You can find the email we received from them here
http://paste.debian.net/1223611/ (just the body, idk if anyone also want
headers)
Must admit I thought it was a scam, just because it was its own domain,
out of the blue and as many have mentioned unsolicited.
Bert
On 15/12/2021 19:24, Charles Sprickman wrote:
Does anyone have a sample of one of their emails?
I’m composing a brief nastygram and would like to get my eyes on one before
finishing up.
Thanks,
Charles
On Dec 15, 2021, at 11:39 AM, Bill Cole
<sausers-20150...@billmail.scconsult.com> wrote:
There has recently been a spate of odd spams to harvested addresses asking
hypothetical questions about domains' privacy practices. It turns out this is a
grad student enrolling human subjects in a study without informed consent...
The explanation is at https://measurement.cs.princeton.edu/privacystudy/ and
there is a list of domains there which were created to run this maldesigned
study.
Many of the early batch compounded the consent problem with outright fraud,
claiming to be from people who do not exist.
I am curious about what the SA user world thinks of such domains. My personal
opinion is that the grad student, his faculty advisors, and his IRB should all
be forced to find new careers and the domains should have a null CNAME at the
root forever. It appears that URIBL, SURBL, and Spamhaus DBL have all noticed
the domains unflatteringly, which I suppose constitutes a more balanced
consequence...
A customer has expressed mild dismay at the concept that a fine research institution
should be "punished for doing research." I'm less attached to Princeton than my
NJ-based customer and (having worked in a NIH-funded lab) less idolizing of the Ivory
Tower in general. I have no difficulty explaining my position, but I am rather surprised
that I need to in 2021. Am I missing something special that makes such research spam
somehow not spam?
--
Bill Cole
b...@scconsult.com or billc...@apache.org
(AKA @grumpybozo and many *@billmail.scconsult.com addresses)
Not Currently Available For Hire
