bounties paid for submitted — and unconfirmed — email addresses are encouraging abuse, and the spiderweb of spammers grows as more sleazoid pimps discover they can resell the addresses found on a "Millions" CD at $.05 a pop, or more. Dive into the map and find out what evil regions your email address is wandering off to... ...Bob
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