Content about Spamming

San Francisco -- A report Monday by Associated Press said that Walgreen Co., McDonald's and Twitter each reported unrelated security breaches, involving customer e-mail addresses and other private information.

Walgreen said hackers who gained access to a list of customer e-mail addresses may have sent spam directing customers to enter personal data into outside websites.

By Dan Forootan, dforootan@streamsend.com

Retail marketers have long feared their e-mail messages being considered as spam. But who decides if an e-mail message is spam? The answer is much like a courtroom verdict: the Internet service providers (ISPs) play the part of the judge and individual list members make up the jury. So, before hitting the send button marketers must make sure their argument holds up in court.

Getting your message past the judge

By Seth Sarelson & Jonathan Treiber, Seth@RevTrax.com, Jonathan@RevTrax.com