While this really isn’t a new occurrence, it is interesting to note who sold it and who bought it. Several years ago, I read about someone that creates a new email aliases for each website he visits. Since I run my own domain and can easily do this, I adopted website.com@gruby.com which lets me easily track (and disable) email addresses. Today I received email from the San Jose Mercury News; I signed up on their website at one time to view some article and used a new email address. I also uncheck the “share my name” options and all the email options. Well, it looks like the Mercury News feels they need to support their website by sending out spam. The email I received today was a paid advertisement from the Phil Angelides campaign.
I can see less reputable companies doing this, but the newspaper for Silicon Valley? They really should know better than to spam their subscriber list. Their FAQ states:
Will I receive email?
Our content is available to you as a free service. Occasionally, we will send emails to update you on new features and products from MercuryNews.com and on behalf of our selected partners and advertisers.
So while they are in their rights to send me crap, sending me a political advertisement when they haven’t sent me anything in years is just in bad taste.
Not a huge deal for me, I just disabled the email alias and now they can’t send me any more spam.