Email Rage

by Gerald L. Lacambra

Website Summaries on Email rage

Reality Bites: Email Road Rage
NAGS: Netizens Against Gratuitous Spamming

Reality Bites: Email Road Rage

A true story, rewritten to protect the identities of those who were involved, appears in the column Reality Bites. The article entitled Reality Bites: Email Road Rage discusses how a simple email mistake led to a cycle of email rage. For administrative matters, Department X uses mailing lists to communicate with its students. Using the pine email system, they normally use the field "Lcc:", which has a similar function to "Bcc:", to send email without exposing all the students' names. However, one day a student assistant made the mistake of using the "Cc:" field, thereby exposing all the recipients' names to one another. The activities that followed resembled more like a listserv than an administrative mailing list.

To further spice up this story, throw in a few pinches of lack of knowhow. First, most of those replying used the reply-to-all option, without realizing its impact. Next, consider that most students didn't distinguish between a local list and a true listserv. Believing they were part of a listserv, many students asked to be removed from the listserv. These messages were also broadcast to the 1,000.
Angry replies were sent explaining about listservs. Tempers flared as the number of messages approached 50 per day. Some students felt put upon to have to read this volume of mostly junk mail. Others just gave up and stopped reading any messages. This is where the problem gets sticky. By the time the problem was called to my attention, it looked like email road rage.

NAGS: Netizens Against Gratuitous Spamming

NAGS is a website dedicated to fighting the spreading of junk mail, also known as spamming. Junk mail often leads to angry replies, which are also known as flames. NAGS provides tips on identifying the sender of junk mail and ways to prevent such mail from reaching your account again. One common method is to use a filter. ISP's, internet service providers, are also trying to stop the proliferation of junk mail. NAGS cites an effort made by EarthLink Network Inc., a major ISP in the U.S.

PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 7, 1997--EarthLink Network Inc. (NASDAQ: ELNK), an Internet access provider, Wednesday struck a major blow for Internet users everywhere when a California judge prevented Cyber Promotions Inc., a distributor of mass, unsolicited commercial e-mail, from sending or transmitting its messages through EarthLink's system or to its members. "This is a landmark victory in EarthLink's mission to protect the rights of our members and maintain a spam-free Internet," said Charles (Garry) Betty, president and CEO of EarthLink Network. "We did what we said we were going to do, and that is to declare war on spammers. This ruling is not only a win for EarthLink, but it's a win for all of us who use the Internet. We all stand to benefit."

In 1996, U.S. District Court Justice Charles Weiner sided with AOL, the largest ISP in the U.S., on issues of junk mail.

America Online Blocks Cyber Promotions E-Mail Again 09/26/96 DULLES, VIRGINIA, U.S.A., 1996 SEP 26 (NB) -- By Bob Woods. For the second time in three weeks, America Online [NYSE:AOL] is blocking mass commercial e-mailings from Cyber Promotions, a company specializing in what AOL officials call "spam" messages. The difference between three weeks ago and now, though, is that when Cyber Promotions cried out "foul" to a US District Court judge, the company's pleas fell on deaf ears.