Greetings from SurfSafely.com! If you enjoy reading this newsletter as much as I do writing it, pass it on to all your friends and family. As always, this newsletter is opt-in only. If you feel you've received it in error, reliable removal instructions are at the bottom. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In this issue: 1. A new kind of spam 2. Latest press releases ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Don't forget, archived copies of all past news letters can always be found at http://surfsafely.com/surfsafety/frameset_news.html and are fully searchable. (It works now. Honest it does.) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1. A new kind of spam ===================== We're seeing a growing number of cases of a new twist on search engine spamming; so much so that we had to create a form letter to send to all those who complain to us about it. Here's how it works. The name of the game online for web site owners is traffic. They want visitors to their site else their efforts are wasted. The way to get those visits is to advertise the site. The best place to advertise them is in search engines where folks can find them by searching for what the web site owner is offering. Pretty simple until you consider just how many search engines actually exist on the web. To aid them with their search engine submissions, many web site owners turn to meta submission software; software that submits their web sites to many search engines all at once. Many search engine companies take a dim view of this type of software. Because it's so easy, users tend to abuse it by submitting their sites too often and can sometines get one barred from some search engines altogether. We call this search engine spamming. Because many search engines require a contact email address, meta submission software usually has a place for the web site owner to enter HIS address. The problem is many web site owners do not want to be found. Some of them use email addresses they assume are bogus which are, in reality, working addresses of real people. When sites are submitted some search engines like ours will send a confirmation message to the email address provided. The actual email address owner now also becomes a victim of search engine spamming and most have no idea how to respond to the problem. We do add addresses to our autoresponder blocked list for all who request it but others may not. If you receive confusing email like this from a search engine you did not submit a site to, your best recourse is to contact the owner of the submitted site and request they not use your address for this purpose. An address can usually be found at the site being submitted or in the DNS record for the domain name. We recommend you start by asking politely. If they refuse, complain to their hosting company who will likely shut them down for violation of their terms of use. If you become the deliberate target of someone bent on making your life miserable and you find their web host unwilling to cooperate, as unfortunate as it is your best recourse may be to just change your email address and move on with your life. If you persist in trying to make THEIR life miserable, just remember some of these people are very not-nice people and it could backfire. They could target you for more spam, or worse. That's the way it goes online sometimes. Best to avoid them if you can, and confront them only when you must. They can, and sometimes do make other peoples lives miserable just for the sport of it. Choose your battles wisely. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 2. Latest press releases ======================== Saturday, February 23, 2002 SurfSafely.com forms OSRB SurfSafely.com today announces the formation of the Online Safety Review Board, web site to be located at OSRB.org. The primary function of the board will be the review of products and services with emphasis toward online safety. Full product and service reviews will be featured on the web site and will include such things as software filters, firewalls, browser software, operating systems, hardware on which any of them are or can be installed, etc. Any product with security features that could be used to protect children from inappropriate content or dangerous online behavior is a candidate for review, including password protected video playback devices and Internet enabled PDAs. Hardware manufacturers and software developers wishing to have their products reviewed in time for the official launch scheduled for late March may send their requests to reviews@osrb.org. Friday, February 22, 2002 SurfSafely.com announces plans to offer dial-up Internet service. SurfSafely.com will soon offer dial-up Internet service through more than 1400 access numbers to subscribers in the U.S. and soon Canada. Branding will be under the name SurfSafely.net. Service will be available prefiltered and unfiltered, user selectable at any time through the master account password in the online control panel with filtering broken down into 38 categories. Pricing will be $19.95/month U.S. for unlimited access, will include 10 email addresses, 10 MB of personal home page web space and 24/7 tech support! Users wishing to be placed on our waiting list and notified of the service launch date may send an email to waiting@surfsafely.net. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ That's news for now. Be informed, Be involved, Be well. Sincerely, Mark Brasche Founder and CEO, SurfSafely.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~