More about Rod on Wired
News travels fast — after my initial post here on Unxmaal.com, then a reader’s post of the same to Metafilter, I’ve heard much speculation about the unknown facts of this story. This may all seem rather minor, but it’s a serious misrepresentation to suggest that I somehow knowingly condone spam or that my network is a safe place for companies that do. Here are a few facts to clear up any speculation:
- I am API Digital Communication‘s Chief Geek. Yes, that’s my real title, filling the highest technical position in an admittedly small company. (It seems a bit stilted to call yourself a CIO or IT Director when you have less than 25 employees.)
- I can speak for API Digital and was doing so in my first and only email with Wired News via Danit Lidor. If you read my previous post, then you saw the entire communication, sans mail headers and sigs. Lidor did not provide any details about the story and did not followup via email or the provided phone number.
- The network I built supports many thousands of customers, and we do actively enforce an anti-spam policy. Obviously, I must have knowledge of an infraction to take appropriate action. Please note I asked Danit: “Is there some bigger story I should know about?”
- Neither I nor API Digital is responsible for Word Records’ astroturfing campaign. Other music-related customers frequently ask their readers to aid in promotion, i.e. “call your local radio station to request our new single being released Tuesday.” Tying a reward to the quantity of email sent sounds sinister to anti-spam activists, but WordRecords promised to withhold any prize from anyone that used automated means to distribute the message. It’s not spam, but there are other ways to get your message out and still look good.
I am not webmaster@wordrecords.com. I can easily put you in touch with the people that are “webmaster@wordrecords.com” and was not asked to help do so. I assumed Lidor was doing the job properly and had successfully contacted a Word Records representative.
I’ll try to contact Lidor today to get the rest of the story published on Wired News. Lidor seems only interested in publishing sensational lines such as, “Jesus preached the gospel of turning the other cheek, but what would he have said about spam?” We’ll see if Wired is interested in the truth.
- Neither I nor API Digital is responsible for Word Records’ astroturfing campaign. Other music-related customers frequently ask their readers to aid in promotion, i.e. “call your local radio station to request our new single being released Tuesday.” Tying a reward to the quantity of email sent sounds sinister to anti-spam activists, but WordRecords promised to withhold any prize from anyone that used automated means to distribute the message. It’s not spam, but there are other ways to get your message out and still look good.
- The network I built supports many thousands of customers, and we do actively enforce an anti-spam policy. Obviously, I must have knowledge of an infraction to take appropriate action. Please note I asked Danit: “Is there some bigger story I should know about?”
- I can speak for API Digital and was doing so in my first and only email with Wired News via Danit Lidor. If you read my previous post, then you saw the entire communication, sans mail headers and sigs. Lidor did not provide any details about the story and did not followup via email or the provided phone number.
