DMA, FBI consider joint anti-spam initiative [BtoB Online] Aug. 25, 2003

New York--The Direct Marketing Association on Monday confirmed it is in discussions with the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations regarding spam. The DMA said it has proposed to the FBI an initiative called Operation Slam Spam, which would be a joint effort to find and prosecute spammers. "Our message to spammers is: If you're lying to consumers, not honoring consumers' requests, trying to swindle consumers and ruin the Internet economy--the end is near," said H. Robert Wientzen, president-CEO of the DMA, in a statement. "Spammers are taking the Internet on a joy ride, and we are going to work hard to put a stop to it."

You Don't Know Me, but... Social Capital & Social Software

Echo Overview Shelley Powers writes a crisp overview of the Echo project, a collective effort to create a weblog data model, in order to update syndication standards and APIs. ...
[Socialtext.com : Social Software Solutions]

Switchboard Rolls Out Paid Link Program [Internet.com]

Online yellow pages provider Switchboard (Quote, Company Info) announced the availability of new advertising options, offering businesses the chance to insert Web site links on their own listings or on non-commercial listings.

LocalClicks allows advertisers to purchase transactional links on their listings. For example, a local car dealership could pay for links to pages on its Web site that let people sign up for a test drive or see a new car model. The program also allows advertisers to buy links on non-commercial listings. A flower shop, for example, could buy a link on a hospital listing. Advertisers only pay when a user clicks on the links.

RSS, Echo, Wikis, and Personalities The weblog world has taken the 4 elements of organization from mailing lists and usenet -- overall topic, time of post, post title, author -- and rearranged them in order of importance as author, time, and title, dispensing with topics altogether. (Choosing a formal ...
[Socialtext.com : Social Software Solutions]