The Four-eyed Journal » Spam

Would you give Facebook apps your email?

jhay — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 00:56:45 +0000

Spam. We just hate it. I remember the first few months of signing up for an account in Facebook, notices were a common feature of the site as with other social networking sites, but as Facebook got more popular and as well as another app called Poke Me, the notices were coming in by the hundreds every singe day. It had to stop.

Thankfully, there was a way to stop applications on Facebook from sending notices that were, to be quite frank, mundane and so trivial it only got in the way of my online workflow. Cleaning out your inbox and getting rid of those notices everyday. It was annoying.

And now it’s making a subtle comeback:

Opening yourself to spam?

It’s a good thing that it’s optional because if it were turned on automatically without a notice and our consent then it’s another bad move by Facebook. The feature is great especially for those who are playing games, a notice would serve as a reminder that it’s harvest time or the Chocolate Cake you baked is ready to serve. My fear is that if have a lot of apps, then that’s a lot of notices. Plus, there’s no way of knowing how many notices an individual app may send in a day. So it could be a return to the days when you’d find yourself annoyed with deleting emails notifying you how much ‘pillows’ have been thrown your way. And then there’s the privacy and security concerns but I won’t dwell on the issue just yet, we’re all quite familiar with it.

What’s your take on the matter? Would you share your email address with Facebook apps?

Globe’s not only spamming, they’re stealing my aunt’s money

jhay — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 15:00:49 +0000

Globe’s not only spamming, they’re stealing my aunt’s money

Spam via mobile phones are among the ugliest things the SMS-addicted Pinoy faces on a daily basis. I am a victim, my friends are victims, but my aunt is really suffering because of it.

It all started days ago right before Christmas, my aunt, a fellow Globe subscriber approached me in her moment of despair and anger, all because Globe has not only been spamming her with alerts and useless wallpapers via MMS, they’re stealing her credits (ergo her money) each and every time!

Knowing that trying to deactivate that cursed subscription via keyword-based sms actions would be fruitless, I decided to call up Globe’s Customer Service and havSpam via mobile phones are among the ugliest things the SMS-addicted Pinoy faces on a daily basis. I am a victim, my friends are victims, but my aunt is really suffering because of it.

Knowing that trying to deactivate them deactivate it from their end since it’s their fault anyways.

My goal was simple and I clearly stated it to the agent who picked up my call. The following though is not an exact account of the conversation, but I will be fair…honest!

Me: “I need to deactivate a subscription that sends wallpapers via MMS to my aunt’s Globe handyphone.”

Globe CSR: “Okay sir, ano po yung service number o saang service number nanggaling yung mga MMS?”

Me: “Mula sa 2346. Wallpapers daw via MMS. Paano ko i-dedeactivate ang subscription?”

Globe CSR: “Sir, first you need to know what particular service it is. Para po malaman nyo, mag-text kayo ng ‘CHECK’ sa 2346. Magrereply po iyon ng mga pangalan ng services na naka-subscribe ang tita nyo. Tapos, kung ano man po yung keyword for that service, i-text nyo lang, tapos space kasunod ang ‘OFF’ at i-send nyo sa 2346. Maghintay po kayo ng confirmation message.”

Me: “Ah, ok. So paano kapag na-deactivate ko na, pero may dadating pa rin na MMS alert? Kasi ginawa na namin ito before, that time polyphonic ring tones naman ang pinapadala ng Globe. Pero hindi naman nag subscribe ang tita ko, at worse, binabawasan ang kanyang load.”

Globe CSR: “Sir kung ganoon po uli ang mangyayari, tumawag po uli kayo sa Customer service at gagawan po namin ng report para aksyunan ng aming Technical Department. Sila po mismo, mula sa aming system ang magdedeactivate ng subscription.”

Me: “Kung mangyari nga iyon, ibabalik nyo ba yung kinaltas na load ng tita ko? Kasi hindi naman siya nagsubscribe to begin with, pero pinapadalhan pa rin siya.”

Globe CSR: “With regards to that sir, kailangan itawag nyo uli para magawan ng separate ng report at ma-forward uli sa Technical Department.” Maghihintay po kayo ng up to 5 working days para ma-process ito.”

Me: “Bakit ko pa kailangang tumawag uli para sa kinaltas na load eh, related at epekto lang naman ito ng main problem ng tita ko? Dagdag dun, kung sa Tech department nyo rin pupunta, bakit hiwalay na report pa?”

Globe CSR: “Ah, sige po sir. Isasama ko na rin po sa report na gagawin ngayon. Then hintay po kayo ng up to 5 working days for processing.”

Me: “Mas okay kung ganoon. Kung sakali man na even before mag 5 working days at makatanggap uli ng MMS ang tita ko at bawasan ang load nya, tatawag agad ako sa Customer Service.”

Globe CSR: “Yes sir. Tumawag na lang po uli kayo kung may concerns para ma-follow-up yung inyong report. Uhm, is there anything else I could help you with sir?”

Me: “Wala na sa ngayon.”

Globe CSR: “Thank you for calling Globe. Good bye sir.”

After that conversation, I followed her instructions by texting the keyword CHECK to 2346 and immediately I received a message that says that my aunt was subscribed to wallpapers. I then replied the keyword OFFkeyword of the service to 2346 and received a confirmation message that the subscription has been indeed turned off.

Peace at last for my aunt? Yeah right!

That was before New Year’s eve celebrations. Just this morning, January 2, 2008 my aunt approached me again with the very same problem! Globe is sending her more wallpaper images via SMS. However, this time around it’s not from 2346, but from another service number 2910.

Remember, my aunt never subscribed to such service so imagine her dismay, frustration and anger when this spam and credit-stealing MMS from Globe hit her mobile phone.

Recalling the same process given by Globe’s CSR a few days ago, I repeated the same process of deactivating the unsolicited subscription.

1) Text CHECK to 2910

2) It then returned a message saying that my aunt is subscribed to “UR MARKETPLACE WALLPAPER”

3) I was suppose to text OFFURMARKETPLACEWALLPAPER to 2910 but something was wrong. The service had three keywords! I knew it was not going to work but none the less I sent it to 2910 and prayed for the best.

Surprise, surprise, it did now work. So with another problem, I resorted to calling up Globe’s Customer Service once more.

Basically the same conversation took place, except for one disturbing and frustrating thing; the CSR agent told me that the service with the keywords “UR MARKETPLACE WALLPAPER” is not among their services! What the f*ck?! Then whose service is it? Touch Mobile’s?! Sun Cellular’s?!

Of course I did not yelled out those words to the CSR, I congratulated myself for being able to restrain myself. Instead, I calmly said, “So anong gagawin namin ngayon?” The agent told me that she will file a report (again) to the Technical Department and yes, we will have to wait for up to 5 working days, excluding weekends, for it to be processed. Ang lakas talaga nila mang-perwisyo no?

So now, today was Day 1, on to Day 2 tomorrow. But once my aunt receives another MMS from any other service number of Globe, they’ll definitely get an earful and a possibly a formal complaint through the NTC.

Any one else being spammed and robbed of their credits by Globe?

How to stop Globe’s G-live service

jhay — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 08:04:51 +0000

September last year, I blogged about Globe’s G-Live services which was launched at that time. I was worried that this new service would be used to spam consumers. After blogging about it, I moved on and did not even bothered to give it a try as to save my self from the potential spam. As the months have passed, users asking search engines on how to stop the G-live messages from appearing on one’s mobile phone were brought to that post. But since I did not actually experience using G-Live and eventually being annoyed by it, that post seemed to have lacked something what readers needed.

So in this post, I’ll go the extra mile of actually trying to know more about G-live, attempt to use it, and quickly unsubscribe from it because judging from Mia’s experience which she shared in the comments thread; G-live could be really annoying.

Although Marvin was quick to share how to stop G-live, I believe it would still be a fun and blog-worthy experiment of trying out G-live.

First, what is G-live?

According to the Globe Telecom’s website:

Globe G-Live is a SIM feature that allows you to receive unlimited news and public service announcements. Information simply appears in an unobtrusive manner on the phone screen and doesn’t even go to the inbox.

How to download using a symbian phone:

1. Go to myGlobe wap site

2. For 2G phones, go to What’s Hot! Click on G-Live to download the feature for FREE.

3. For 3G phones, make sure your phone is on GSM mode. Click on myGlobe2G and follow the 2G phone instructions.

4. To turn on the feature, go to phone Menu or My Own folder. Click on G-Live then select Activate.

Symbian phones compatible are: Nokia 3230, 3650/3600, 3660/3620, 6600, 6630, 6670, 6680, 7610, 7650, N70 and N90.

From my understanding, it’s like Google Alerts but instead of recieving e-mail alerts containing the relevant information, you get a “unobtrosuive” message that displays on the screen of your mobile phone. Also from the information above, I had a hunch that my handset, the Sony Ericsson K800i, is not compatible with the G-live service because it needs an application that works on a symbian-based phone.

To prove this, I followed the above instructions and navigated my mobile browser to Globe’s wap site. Sure enough, I found the link to G-live via the Mobile Tools link. However, things came to a stand still when after I opened the link to G-live, the following message was displayed:

The G-Live application allows you to recieve non-intrusive messages on your favorite topics. The messages appear on your handset screen when the handset is idle.

Sorry. No content compatible with your phone for this category.

So there, the G-live application works only on Symbian phones, meaning just Nokia handsets. But is this the end of it all? Does this mean that thanks to my K800i, I’m immune from G-live and it’s annoying, spammy service?

Being the persistent techie, I called Globe’s Customer Service and asked the following questions: 1)Can I use the G-live service using the SE K800i? 2) How can I do use G-live? and the most important, 3) How can I stop recieving G-live alerts?

After putting me on hold for almost two minutes to check on my query, the friendly-sounding CSR agent told me that I can use the K800i with the G-live service. I don’t need to visit the Globe wap site but instead, I must simply use the Globe Services menu in my sim to activate the G-live service. Surprising really.

To activate the G-live service she told me to do the following:

Navigate to Globe Svcs+ (services) >>> G-live and then click Activate.

So I tried, in the K800i, the Globe Svcs+ menu can be found in the Entertainment submenu. Clicked on it and surprise and surprise once more! I can’t find the G-live option!

I browsed through each and every option under the Globe Svcs+ menu even patiently waiting for the additional options to be accessed by the SIM and still, the G-live option was no where to be found.

The explanation? My Globe sim is not G-live capable as I compared the sim’s casing with that of my other Globe sim card. The photo below explains says it all.

So by accident, I am immune to G-live spam. LOL

Wrapping things up, you can stop Globe’s G-live service via the step below:

You can deactivate G-live by simply repeating the same process you used to activate it:
Globe Svcs+ >>> G-Live >>> Deactivate

Of course you need to have a G-Live capable Globe sim card.

Lastly, let’s be careful before subscribing to any service, read and understand what the service is and make sure there’s a way to unsubscribe from it.

A cure for spam: rated e-mails?

jhay — Fri, 09 Mar 2007 15:07:06 +0000

I’ve been following an issue over at Problogger.net wherein Darren Rowse became a victim of a spammer who hijacked his domain and used it to send spam through his newsletter. I did not receive any spam from Darren so it’s either I’m among the lucky few whom the spammers missed or I’m no longer subscribed to the Problogger newsletter.

As always, Darren has managed to turn something disastrous like this into something positive by sharing the lessons he has learned from it.

Those lessons are indeed valuable to us but the problem remains at large; spammers are still out there or rather still reaching our inbox and making our lives miserable. Worst, they’re making money out of our human misery.

So what to do?

The comment thread over at Problogger has some interesting solutions in combating spam, but the one that caught my full attention was a suggestion by Kimber. She proposes the following:

Spamâ€¦wellâ€¦spam, like direct mail and telemarketing, works. The biggest issue with spam is that its so blasted inexpensive to use. You want to limit spam? Put a cost on sending emails.

The emphasis is mine and that’s exactly what I’m talking about as it got me thinking. What if we do just that, charge everyone else for every e-mail they would send just like how SMS messages are charged. This way we could control the spread of spam or even the spread of non-commercial but still junk e-mail around cyberspace.

Sadly it would mean the end of free e-mail as we know it. Or would it?

Hold on though, the service could still remain free, but we would then be charged on a per-message-sent basis. Say one successfully sent e-mail would be charged a measely $0.02? Would that be too much? I’m just trying to play with this idea of Kimber to know the possibilities and its effects, even to come up with more solutions to spam.

Question now is, would we be willing to pay for every e-mail we send just to get rid of spam?

Spam TXT Messages

jhay — Sat, 25 Nov 2006 13:28:48 +0000

SPAM, or unsolicited messages, everyone using the Internet, owns a couple or more e-mail accounts, bloggers and webmasters just hate it, really hate it. That’s why a myriad of anti-spam software, measures, technologies and sheer human effort have been deployed to combat and get rid of it.

However, SPAM doesn’t only thrive as a pestilence in the cyberworld. Even the seemingly distant mobile world has already been invaded by it-well the Philippine mobile world that is.

Your in the middle of a meeting or class, your mobile phone vibrates, telling that you have just recieved a message and so you frantically dig for it inside your bag or pocket. Unlock the keypad with lightning fast reflexes and even without looking at it, feel like an eternity has passed before you could open the message. Your heart beats faster in anticipation of knowing who the sender is but all of this is thrown away shredded into pieces when all you read is the following: (just an example)

New Ring Tones available:
A1-Alphabet song
B1-Happy Birthday
C1-Halukay Spaghetti
Just enter the key code and send to 84513658461
P15/download

Badtrip! Some messages even take away Php 5.00 to Php 15.00 from your load even without you doing anything save for reading the screwed up SPAM txt message. I’m sure almost all of you has had this experience, some are milder some are really wierd but most definitely all of them are really annoying and a nuisance.

Mitos Garcia who wrote a letter concerning this issue to INQ7.net and so Mr Garcia. you’re not alone, there are millions of others who had to put up the annoying with the task of cleaning up spam txt messages every single time it takes up space in your inbox. He cries;

I’m tired of being harassed by the promo text messages of a mobile phone company. They just keep on coming, these unsolicited, unwanted and extremely annoying messages, such as those tasteless ringtones and faces of celebrities I don’t care about.

Like him, I also called up the customers service of my mobile provider and complained about this annoying and unsolicited text messages and all I got are empty promises. I still spend some time deleting worhtless unsolicited text messages. So the war rages on, us the paying subscribers against this unfair trade practice. This entry is my small contribution to this great movement of eliminating spam not only in the web but also in the mobile world.