I (inadvertently) spammed a hell of a lot of
people just by subscribing to The Fiver.
The Fiver's Server doesn't exactly seem infallible.
My mailbox is bulging with a list of Fiver Readers' E-mail addresses.
The companies read like a who's who of the city of London.
Look, don't worry, I'm a nice guy. I ain't
gonna sell your souls to direct-marketing.com
or anything else. I did all this by mistake.
I wasn't even trying to annoy people. It just
happened. But as we all know our electronic
footprints are left wherever we go.
Sometimes it seems like we're alone in the dark
until we bump into someone.
On a personal level all the threats don't really
bother me. I've been on the Internet since pre-WWW
and have heard it all. I know some very good
hackers and can tell what is and isn't possible.
Coming round my house to "kick my head in" isn't
up there with a few thousand mail bombs
(besides I'm a big fella). A lot of people
were genuinely helpful and sympathized with my idiocy.
The messages of encouragement were especially nice
when mixed with the abuse (thank you).
And hearing from college alumni and people I have
known was surreal.
As I write this the ramifications concerning college
are as yet unknown. Although a little bit wary about
wasting two and a half years of study for pressing
the wrong button, I can't see it getting that bad.
If it happened a few months ago I would have
had an excellent opportunity for an unusual dissertation.
Maybe next time....
I'll keep the saga going for anyone who's interested.
Any cyber-anthropologists out there may wish
to hear about the reactions and the Fiver's demographic.
Obviously I can't send you any e-mail
addresses or real names.