All of a sudden, out of the clear blue sky, I start getting email from the American Medical Association. This is coming to my personal email account, one that I have never given to the AMA.
As you can see, I’ve gotten 3 of them. After the 3rd one, I finally went ahead and took the step of opting-out of further mailings. It’s my hope that the AMA will see itself clear to do that.
Also note that I’m calling this spam. It is. It’s unsolicited, and sent in bulk. I am not a user of Medicare or TRICARE. My father-in-law is a medical doctor, but he doesn’t have this address (and this is guy who would need his email printed out anyway). So, I doubt that he gave it the AMA. I don’t know where the AMA got my address, and frankly, I don’t much care. I just know that I didn’t give it to them.
So anyway, as we did with Gold Lasso, let’s have a look at the spam and the statements/policies of the ESP that they’re using. That should be fun, right?
November 8:
Return-Path: <[redacted]@bounce.onlinecoalitions.com>
Received: from vhost-166.lt20.net (vhost-166.lt20.net [66.216.171.166]) by dumbledore.whizardries.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 3B0CFBC194 for ; Thu, 8 Nov 2007 19:05:00 -0600 (CST)
Received: by vhost-166.lt20.net id h6ep3g0dsh0j for ; Thu, 8 Nov 2007 20:04:53 -0500 (envelope-from [redacted])
x-mailer-reference: [redacted]
errors-to: [redacted]@bounce.onlinecoalitions.com
mime-version: 1.0
from: AMA Patients’ Action Network
to: [redacted]@whizardries.com
reply-to: info@amaaction.org
date: 8 Nov 2007 20:04:58 -0500
subject: Watch Our Latest VideoIf Congress does not act your access to health care will suffer.
(http://email.onlinecoalitions.com/c.asp?[redacted])Doesn’t your family deserve the best health care possible? If Congress doesn’t stop scheduled doctor payment cuts, access to the doctors you want and the care you need will erode.
While private insurance companies receive massive financial support from the government for patients enrolled in their plans, Medicare physicians aren’t even reimbursed enough to cover the expenses of treating patients.
According to the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, roughly 25% of Medicare patients have difficult looking for a new primary care physician. And future doctor payment cuts will only make things worse! They’ll force doctors to downsize their practices, limit patient services, and delay their purchase of critical new medical equipment.
With the first wave of baby boomers reaching retirement age in three short years, and a government–predicted shortage of 85,000 doctors by 2020, these cuts make no sense. Tell Congress to stop Medicare doctor payment cuts!
Don’t let insurance companies cut your health benefits to line their own pockets. If you don’t act now, doctor payment cuts may jeopardize your access to doctors. Tell Congress to make good on their promise to America’s families today.
Watch the video, and take action today! (http://email.onlinecoalitions.com/c.asp?[redacted])
© 2007 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.
To be removed from this list, please go here: http://email.onlinecoalitions.com/c.asp?[redacted]
November 11:
Return-Path: <[redacted]@bounce.onlinecoalitions.com>
Received: from vhost-166.lt20.net (vhost-166.lt20.net [66.216.171.166]) by dumbledore.whizardries.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id AF963BC5A5 for [redacted@whizardries.com]; Sun, 11 Nov 2007 19:00:43 -0600 (CST)
Received: by vhost-166.lt20.net id h6uiri0dsh0i for ; Sun, 11 Nov 2007 20:00:24 -0500 (envelope-from <[redacted]@bounce.onlinecoalitions.com>)
errors-to: [redacted]@bounce.onlinecoalitions.com
mime-version: 1.0
from: AMA Patients’ Action Network
to: [redacted]@whizardries.com
reply-to: info@amaaction.org
date: 11 Nov 2007 20:00:26 -0500
subject: Protect our Veterans’ Medical BenefitsService members fighting for our country shouldn’t have to worry about their families’ health care. Tell Congress to protect medical benefits for members of the armed forces. (http://email.onlinecoalitions.com/c.asp?[redacted])
But millions of military patients and their families are already having trouble finding physicians.
Since TRICARE, the military insurance plan for active and retired military members and their families, is tied to Medicare, future doctor payment cuts will cause even greater harm to their health care quality.
They’ve sacrificed for our country and have done their duty to protect all Americans. Unless Congress acts now, future doctor payment cuts will deprive them of the health care they need and deserve.
This Veterans’ Day, let’s show our support by helping to protect service members’ access to doctors, so that these brave individuals can get the care they need.
Click here to stop doctor payment cuts.
(http://email.onlinecoalitions.com/c.asp?[redacted])© 2007 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.
To be removed from this list, please go here: http://email.onlinecoalitions.com/c.asp?[redacted]
Last night:
Return-Path:
Received: from vhost-166.lt20.net (vhost-166.lt20.net [66.216.171.166]) by dumbledore.whizardries.com (Postfix) with ESMTP id 4BA72BC5BC for ; Fri, 16 Nov 2007 03:00:32 -0600 (CST)
Received: by vhost-166.lt20.net id h7le2k0dsh0r for ; Fri, 16 Nov 2007 04:00:25 -0500 (envelope-from <[redacted]@bounce.onlinecoalitions.com>)
errors-to: [redacted]@bounce.onlinecoalitions.com
mime-version: 1.0
from: AMA Patients’ Action Network
to: [redacted]@whizardries.com
reply-to: info@amaaction.org
date: 16 Nov 2007 04:00:31 -0500
subject: Tell Congress to protect seniors’ medical benefitsCongress made a solemn promise to America’s seniors to supply more affordable medical care, but now they’re limiting seniors’ access to doctors, making it harder for them to get the care they need. Tell Congress to protect seniors’ access to doctors. (http://email.onlinecoalitions.com/c.asp?[redacted])
With over 3.2 million baby boomers becoming eligible for Medicare in three short years, and a government–predicted shortage of 85,000 doctors by 2020, doctor payment cuts will create an access-to-care crisis for America’s seniors.
If Congress doesn’t act soon, Medicare doctor payment cuts will hurt America’s patients. Doctors will be forced to defer the purchase of new medical equipment and information technology; seniors will have a harder time finding medical and surgical specialists and will have to travel greater distances to see a doctor; and more Medicare patients will be forced to go to expensive emergency rooms for routine care that could have been treated in a doctor’s office.
It’s time for Congress to start living up to its promises. Tell your Senators to make good on their promise to America’s seniors.
Tell them to stop doctor payment cuts.
(http://email.onlinecoalitions.com/c.asp?[redacted])© 2007 American Medical Association. All Rights Reserved.
To be removed from this list, please go here: http://email.onlinecoalitions.com/c.asp?[redacted]
Now that the samples (maybe I should call them “spamples”?) are out of the way, let’s see what we can see.
Let’s start with onlinecoalitions.com. If you go to http://email.onlinecoalitions.com/, then you’ll find a unsubscribe form. Who knows, maybe that’s for their global list. So, they’re starting out with a bang in the “inspires confidence” category. Still, we want to know more about onlinecoalitions.com. So, let’s try http://www.onlinecoalitions.com/.
Oh, now THIS is even better. “This Virtual Directory does not allow contents to be listed.”
I guess that means that they don’t want us to know about them. Too bad. This is the Internet. I want information badly enough that I can either find it myself or know someone else who can help. So, let’s try something different. How about whois? That should tell us who owns the domain, right?
We get to add more points to the “this inspires confidence” category.
Registrant:
Domains by Proxy, Inc.
DomainsByProxy.com
15111 N. Hayden Rd., Ste 160, PMB 353
Scottsdale, Arizona 85260
United States
Ok, if you’re thinking of starting your own ESP, this is something else that you should NOT do. Take ownership of your stuff, people. This part isn’t rocket science. Make it easy for people to find you.
So, let’s try something different.
[mickc@padfoot ~]$ dig email.onlinecoalitions.com
; <<>> DiG 9.5.0a6 <<>> email.onlinecoalitions.com
;; global options: printcmd
;; Got answer:
;; ->>HEADER<<- opcode: QUERY, status: NOERROR, id: 44160
;; flags: qr rd ra; QUERY: 1, ANSWER: 2, AUTHORITY: 2, ADDITIONAL: 0;; QUESTION SECTION:
;email.onlinecoalitions.com. IN A;; ANSWER SECTION:
email.onlinecoalitions.com. 2240 IN CNAME customers.listrak.com.
customers.listrak.com. 1918 IN A 66.109.239.152
Ah. Here’s a new name: Listrak. Let’s see what there is to see about Listrak.
First let’s start out with reputation.
- Spamhaus SBL listing: They have 2.
- Snarky comments on the web about them spamming. You betcha.1
Ok, we’re good to go.
Evidently, deliverability is big at Listrak.2 They devote a whole page to telling you how they can help.
My favorite is this:
Abuse Processing System – Listrak allows clients to view which users have mistakenly reported their email as Spam so they can immediately remove those individuals from their lists.
So, if someone thinks that your email is spam, well, then they must be mistaken! Our clients would never send spam, would they?
We also have this little gem:
Listrak’s Strategic Approach
Listrak’s deliverability strategies include educating new subscribers on the types of email communication that will be sent to them, how often or when the communication will arrive, and what email address you will be using to send the message.
That’s good — or, rather, it would be had they done it. Remember, I started getting this AMA spam out of the clear blue. There was no welcome message, no indication that I’d been added to a list, and nothing that said, “We’re going to email you once a week.” Maybe the AMA is a new client, and my address was on an imported list.
Anyway, let’s look at the other group involved in the fun. The email server that sent the message was vhost-166.lt20.net [66.216.171.166]. So, let’s have a look at http://lt20.net/.
Oh, look! It’s ANOTHER confidence-inspiring message:
Important Support Notice: You have reached your Virtual Server’s Default Domain lt20.net. We have generated a detailed Error Report found in the Event Viewer to better help you trouble shoot this problem. If you continue to have problems with your Virtual Server’s configuration or operation please contact your account’s Support Engineer.
So, once again, if you’re going to set up an ESP, please take ownership of your stuff. Don’t make it hard to find you. Set something up in the root directory of your virtual server that people can use to connect you to your work. I’m having to do entirely too much work to find responsible parties.
As it turns out, this is also Listrak. Whois says the owner is Vertex Internet:
Registrant:
Internet, Vertex
ATTN: LT20.NET
c/o Network Solutions
P.O. Box 447
Herndon, VA. 20172-0447
Vertex.net is the domain. And look, right there at the top, we have “Listrak Email Marketing.” It turns out that the Vertex CEO is also the founder of Listrak. Convenient, huh?
Footnotes
- Mike Adams, Email Marketing Service Provider Listrak Spams President of Permission-Based Email Software Company with Unsolicited Commercial Email, News Target (2007), https://web.archive.org/web/20071101053211/http://www.newstarget.com/003771.html (last visited Nov 16, 2007). ↩︎
- Email Deliverability Solutions From Listrak, (2008), https://web.archive.org/web/20081114043022/http://www.listrak.com/deliverability.asp (last visited Nov 16, 2008). ↩︎
