• by July 22, 2004

Ugh. The African spam has returned.

Even with MediaPost's robust spam filters in place, the foreign missives are slowly finding their way back to my in-box. I received one yesterday, but deemed it a fluke. Today I received another, and now wonder if it's the beginning of a tidal wave.

The e-mail, from Frank Lati, came with the subject line: "Be My Partner!" It read:

Dear Sir/Ma, I hope the letter will meet you and your family in good health. How are you and all members of your family? I hope all is well and fine including your business.

My names are Mr.Frank Lati the former Personal Adviser to the Ex-Zarie (Now the Republic of Cango) President, President Mobutu Sese Seko, who was forced of out of office. I'm presently in China with my family for security reasons. I am writing to indicate my interest in investing on any profitble business in your country. I want to invest about US$45M (Forty-Fve Million US Dollars Only) in your country under your management if only you can handle this project with a sincere heart.

Blah, blah, blah.

I'm sure most of you are familiar with such notes. I'm curious as to how this managed to get through our filters. It surely indicates that no filters or technologies will ever stem the flow of spam completely.

In another matter, the New York Times Co.'s, NYTimes.com, apparently ran ads yesterday for Claria Corp., which it once referred to as a "parasite," DM News reports. NYTimes.com pulled the ads after DM informed reps for the site. NYTimes.com said that the ads were "an oversight." The instance is notable, since two years ago NYTimes.com and other online publishers filed suit against the company, then known as Gator, alleging trademark and copyright infringement. The suit described Claria's pop-up adware as "a parasite on the Web."

The suit never went to trial. It was settled in January 2003 (the terms were not disclosed). Hey, even the prestigious and venerable New York Times Co. can make a mistake or two. While Claria has surely made strides to legitimize itself in the eyes of the marketing community in recent months, its technology (apparently quite effective for marketers who 'fess up to using it), is a thorn in the side of top publishers that are chafing against its intrusive pop-ups. These publishers are, however, increasingly employing sophisticated and behavioral targeting technologies that track readers' patterns by the article and word. Publishers are legitimately concerned about pop-ups cluttering their carefully-designed advertising environments. They are also increasingly picky about certain rich media formats-some are more intrusive than others.

Interestingly, D. Reed Freeman, Claria's Chief Privacy Officer, will give a keynote address on July 29 at the Jupiter Advertising Forum in New York. We look forward to hearing what he has to say.

Finally, for all of you who wrote to let me know that "irregardless" is not a word, I appreciate your attention to grammar and for reading The Minute! Our new, crack copyeditor, Dacia Ray, will be on the lookout for made-up words, typos, and other snafus. Phew.