The Joke's on YOU!
SHA Newsletter: Vol 1. No. 17

Every now and again friends send along jokes, stories, pictures and the like in emails. You probably have seen them too, always ending in an exhortation to send them back or (more commonly) sending them to others.

One crossed my mailbox during the Thanksgiving holidays with a cheery message about counting your blessings. It was really sweet.

In the chain, I discovered some 34 unique email addresses in the address fields of the message. Here are 14 domains to which the message went (the full addresses are left off for privacy):

aol.com
citynet.net
config.com
hotmail.com
neo.rr.com
netzero.com
nycap.rr.com,
purdue.edu,
sbcglobal.net
uakron.edu
wadsnet.com
wirefire.com
wmconnect.com
yahoo.com

When I received the email, I received all the email addresses, too. If I were interested in sending spam email, I'd have thirty-four new victims now. It was surprisingly easy to harvest the addresses out of the message, it took about 15 minutes of programming. These are good addresses, too. The message was sent by real people to others they know. These are exactly the kind of addresses spammers want.

I'm not going to send spam email, of course. But someone else might. When you forward an Internet joke message, you help make this possible. You won't know all the people who will eventually receive that message, or who will see it in passing. You can't know what they (or programs they write) will do with the addresses that come along for the ride.

If you do want to send a joke to a few friends, paste the text into a new message and send the new one. You still won't know who will eventually see the message (and therefore obtain your email address), but you'll protect the others who have already seen it. It’s a courtesy that is worth doing.

Better yet, don't forward it at all. Otherwise, the joke might be on you!

Thank You! Thank You! Thank You!
As 2005 draws to a close, we are grateful for the friends and colleagues who have worked with us this year; and we are especially thankful for the clients who have trusted us in projects large and small.

Kudos are due to the Web gurus at Devi Designs, who have maintained our Web site and helped to get these newsletters to you through the year. Devi Designs makes us look good in every browser on the Internet.

We hope these newsletters have helped you in your computing adventures this year.

Finally, please let us wish you a Merry Christmas and a happy holiday season. Let's all hope for a peaceful, successful New Year.

Please note: Any trademarks and trade names of others mentioned in this message are the property of their owners, and not Stoney Hill Associates, LLC. We respect the intellectual property of others. The information provided is believed to be reliable, but we cannot guarantee that the procedures and information given here will work correctly for your specific situation.

If you would like help with a computer or software problem you face, contact us. Send an email to request@stoneyhillassociates.com.

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© 2006 Stoney Hill Associates, LLC