Spotting a spammer?
A new social media initiative is aiming to cut down on South African spam e-mail by naming and shaming the offenders on Twitter and Facebook.
A Twitter account and a Facebook page were opened specifically to name and shame companies or individuals who harvest e-mail addresses and send spam to people without their permission.
“We started our twitter account towards the end of May 2012 purely out of frustration by the amounts of spam, more specifically South African spam ending up in our various mailboxes,” the founder said, without giving his name.
“We are a pedantry of geeks (still trying to find the proper collective noun for geeks) that decided to make use of our various IT skills to try and educate South Africa Marketers and deal with the spamming problem in South Africa.”
This initiative complement’s the Internet Service Providers’ Association (ISPA) Hall of Shame, which ‘names and shames’ spammers and e-mail address resellers in South Africa.
“The idea did come from ISPA’s Hall of Shame, but we decided to take it one step further,” the founder said.
“We want to give South Africans a way to report spam, and have somebody take up the fight on their behalf. The ISPA Hall of Shame is a great tool, but in reality only comes out once every quarter and it seems to be an honour to be listed on it.”
ZA Spam Spotters
ZA Spam Spotters is using Twitter as their primary social media platform and question those making use of e-mail marketing on why they not using a sanitized database of opt-in subscribers.
“Companies are very brand aware these days, and any sort of a #brandfail and they respond and take action to resolve the problem,” he said.
“At first we just wanted to gauge the responses and reaction on twitter, and finally decided this past week, that we should branch out onto Facebook”.
According to the founder ZA Spam Spotters has made contact with some ISPs and Mobile Network Providers, adding that most of them are positive.
“We want to be able to build up a relationship with South African ISPs, Hosting Providers, Mobile Network Providers, and marketing companies, and hopefully come together and ensure a cleaner mailbox for all,” he said.
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