Earlier this week, the Associated Press's Twitter account and used to send out false messages about a supposed attack on The White House. The hack came after an AP employee opened what is known as a "spear-fishing" spam message. The way it works is that a spammer sends an email that appears to be coming from someone you know with a link that seems legitimate. In the case of the AP, the email appeared to be from a colleague and the link was to The Washington Post, so it sounded legitimate. But it was a phishing email and compromised the …

Mailbox for iPhone, the popular app that helps users organize their email inboxes, is working on an app for the iPad and has plans to create Android and desktop apps in the future. As TechCrunch points out, the iPad app is likely to come first since the company seems to already have it in the works, and the other apps have been described merely as, "on the roadmap."

Google VP and Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf, a man who is credited with introducing commerical email to the public, spoke about the importance of the survival of the United States Postal Service at the Postal Vision 2020 conference today. Comparing it to schools, public roads, water supply, electricity, and telecommunications, he said that USPS' physical mail delivery is fundamental to a democratic society.

Progress is being made on a measure that would require law enforcement to get a warrant to read citizens' emails. The measure passed the Senate Judiciary Committee on a voice vote on Thursday. If passed, the measure would amend the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 which only requires law enforcement to get a subpoena to read emails fewer than 180 days old or those that have been opened.

Canada's new Anti-Spam Legislation, nicknamed "CASL" is expected to come into effect this year. Under CASL, all messages that encourage participation in a commercial activity require consumer opt-in, the name and contact information from sender, as well as a clear mechanism to unsubscribe.

Design and content take up too much of email marketers' time, according to the latest report from Econsultancy.com and email marketing services provider Adestra. According to the report, 18 percent of marketers spend more than eight hours creating content and design for one email campaign. According to the report, marketers could use that time more effectively.

The email addresses of Florida voters will be remain a secret under a bill that passed the Florida House and is being send to the Florida Senate on Thursday. The House bill (HB 249), which lets voters who get sample ballots on their personal computers rather than through the mail keep their email private, passed with 114-1 in the House. "The whole intent is to get more people to sign up for sample ballots over the Internet," Florida representative Bryan Nelson told The Tampa Bay Times. "If you sign up for a sample ballot, that ought to be kept confidential."

Half of the marketers surveyed for Econsultancy/Adestra's Email Marketing Census 2013 reported that the quality of their email database caused problems with their email campaigns. The survey also revealed that 43 percent of marketers claimed that a lack of strategy was a big problem and 41 percent of marketers said that a lack of time is a problem.

Seventy-seven percent of marketers use website registration pages to grow their marketing lists, according to a new report from MarketingSherpa. In order for this to work, marketers need to create content that is positioned around these registration pages.

Email marketing services company Silverpop has raised $25 million in venture capital funding from Escalate Capital Partners and Silicon Valley Bank (SVB). The company plans to use the money to expand its client roster globally. As The Next Web points out, the money comes in the form of venture debt funding, which has been known to lead up to a possible IPO or acquisition.