Tim Pim Blog

While we all admit that unsolicited commercial email is a real pain, I sometimes wonder if the anti-spam zealots are going too far. Last week I was in Costa Rica, and the only practical way to communicate home was by email. I maintain an AOL account just for that purpose when traveling, and was amazed to find out when I got home, that I only received about half of the email which was sent - some of which was important.

Many ISP’s (Internet Service Providers) including AOL, have installed content filters which automatically relegate anything “they think” is spam to trash, and the message never gets delivered to the intended recipient, nor is the person sending it notified it wasn’t delivered.

The problem is that there is no personal judgment at the level of the ISP to determine if a note is spam or not. They have installed content filters that “dump” any email that happens to match the keywords they have installed. How dare they determine what I should receive or not receive. Because a word in the note (or the length of the note) met their reject parameters, they will not deliver it? This is wrong!

Shame on them! I don’t know about you, but I don’t want my ISP acting like “big brother” on my behalf, and determining what I should read and what I shouldn’t.

I do agree that spam is not only a nuisance, but is a daily problem that takes my time to sort through and get rid of the “junk” I didn’t ask for, and don’t want to get. But let me make that determination. I can set up filters that automatically deletes email I don’t wish to get myself. I don’t need, nor do I want someone else making that decision on my behalf.

It has been reported to me that some ISPs are blocking newsletters that people have asked to receive. Some investigation turned up that certain words were on their “banned” list and they appeared in the newsletter. Several of our publications include a medical column by Dr. Earl Mindell. Will there be words in that column that match the filters these “self appointed guardians of email” have installed - Sure. Will the newsletters exceed some magical length they have determined to be spam - Right again. Is this spam - No!
How about an email constructed in an HTML format? Some ISPs automatically delete anything without text in the body of the email - wrong.

Sending out spam is big business. The federal law enacted in the USA is ineffective as the major “spam houses” simply comply with those guidelines. Some suggest that the domains of the spam houses be blocked. Get real! Domains are a dime a dozen. If one gets blocked they simply use another.

But if someone makes a complaint about you, they may block your ISP. I know of an instance where an ISP blocked Comcast.net and nobody using that ISP could receive email sent by Comcast users.

The early days of the Internet, which was the sole property of the academicians where spam was anathema, are over. The Internet is ideally suited to support e-commerce, which it does very well.
Online advertising is now a way of life.

Now - don’t feel I am supporting spam but for goodness sake, I don’t want someone else monitoring my email and determining what I should read or not.

How many legitimate emails do we have to “not get” because others are making that decision for us. How many requests for information should get “blown away” because the reply violated some ISP’s filters. My feeling is that they should cease and desist, and not be the self-appointed guardians of my inbox.

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Moments after stepping out of the taxi, Rachel plunged through the entranceway of the hotel lobby eager to put behind what had been a terribly exhausting day. Flight delays due to weather had caused her LAX-MDW-BWI trip to take nearly eleven hours to complete. All she could think of was taking off her shoes to relieve her aching feet and dipping them into soothing, warm bath water.

The line at the front desk was mercifully short. One clerk caught Rachel’s attention and signaled her forward she gave him her reservation information and then dug out her American Express card for payment. As he stepped away to verify its authenticity Rachel’s eyes surveyed the lobby. “They’ve updated everything since I was last here”, she thought. Her concentration, clouded by fatigue, was now on the mission style tables, chairs, and light fixtures, which had replaced the heavy, wooden furniture previously occupying the lobby. “Here is your card and room key, ma’am,” the clerk interrupted minutes later. Quickly, Rachel stuffed her card back into her wallet, gathered her bags and whisked away to her room.

Rachel was a victim of identity theft that night, but did not know it at the time. Had she kept a watchful eye on what her clerk was doing instead of studying the lobby, she might have noticed him switching cards on her. At the very least, she would have seen that the card handed to her beneath her room key was not her own.

Identity theft is an exploding problem that has increased exponentially in this technological age. Particularly since the early 1990s thieves have been taking advantage of what we would consider every day transactions: writing a check at the grocery store, ordering merchandise via the internet, applying for a credit card, using your cell phone, and more. Each transaction requires you to share personal information: your bank and credit card account numbers; your income, your Social Security Number (SSN); and your name, address, and phone numbers.

An identity thief will lift some piece of your personal information and appropriate it without your knowledge to commit fraud or theft. One of the most common methods is when the identity thief uses your personal information to open a credit card account in your name.

The Federal Trade Commission is the arm of the federal government tasked with overseeing the problem of identity theft. A special hotline number (1-877-IDTHEFT) was created for consumers to call to place your information in a database which is accessible with other law enforcement agencies and private entities, including any companies about which you may complain. Additionally, an ID Theft Affidavit a form you can use to alert companies where a new account was opened in your name can be filled out and given to the company. This affidavit is available online to consumers.

Identity thieves can get your personal information in a number of ways:

* They steal wallets and purse containing your i.d. and credit and bank cards.

* They steal your mail, including your bank and credit card statements, pre-approved credit offers, telephone calling cards and tax information.

* They complete a “change of address form” to divert your mail to another location.

* They rummage through your trash, or the trash of businesses, for personal data in a practice known as “dumpster diving.”

* They fraudulently obtain your credit report by posing as a landlord, employer or someone else who may have a legitimate need for and a legal right to the information.

* They get your business or personnel records at work.

* They find personal information in your home.

* They use personal information you share on the internet.

* They buy your personal information from “inside” sources. For example, an identity thief may pay a store employee for information about you that appears on an application for goods, services or credit.

Identity thieves will then take the personal information they have obtained about you and use it in a number of different ways:

* They will call your credit card issuer and, pretending to be you, ask to change the mailing address on your credit card account. The imposter then runs up charges on your account. Because your bills are being sent to the new address, it may take some time before you realize that there is a problem.

* They open a new credit card account, using your name, date of birth and SSN. When they sue the credit card and don’t pay the bills, the delinquent account is reported on your credit report.

* They establish phone or wireless service in your name.

* They open a bank account in your name and write bad checks on that account.

* They file for bankruptcy under your name to avoid paying debts they have incurred under your name, or to avoid eviction.

* They counterfeit checks or debits cards, and drain your bank account.

* They buy cars by taking out auto loans in your name.

Fortunately for Rachel, American Express covered her losses. Although she didn’t find out about the theft until she reached her home in California, American Express suspended her account when a number of suspicious charges appeared and she couldn’t be reached by them to verify the charges. Their fraud department left a message on her phone answering machine instructing her to call them and, when she did, Rachel was notified that someone else was using her card. When she explained that she had the card in her possession, she checked her purse and found a card for someone else instead.

Visa, MasterCard and American Express absorb the cost of fraud as long as they are notified by the consumer [certain restrictions may apply check with your card issuer for specific details]. Had Rachel used a debit card, the story might have been much different. Unlike a credit card, the debit card takes a direct hit on your bank account, meaning that you will have to absorb the loss.

So, all is well with Rachel, right? Sure, American Express overnighted a new card with a new account number for Rachel to use on her next trip, but the problem could very well have continued and deepened had she not taken three more steps recommended by the Federal Trade Commission:

First, contact the fraud departments of each of the three major credit bureaus. Tell them that you are a victim of identity theft. Request that a “fraud alert” be placed in your file, as well as a victim’s statement asking that creditors call you before opening any new accounts or changing your existing accounts. This can help prevent an identity thief from opening additional accounts in your name.

At the same time, order copies of your credit reports from the credit bureaus. Credit bureaus must give you a free copy of your report if your report is inaccurate because of fraud, and you make that request in writing. Review your reports carefully to make sure no additional fraudulent accounts have been opened in your name or unauthorized changes made to your existing accounts.

Second, contact the creditors for any accounts that have been tampered with or opened fraudulently. Creditors can include credit card companies, phone companies and other utilities, and banks and other lenders.

Third, if possible, file a report with your local police or the police in the community where the identity theft took place. Get a copy of the police report in case the bank, credit card company or others need proof of the crime. Even if the police are unable to catch the thief, the report can be helpful when dealing with creditors.

In summation, identity theft is a problem that is causing businesses and consumers billions of dollars per year. As a result, higher interest rates and an increase in the cost of goods and services is passed on to consumers. So, do not be a victim protect yourself from identity theft by remaining alert especially when a third party is handling your personal information.

Matthew Keegan is the owner of a successful web design and marketing company based in North Carolina, USA. He manages several sites including the Corporate Flight Attendant Community at http://www.corporateflyer.net and the Aviation Employment Board at http://www.aviationemploymentboard.net This article originally appeared in the Summer 2002 issue of the Flight Attendant News.

Let me ask you three questions to get you thinking. Does your website offer an RSS feed? Are you promoting your feed effectively? Are you seeing an increase in profits as a result of offering a feed to your visitors?

I’m going to outline several actionable steps you can take to promote your RSS feed both internally on your own website and externally on other websites. Then I’m going to show you a couple of effective programs to generate more profits using your RSS feed. Read what I have to say carefully, and then act on the information. I guarantee you can take it to the bank! I’m not just reiterating what others have said before. I actually acted and performed on my own websites everything I’m about to tell you and the results are awesome.

Promoting your RSS feed effectively requires a two prong approach. Start with examining your own website. Educate your visitors about the benefits of using your feed first. Then focus on external promotion second.

The average visitor won’t understand what RSS is about, why it would benefit them to use it or how it even works. So there’s no point in slapping up the little RSS Syndication logo on your website, linking it to your feed file and hoping people will subscribe. The simple fact is that they won’t. You need to spend some time building a page on your website that briefly explains to your visitors what RSS is about and then show them how to use your feed.

Let me show you a solid example. Point your browser to this URL: http://www.profitgazette.com/syndicate.php On this page of my website I tell my visitors the various ways they can receive my content. Along with subscribing to the newsletter, a visitor is also able to subscribe to the RSS feed. I don’t want to overwhelm them so I keep it brief and educate them with four points. “What is RSS? How can I use RSS? How do I get a News Reader? Can I use these feeds on my website?” See also in the top of the left column of that page (and every page on my website) how I give the visitor a quick teaser, mention a benefit to them and give them a link to my “RSS education” page? That’s how I get my visitors to discover what RSS is all about. Then if you look in the center near the top of the page you’ll see the little orange RSS image which doesn’t just link only to my RSS feed file, I actually use a small snippet of JavaScript to make it easy for my visitors to automatically subscribe themselves to my feed with whichever news aggregator they happen to be using. Just mouse over the RSS button on that page to see what I’m talking about. You can download a copy of that JavaScript for free at http://www.methodize.org/quicksub/

What’s next? External feed promotion. There are lots of websites that accept RSS feed submissions. I’m not going to drop a large list of sites into this article but I have put together a large list of them here: http://www.profitgazette.com/rss-submission-list.php Visit that page when you’re ready to submit your RSS feed. I personally submitted my feed to each of those sites and took a brand new website which I own from zero traffic to consistently maintaining an average of 80 unique visitors per day in two weeks from the date of submissions. So that really is a powerful submission list.

Now that you’ve educated your visitors on how to use your RSS feeds and are well into promoting your feed externally, what about optimizing your feed for the major search engines? Yes I said optimize. Did you know that you can optimize your feed to effectively garner traffic from MSN and Yahoo? Here’s how. Do some proper keyword research using WordTracker just like you would when performing a regular SEO campaign. Identify your top 3 key phrases and use them when you write the title and description of your feed inside your RSS file. The search engines will pick up on this and in conjunction with the items inside your RSS file they will rank you accordingly, providing you with an additional stream of traffic you never had before. To alert MSN and Yahoo to the presence of your RSS feed just visit http://my.msn.com and http://my.yahoo.com and add your feed to each page. That’s all there is too it.

By now you’ll probably be asking yourself “How can I make some bucks with my RSS feed?” There are a number of things you can do and programs you can participate in to generate a constant stream of revenue from your feed. Obviously if your website is product/sales oriented you could drop in an advertisement about your products at the end of each item in your feed. You could also apply for the Beta RSS program which Google Adsense is offering to select partners but there is no guarantee of being accepted. Although I have noticed that Google recently updated their Adsense terms of service agreement to include RSS and feed terminology. Perhaps this may mean that the program will come out of Beta soon. See this URL for more information: https://www.google.com/support/adsense/bin/topic.py?topic=957 Another search engine which offers publishers the option to earn revenue on ads placed in their RSS feed is Kanoodle. More information about Kanoodle’s venture into RSS is here: http://www.kanoodle.com/about/press_releases/02-28-05.cool

There is so much more to promoting your RSS feed and generating profit from it than what I could possibly hope to cover in an article and it really wouldn’t be fair of me to reveal all of the secrets when somebody has already put a lot of hard work and research toward putting them into a paid publication. If you really want to learn all of the top internet marketing strategies for RSS you should purchase a copy of Rok Hrastnik’s new eBook, “Unleash the Marketing & Publishing Power of RSS”. I read Rok’s book from cover to cover and implemented almost all of what I discovered through him into my websites. The difference is not just noticeable results but a completely amazing increase in exposure and profit margin.

Learn how to do your own online marketing and save money with this free, easy-to-understand web marketing newsletter. Don’t waste hours searching for your next, great Internet marketing strategy. Subscribe to The Profit Gazette Weekly Newsletter today.

The Internal Revenue Service gives away more information on U.S. citizens than almost any other agency and the identity thieves Love It. But why is it that the government gives away information on U.S. citizens to anyone who wants it? Why does the Internal Revenue Service collecting information and make it public to anybody?

If the United States government truly cares about identity theft then why is it allowing government agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service and other large agencies to give away the information. It is simply ludicrous to have the Federal Trade Commission enforce the identity theft rules and regulations in our nation on corporations who may have had a hacker steal information from their computer system and then allow the United States government agency to give away the information to anyone who wants it.

If it is true that the Internal Revenue Service gives away more information on U.S. citizens then the identity thieves even need, then why are we kidding our selves with the identity theft laws of our nation? What a silly bunch of hypocrisy we have going here; who thought of this anyway?

Why does the government every time there is a problem wish to enforce all the laws on the people and the corporations when it is the government’s fault? The government can do anything right or very well except spend our money; they sure do that good.

Should the government look in the mirror and shouldn’t we look in the mirror also since we are the government and fix this mess? This is utterly ridiculous. Please consider this in 2006.

“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; http://www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Lets face it, we look at stuff on the internet, in the privacy of our own homes that we would never look at in public. How often do you walk into your local bookstore and proudly by the latest Penthouse or Juggs? Most of us would even be a bit embarrased to subscribe to one of these magazines.

But millions of us, including myself occasionally like to look at adult material. We might even buy a couple adult toys or DVDs to spice up our marriage. But my point is, we do on the internet things we would never do in public.

However, our internet connection is an open door to what goes on in the privacy of our home. Everything we do on the internet can be seen and monitored. There are hundreds of people on the internet right now that would like nothing more to expose your web surfing habits, maybe even blackmail you.

It is no ones business what we do on the internet. Some of us wouldn’t even want others in our own home to know what we are looking at on the web. Imagine if one of your children ran across that picture of the hot blonde blond with huge tits that you were looking at. Or what if your wife found out that your were having cyber-sex with some chick she didn’t know about.

Ladies, how would you like it if someone, your husband, mom, or coworkers, found out that you were innocently looking at vibrators online? Or checking out an all male revue. How embarrassed would you be?

Sure, you could just become an overly paranoid freak that constantly looks over their shoulder and suspects that everyone is out to get them. But that would probably drive you insane.

-Did you know that records are kept of every website you go to?

-Did you know that files that you “delete” are never actully deleted at all? And it doesn’t take very much skill or expertise to “undelete” something that you did not want someone else to see. In fact, using the traditional delete button or recyling bid is actually the worse thing that you can do if you really want to get rid of a file.

-Did you know that identity theives can upload SPYWARE onto your computer without you ever knowing? They can then see not just everything you do on the internet, but everything you do on your computer. Even if you are not connected to the web.

-Did you know that if your spouse, parents or anyone else wants to monitor what you are doing on a computer that all they have to do is download a “hidden” program that will watch your every move and record every keyboard stroke that you make?

Protecting your privacy is an individual responsibility.

In August of 1998 I had my identity stolen by someone in Nigeria. At the time, I was working and attending college full time and barely making ends meet.

The person who stole my identity somehow got a hold of a credit card transaction that I had made and used that credit card and personal information to get other credit cards in my name.

I was scheduled to graduate from college in May 1999. I began applying for jobs early in the fall semester when one of my prospective employers called me to enquire about the credit check they had performed on me. The said that I had over $3,000 in unpaid bills.

I was shocked. But after I did a credit check on myself, sure enough, it showed that I owed $3278.22 to a collection agency.

To make a long story short, my identity had been stolen. And, it over three years to clean up the mess. I still get calls from rouge collection agencies attempting to make me pay.

That began my journey to research and find the best in privacy protection. Which led me into other software applications that help me monitor the “health” of my computer and have “situational awareness” of what is going on on my computer.

My biggest shocker after doing some research was that files that I thought were deleted from my harddrive could so easily be recovered. That led me on a quest to find a true delete program.

There are many good products on the market, however there is no silver bullet that does it all. And it doesn’t seem to an improvement in the future. http://www.delete4good.com

J. Barbour is a consultant for Weinman-Skaggs Consulting in Miami, FL. http://www.delete4good.com

Preventing identity theft is never foolproof but here are some good tips that will make it more difficult for anyone to steal your personal information.

The first and most important step for preventing identity theft is keeping a close watch on all of your personal information and your credit report.

Check your credit reports from all three bureaus at least once a year. Once you get your credit report check carefully to see that everything is accurate.

If you find an error, dispute it immediately so you can protect yourself from fraud.

Quite often similar names and similar social security numbers get mixed up, or worse, someone could have stolen your identity.

Another good way of preventing identity theft is don’t carry your Social Security card or anything with your Social Security number on it in your wallet.

Keeping your social security number private is a critical part of preventing identity theft.

Also, don’t keep your bank card pin number in your wallet because it helps a thief who has stolen your wallet help themselves to your cash at an A.T.M.

In this age of computer hacking, preventing identity theft also applies to the Internet.

If you use the Internet, make sure all your security software is up to date and be careful of Internet scams.

Remember, no legitimate business will ever send you an e-mail asking you to confirm your personal identifying information.

Preventing identity theft means you never give out personal information unless you initiated the contact or you’re absolutely sure who you’re dealing with.

Another good way of preventing identity theft is be especially careful about divulging your credit card number over the phone to telemarketers.

Often the only goal is to obtain your name, address and credit card number.

If you have to give your credit card number over the phone for a hotel or airline reservation, use a regular corded phone as opposed to a cordless or cell phone.

Make sure you report any lost or stolen credit cards immediately for preventing identity theft.

The bottom line is be careful about divulging any personal information about you.

If you use these tips you’ll have a much better chance at preventing identity theft before it happens.

Copyright © 2005 Credit Repair Facts.com

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This article may be re-published “as is” (unedited) as long as the author’s bio paragraph (resource box) and copyright information is included.
Any editing will be considered copyright infringement. The URLs in the resource box should be set as hyperlinks if used on a web page.

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Gary Gresham is the webmaster for http://www.credit-repair-facts.com where you’ll find credit information, debt elimination programs and informative facts that gives you the knowledge to correct your own credit and credit report.

What are RSS newsfeeds?

RSS stands for Rich Site Summary, or for Really Simple Syndication. Both mean the same thing, so don’t let it confuse you. An RSS is something a website (or a blog) offers to readers provide a “news feed” of their information. It’s available for everyone to add to their own “news reader” for free and gets displayed on your desktop or in your web browser.

It works almost like a stock ticker, delivering exactly the information that you have anonymously “subscribed” to, eliminating the need to go out and check your favorite outlets for new information, because they’re already delivered to your computer.

Who needs RSS?

Well, everyone need it. It’s so much more efficient than going to get it, or getting endless email newsletters. Having the paper delivered to your home makes more sense than driving to the store every day, doesn’t it? In the same vein, let’s say that you want only the latest news about only certain subjects, and routinely go out and check several websites to see what’s new. Using RSS, those individual websites will deliver that news right to your desktop, suitable for reading, clicking, printing, or ignoring.

How can you use RSS?

There seems to be no single definitive answer, because there are so many ways to use it. I’ll tell you about the easiest way to get RSS feeds that I know of, but by no means is that the only way. That is; on your homepage of your web browser.

First, you need an RSS newsreader, (a.k.a. “aggregator”). The good news though is that you may already have one. Since millions of people have Yahoo, MSN, Hotmail or Google accounts, I’ll walk you through adding a news feed to your MSN home page. Go to http://www.my.msn.com and sign in. If you don’t already have a hotmail account, go ahead and create one. If you’d prefer, you can go to http://my.yahoo.com and do the same) It only takes a minute go get a new account.

After signing in to My MSN, you’ll see quite an array of news, weather, sports, ads, stock quotes, local information etc. Think of this as your canvas, and you’re free to arrange or remove the information how you see fit. Each of these sections you see can me easily moved or deleted. To move them, just click and drag from the top right of each subject area. To remove them, click the minus (-) sign in the top left of the subject area. Feel free to delete them all, since you can always add them back later.

Now go to top left of the screen, right above the “Welcome” area you’ll see “Add content” below your name. When you go there, you get four choices (Tabs) for adding content. The default tab that comes up is “Search”. and from here you have four options and each is clearly defined. If you know the exact web address (URL) for a company’s newsfeed, you can enter it right here. The other three tabs might be worth exploring too, since they let you browse by company names and subjects. Then you just click a box for all you want.

After signing in to My Yahoo, you’ll notice that there are already several news feeds from Reuters listed there, with “Top stories”, “world News”, “Politics” and “Business”. Above those stories, you’ll see a big yellow box in the center explaining how you can “Add Content”. Click the link to “add content” and you’ll come up with a search box allowing you to “find content” about a given subject. Type in a search phrase, and you’ll be presented with search results that all have an “Add” button next to them. Hit the “Add” button by the ones you want, and then hit the “Finished” button at the top right, and you’re done. You just added that RSS news feed to your My Yahoo page. Scroll down at the My Yahoo main page, and you’ll see those news headlines you added at the bottom of your list. To rearrange the order of your news feeds, just hit the small “edit” button at the top right of each news section. To remove a news feed, just hit the X like you would to close any window.

Customizing your own news feeds

Now suppose you don’t need to “find” a news feed on a subject, because you already know you want to add a particular one. Well that’s easy too. Al you have to do is identify what the “RSS feed URL” is for the information you want to add. Most blogs or news organizations show you these now on their websites.

Look for a small orange box on the website that says XML or the words “RSS Feed” or “News feed” and click on it. In the case of large organizations, like CNN for example, you’ll be taken to a page with a nice set of instructions, and a whole list of RSS news feed URL’s that you can manually copy and paste into your news reader.

Sometimes though, you’ll be taken to a page that looks like gibberish code. Don’t let that scare you like it did me the first time I saw it! When that happens, you are actually looking right at the feed itself, and all you have to do is copy and paste what’s in the address bar of your web browser, right into your news reader. That’s called “knowing the specific URL of the feed” on MSN, and “”Add RSS by URL” in Yahoo.

In My Yahoo, to manually add a news feed, go to the “add content” area, and choose the link to the right of the Find button that says “Add RSS by URL”. Once you paste your URL in that window and hit “add” the news headlines should show up there. If they don’t, then you may have copied the URL wrong, or added a space at the end. Then just hit the “Add to My Yahoo” button and you’re done! In MSN, you’ll paste the URL of the news feed right into the search box, then check the box when it shows the result.

Delivering exactly what you want and only when you want is how the internet is supposed to work. Things are only getting better.

In researching this article, I notice that My Yahoo seems to be having problems adding certain manual URL’s. Oh well. Nothings perfect.

Scott Hendison is an internet and technology consultant,
based in Portland Oregon, but working with companies in five countries. He specializes in search engine placement and E-commerce POS solutions. For over 100 other articles he’s written please visit his website at http://www.pdxtc.com.

RSS is a many-in-one marketing & publishing tool, although unfortunatelly most marketers still fail to understand this powerful concept.

While RSS does provide a number of benefits when used for each individual marketing function, best results are achieved when it is fully integrated in your internet marketing strategy. In more simpler terms — when you use it to power most of your marketing online.

The key point is that RSS makes various marketing functions work together, in order to generate the best possible end result.

It’s now the time to tie it all together and see the whole picture …

1]
RSS as a content delivery channel for communicating with subscribers, customers, prospects and partners gets your content delivered and provides you with multiple new content delivery & business development opportunities. Yes, RSS gets your content to your subscribers without fail, enabling you to communicate with them and sell to them.

2]
RSS as a promotional/visibility tool increases your traffic by improving your search engine rankings, generating traffic from new RSS specific sites and getting your content published on other sites. Each of these activities brings new visitors to your site, which are now ready to be converted in to new subscribers with which you can communicate (via RSS and/or e-mail) on the long-term. In addition, the improved visibility enforces your brand and generates more credibility for your company.

3]
Content delivery to end-users and content syndication together form the basis of RSS conversations, which further spread your reach throughout the internet and serve as a strong PR platform.

4]
Once you have access to more prospective subscribers, to which you want to deliver content via RSS, you can provide them with your own branded RSS aggregator to make the switch to RSS easier for them, as well as to establish a constant connection with them, enforce your brand and develop brand experience. Your branded aggregator also serves as a sales platform for your own products and an advertising platform to generate advertising income.

5]
As a publisher, your goal is to better satisfy the needs of your visitors, establish yourself as a key content source in your industry and make your visitors come back more often. Providing access to additional information is one of the elements to make this possible. Use RSS to syndicate content from other websites and, as an upgrade to target their most focused content needs, create RSS radars for your key phrases.

6]
RSS radars will in turn also generate additional visibility, especially through improved search engine rankings, and generate new subscribers for your RSS feeds.

7]
All of the above will create advertising venue and create a new source of income.

8]
In addition, using RSS advertising as an advertiser yourself you can increase the reach of all of the above activities.

The system comes full-circle, establishing RSS as the tool that powers an important share of all of your internet marketing and publishing activities.

Copyright 2005 Rok Hrastnik

Rok Hrastnik is the author of Unleash the Marketing & Publishing Power of RSS, acclaimed as the best and most comprehensive guide to RSS for marketers by leading RSS experts. The complete guide on RSS for marketers: http://rss.marketingstudies.net/index.html?src=sa9

Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE), or spam has reached epidemic proportions, and continues to grow. According to American Online, of the estimated 30 million email messages each day, about 30% on average was unsolicited commercial email. As a result of its very low marginal costs, spam has become extremely prolific. Regardless of how many emails are sent out, the spammers’ costs are low, and constant. With numbers like these, there is a tremendous burden shifted to the Internet Service Provider (ISP) to process and store that amount of data. Huge volumes of this junk may undoubtedly contribute to many of the access, speed, and reliability problems suffered by many ISPs. Further, many large ISPs have experienced major system outages as the result of massive junk email campaigns. Spam is an issue about consent, not content. Regardless of whether the UCE message is an advertisement, porn, or a winning lottery notice, the content is irrelevant. If the message was sent unsolicited, and in bulk then the message is spam.

This junk e-mail is more than just annoying; it costs Internet users, and Internet-based businesses millions, even billions, per year. When a spammer sends an email message to a million people, it is carried by numerous electronic systems on route to its destination. The systems in between are bearing the burden of carrying advertisements, and other unsolicited junk for the spammer. The number of spams sent out each day is truly overwhelming, and each one must be handled efficiently, and expeditiously by many systems. There is no justification for forcing third parties to bear the load of unsolicited advertising. Ultimately, these costs are passed on to YOU, the consumer.

Spam originates in one of two ways, it is sent directly by the spammer from and under their control, or via illegal third party exploitation such as open proxies or open relays. Spammers get your address in a variety of ways. If you sign up for, and provide your email address, these seemingly friendly sites can turn around and sell your email to advertisers. Additionally, if you have your email address on a Web page, it is easy for unscrupulous advertisers to “harvest” it, and add you to their lists.

There are ways to reduce the number of spam messages, however it is presently impossible to stop them all. Spam filters, are software applications that redirect emails based on the presence of certain common phrases, or words. These automated measures are prone to being defeated by clever spammers. Additionally, there is a risk of important emails being deleted as spam. In 2003, Congress passed a sweeping law, CAN-SPAM act of 2003, which basically prohibits the use of deceptive subject lines and false headers in all emails. Additionally, the FTC is authorized (but not required) to establish a do-not-email registry. The CAN-SPAM Act took effect on January 1, 2004.

Spam is based on theft of service; it wastes time, money, and other resources. Spam can and will overwhelm your electronic mail box if it isn’t fought. Over time, unless the growth of spam isn’t stopped, it will destroy the usefulness and effectiveness of email as a communication tool.

Jay B Stockman is a contributing editor for Spam Blocker Software Solutions Visit http://spam-blockeronline.com/ for more information.

If you are distributing material to an opt-in email list, you need to know about a fledgling, grassroots organization called e-Crucible. The organization is committed to “opposing by any ethical, political, and legal means available the vigilante activities of “anti-Spam” fanatics and the unfair and unjust handling of ‘Spam’ complaints by certain Internet Service Providers.”

According to the Executive Director, John Botscharow, e-Crucibles is in the process of acquiring non-profit status so it can exist as a legal entity.

But first, a little background.

As an online publisher, you already know what I mean by bogus spam reports. Either in error or with mischievous intent, a subscriber decides your ezine is spam. Quicker than you can say, “Hey, you subscribed!”, s/he sends hostile, rude and often abusive emails to every web site or email address listed in your ezine. In some cases, the complainant includes a worm or virus with the email for added impact. Or maybe s/he reports you to SpamCop, CAUSE or a similar vigilante group.

The bad stuff hits the fan. You’re deemed guilty and there is no wayto prove your innocence. Without contacting you, SpamCop emails your ISP, your web host, your advertisers and even the writers whose articles you have published. At best, you spend the next few days explaining and pleading your innocence to the people involved. At worst, your website host and your ISP shut you down. Your business is interrupted until you can make other arrangements. If you live in an area of the world where you have only one ISP available, this can mean the end of your Internet business.

This story is but one example of many. Frank Garon is a webmaster who publishes an opt-in ezine with a subscriber base of 12,000 (http://www.InternetCashPlanet.com). His ezine contains clear unsubscribe instructions. Sometime in April, 2001, a subscriber allegedly sent the entire ezine to SpamCop with the instructions to “shut down this American *&%^ spammer.”

Garon reported that SpamCop contacted every email address and web host address contained in the ezine. One victim was a writer whose article had been published in the ‘zine. She had the usual resource box at the end of her article, including a link to her site. The writer’s email account was shut down, and at last report, her web site was in jeopardy. Remember that this writer did not send a single email. Common sense dictates that she could not possibly have been guilty of spam.

Garon and the writer sent an appeal to SpamCop. The response from SpamCop’s “deputy” included the following:”…”If the admin of this ezine would like to pursue punitive action against the SpamCop user for filing a false complaint, we will need to see proof of opt-in confirmation. Otherwise, we will simply consider this matter closed…”

Now here’s the kicker. SpamCop did not reveal the name and email address of the complainant. Without identification, how can Garon prove that the subscriber had opted-in? Worse, without the email address, how can Garon remove the subscriber from his list? What’s to stop the same subscriber from filing the same complaint repeatedly? Again, it defies common sense.

As Garon wrote, ‘To have to spend every day wondering if TODAY is the day some creep is going to falsely accuse you of Spam and cost you and your entire family everything you have put years of hard work into is MORE than a little scary.”

To make the story even more bizarre, e-Crucible members state that they have reported real spammers to SpamCop with no results.

If you’re an email publisher, the shark attacks come from three sources: odious subscribers, vigilante organizations and ISPs and web hosts who shut you down without giving you a chance to defend yourself. As an individual, you can do little to change the situation.

Please consider signing up for the free e-Crucibles mailing list and help strengthen this little organization with the big goals. Sign up at http://www.topica.com/lists/e-Crucible/ or send email to mailto:e-Crucible-subscribe@topica.com

Please note: e-Crucible is NOT pro-spam. They are opposed to spurious spam complaints that put legitimate marketers in jeopardy.