ILCLAY-L Archives

From: Ted Cash <>
Subject: [ILCLAY-L] Be Careful out there.
Date: Sun, 01 Nov 1998 10:39:50 -0500

Thought you might be interested in this.
Ted

>>From: "Don Spidell" <>
>>Date: Sun, 1 Nov 1998 06:54:37 -0700
>>Subject: [STATE-COORD-L] Fw: info
>>To:
>>
>>Verrry interesting! You might want to forward this to your own mailing
>>lists.
>>
>>Don Spidell
>>
>>-----Original Message-----
>>From: George Newbury <>
>>To: <>
>>Date: Sunday, November 01, 1998 4:19 AM
>>Subject: RE: info
>>
>>
>>>i'm sending this info to both of you, not to the lists
>>> LUNEN-LINKS & NOVA SCOTIA
>>>
>>>the contents of this message follows
>>>
>>> ----------------
>>>
>>>
>>>Subject:
>>> [Moonrakers] Selling e-mail addresses buy using genealogy as a
>>>front.
>>> Date:
>>> Sat, 31 Oct 1998 23:02:02 -0600
>>> From:
>>> Tom Keyes <>
>>> To:
>>> Moonrakers <>
>>>
>>>
>>>Moonrakers:
>>>
>>>The following is from this weeks Eastman letter.
>>>
>>>- Genealogy Web Site Sells Your Name and E-mail Address
>>>
>>>It's a tough world. Lots of businesses sell their customer lists
>>>these days. The result is that you get junk mail and marketing
>>>phone calls from all sorts of companies trying to sell you
>>>something you probably don't want. The newest twist is "spam
>>>mail", unwanted e-mails that advertise all sorts of junk. Now a
>>>well-known genealogy Web site is contributing to the spam mail
>>>that you receive and apparently is profiting from personal
>>>information that they obtain from you under the guise of helping
>>>you do genealogy research. In fact, the Web site apparently is a
>>>"front", as the main purpose seems to be gathering personal
>>>information about you and then selling that information.
>>>
>>>The Family Tree House Web site at http://www.usaafter.com claims
>>>that it is "the Association for FamilyTree Enrollment and
>>>Registry." The home page says, "This site offers free family tree
>>>software and links to key genealogy sites. The software is
>>>available on-line. You can build your FamilyTree House in real
>>>time, no downloading is required."
>>>
>>>They also say, "...you can create and register your own on-line
>>>FamilyTree. And because it is on-line, you can enlist the help of
>>>other family members by giving them your personal access code to
>>>allow them to fill in the missing branches--it's a project the
>>>whole family can participate in no matter where they live." On
>>>another page the site advises, "When requesting information,
>>>please make sure you include your name, mailing address and the
>>>information you would like."
>>>
>
>>>After they collect all the personal information from you and your
>>>other family members, the owners of Family Tree House apparently
>>>package the information and sell it to other companies that send
>>>junk mail or spam e-mails. On a different Web site, the owners of
>>>Family Tree House offer "a file of 33,600 last-12-month
>>>registrants of the Family Tree House, an association that offers
>>>Web site members free software and links to genealogy sites." The

>>>file they sell reportedly contains information about each person's
>>>date of birth, gender, e-mail address, state and ZIP code. The Web
>>>advertisement says that the file contains listings for 33,600
>>>people who have left personal information on the Family Tree House
>>>site.
>>>
>>>To check for yourself, first look at http://www.usaafter.com and
>>>then look at:
>>>http://www.mediacentral.com/Magazines/DirectNewsline/Archive/1998100910.htm
>>>
>>>Cheers, Tom
>>>

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• [ILCLAY-L] Be Careful out there. by Ted Cash <>