| LED Digest 1762: First Can-Spam Lawsuit, also Chameleon Card |
|
|
|
================================================== The LED Digest Moderated Discussion List "Effective Online Advertising, Since 1997" pair Networks: The LED's Web Host Hosting and Domain Reg. from a Trusted Leader pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains ================================================== List Moderator: Published by: Adam Audette LED Digest adam,led-digest.com http://www.led-digest.com ................................................ March 8, 2004 Issue #1762 ................................................ .....IN THIS DIGEST..... ====== NEW ====================== <Moderator Comment> ~ ISP Files First Can-Spam Lawsuit ~ Chameleon Card Changes Stripes ==== CONTINUING ================= --== Unrelated, Unsavory & Unwanted Links ==-- ~ Erik Perkins "There is another possible reason for strange referrals that I would like to add from my own experience." --== Fraud ==-- ~ Carlos Romero "Simple internet retailer solution for fraud: I use PayPal..." ~ Stan Smith "...what I do is to call the security department of my processing company..." ~ David Lapidus "...the best protection against fraud is to ask the buyer to wire transfer the money..." ~ Steve Pronger "Do you consider Australia to be a common source of fraudulent orders...?" ==== BILLBOARD =================== --== CSS Problems ==-- ~ Peter Warnock ~ Kathy Wilson Anderson ======= NEW ====================================== <Moderator Comment> Couple interesting items for you today that I'd love to hear your comments on: 1) ISP Files First Can-Spam Lawsuit http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,62559,00.html "A California Internet service provider is putting the federal Can-Spam Act to its first test, two months after the law passed, by filing a lawsuit against the owner of home-improvement website BobVila.com. "Hypertouch, based in Foster City, California, filed the suit on Thursday claiming the owner of BobVila.com and its marketing affiliate BlueStream Media violated provisions of the Can-Spam Act by sending out e-mail advertisements containing missing contact information. The suit claims that BlueStream Media forged the header information that can help e-mail recipients identify where a message originated. "Under the Can-Spam Act, which is the United States' first nationwide attempt at reducing the amount of spam clogging the Internet, all e-mail advertisements must contain valid headers and contact information. "Critics of the act, however, contend that the law is too weak to have any serious effect and point out that it overrides stricter state laws against spam." 2) Chameleon Card Changes Stripes http://www.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,62545,00.html "Your next wallet may be 8 mm thick and contain the only card you'll ever need. "Chameleon Network, in Concord, Massachusetts, plans to replace the stacks of credit, bank and customer-loyalty cards burdening modern consumers with a single, rewritable Chameleon Card, which works just like an ordinary card with a magnetic strip. "The Chameleon Card's black strip covers a programmable transducer that mimics the information on the magnetic strips of the cards it is replacing. A new handheld device from Chameleon, the Pocket Vault, programs the Chameleon Card to take the place of any credit card the consumer chooses for a transaction. "Shoppers will be able to swipe their Chameleon Cards through the same magnetic readers used in stores and banks today. And instead of reading bar codes off the back of customer-loyalty cards, retail bar-code readers will scan the bar code displayed on the Pocket Vault itself." ===== CONTINUING ================================= From: Erik Perkins Subject: Unsavory links Re Unsavory and Unwanted Links > When viewing my referrer information for the past weeks, > I see that I am getting visits to my site that were referred > by some very strange sites... - Donald Nelson, LED 1856 There is another possible reason for strange referrals that I would like to add from my own experience. Occasionally a web "master" will insert a picture on his own web site that has been stolen from your web site. Sometimes they do not even perform the courtesy of downloading the image and uploading it to another server, instead they just leave it where it is and put the entire URL of your image in their img src tag. This has happened to me a couple times that I know of, both times it was someone using one of those automated online free web page building and hosting services. I imagine they just browse Google image search until they see a picture that would look good on their page. Both times I had some time to waste, so I made a brand new image that was about a thousand pixels wide and displayed a message regarding web designers who were too lazy to steal properly. I gave this image the exact same file name and put it in the exact same directory -- being careful to rename the one I use and to update my own tags. As to your actual question, I agree with previous responses. The search engine algorithms don't appear to penalize sites for the quality of incoming links. The only "guilt by association" you could experience would be someone else running a check on who is linking to you. Erik Perkins Liberty Graphics, Inc, http://www.lgtees.com ------- new post - new topic -------- From: Carlos Romero Subject: Fraud > I was the victim of [fraud] because I was not aware that my > credit card processor would approve a credit card when the > name and address did not match. As long as that card is active, > they approve it leading a merchant to believe the order is legitimate. - Sandi Dettman, LED 1760 Simple internet retailer solution for fraud: I use PayPal with address verification to collect funds from my customers. This way I keep no customer card info, they are verified prior to purchasing by PayPal. Process can take maybe 8 hours, but combined with US priority mail I can have product anywhere in the US in 2-4 days. By the way did I mention it's cheaper. I use it instead of a wire transfer to pay, for an order products from China and it clears in less than 1 day. Carlos Romero skycarl [at] msn [dot] com ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Stan Smith Subject: Fraud > ... many of you probably have experience dealing > with those large, enticing international orders which > are to be rushed to Nigeria, Indonesia or Australia... - Sandi Dettman, LED 1760 I have gotten several of those orders from Indonesia, and what I do is to call the security department of my processing company and give them the card #. They can tell where the issuing bank is located, and invariably it is a US bank. I email the purchaser and tell him that I cannot ship to an address that is different from the billing address on the card, and to please send an international money order for the full amount. Funny, I have yet to receive the money order! Stan Smith Rocky Point Cycle www.rockypointcycle.com ------- new post - same topic ------- From: David Lapidus Subject: Fraud This may not be practical for a small sale but the best protection against fraud is to ask the buyer to wire transfer the money to your US checking account. This eliminates any possibility of fraud. You give the buyer your checking account # / bank routing # and bank address and the money is electronically deposited into your account. If you have concerns about releasing your primary bank account information to strangers, open a second checking account that is used just to receive payments. You can transfer the money on a daily basis to your primary account. Businesses routinely wire transfer billions of dollars between accounts every day. I have used this method for clients in Japan and Korea but it's the best solution for any buyer outside the US with a non-verifiable address. If a foreign client is not willing to pay for the marginal additional cost of a bank wire transfer, I would think twice about doing any business with them. Hope that helps. David Lapidus Rainmaker Display Inc. http://www.rainmakerdisplay.com/ ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Steve Pronger Subject: Fraud > ... many of you probably have experience dealing > with those large, enticing international orders which > are to be rushed to Nigeria, Indonesia or Australia... - Sandi Dettman, LED 1760 Just curious Sandi. Do you consider Australia to be a common source of fraudulent orders, much the same as Nigeria or Indonesia? Do you have any evidence to support this? Perhaps as an Australian business owner and consumer I should not be conducting business within my own country? Steve Pronger http://www.stevepronger.com ==== BILLBOARD ==================================== From: Peter Warnock Subject: CSS > ... if I want to put space between li-s in ul lists, I've > mostly found it necessary to add br br. However, on > some pages, this just leaves a huge space... The > other main problem is getting different levels of li-s > to display as I want. - Tom Anson, LED 1760 The 3rd level looks like a heading because the style sheet is indicating 1.1em This tells it to be 1/10th bigger than it's inherited value from the higher level UL element. I recommend using an HTML editor to help organize the code. Child elements such as your 3rd level UL should be indented to reflect how deep it is. Control your li line height by modifying the margin ( e.g. - ul,ol,li {margin-top: .5em; margin-bottom: 0; } ) Last but not least, consider experimenting with CSS on a test site and save your expertise for the production site. Peter Warnock ------- new post - same topic ------- From: Kathy Wilson Anderson Subject: CSS Regarding Tom Anson's problems with CSS in IE, I'd like to add another caution: font size. I looked at the web page offered by Tom and found that in several instances I couldn't read the text because the font size was so small. I viewed it using my PC with IE on a 800x600 resolution 17" monitor, a combination that is still being used by approximately half the internet viewers, and found the text in the bulleted lists and the word "reference" which is both bold and italicized, to be unreadable. Usability note to all: making fonts smaller than -1 or 10 pts. can make them display in an unreadable size on some computers. Love, Kathy Wilson Anderson http://www.under-one-roof.net ------------------------------------------------------- The LED Digest is sponsored by pair Networks: pair.com for Hosting | pairNIC.com for Domains Copyright 1995-2004 Adam Audette. All Rights Reserved. ----------------------------------------------------------------- "I wouldn't recommend alcohol and drugs to anyone. But they have always worked for me." - Hunter Thompson |
