SPAM on Unique Email Addresses
As the owner of a whole domain, I have had the opportunity to give out unique email addresses to every website that I sign up with, which allows me to track exactly where the spam starts coming from. Much of the spam now comes from newsgroups, which I posted as
> as @
> applescript @
made up addresses which have never been given out
> info @
or addresses in mail to links off of my [home page](http://plaidcow.net/)
> itunes-as @
> wedding @
> wedding-dj-requests @
The interesting part, however, comes when I get spam on other addresses, like
> reunion\_dot\_com @
How any different places could this have come from? So I sent them an email:
> I am getting spam at email used on your website. How was my information compromised?
And they denied everything in a reply:
> According to our Privacy Policy, which is created based on user feedback and suggestion; we do not provide user addresses, telephone numbers or e-mail addresses. We have created the Alumni Mail system where you are able to send mail to any user. You may wish to include your personal address and contact information in this mail. Alumni Mail goes from your username to their username.
If I hear anything else from them, I’ll post an update. Until then, beware that the database from [Reunion.com](http://reunion.com/) may not be secure.