by Kevin (kevin at urspin dot com) on 06.15.07 at 8:54
I apologize for taking so long to post. We've been busy developing and enhancing our products over the past few months. We are now in Private Beta for both Spinlets and urSpin. So, I wanted to take the time to thank all the testers and reviewers for their feedback. We hope to open the Public Beta phase for Spinlets very shortly and will send out emails to those who requested them.
I also want to take a minute to talk about our stance on No Spyware, SPAM, and AdWare. I have been asked a few times why we take this stance and recently heard it argued that we should "wait and see" where the widget space goes before making this claim.
I do not wish to offend anyone, but saying "let's wait and see" is essentially inviting a problem. Having been around the web for a bit, I will guarantee that SPAM, Spyware, and AdWare will become an issue for widgets. I use these terms loosely because it may have a slightly different method or name — hopefully one less closely tied to packaged meat-like products. Nonetheless, it will attack the widget space, and in some ways already has.
Anytime there is a new product, someone somewhere is thinking of a way to break it or monetize it. That's just the nature of the Internet and we're already seeing these fly-by-night pay-per-widget products emerging. Most people don't realize how much personal information and behavioral data they trail across the web. Take email for example. Most people would never know that marketing emails usually contain a small transparent image in them. It's tiny — 1 pixel by 1 pixel and it's clear, so unless you know html and can look at the code, you’d never know it was there. When you view the email (even without clicking on anything), that image fires a call to the server with its unique code. From that information the marketer can tell the date and time you opened the email. If they have an advanced system, they can also tell your email address, time zone and basic geographic location (often within 20 miles). This is a big reason why your Outlook email doesn't automatically load images any more.
When I sign up for an email list, I do so with this knowledge and I weigh the value of that email. If it's a reputable company offering me something worthwhile, I don't mind that they have a little information on me. It actually makes their product and my ultimate experience better. But, in the wrong hands (say that of a spammer), this technique is dangerous. They can send out a few million random emails. When they see that one has been opened, they can instantly send that person a couple hundred more emails because they now know the email account is active.
So, think about it. If you were not aware that "tracking pixels" existed, how much more information or harm can be done when you begin pasting actual code into your website? And, don't you think that someone mischievous or malicious is thinking the same thing?
At Spinlets, we'd prefer not to "wait and see" before taking a stance against the invasion of your privacy because there are those out there who will go to great lengths to gain your information and abuse it.
-Kevin-
I also want to take a minute to talk about our stance on No Spyware, SPAM, and AdWare. I have been asked a few times why we take this stance and recently heard it argued that we should "wait and see" where the widget space goes before making this claim.
I do not wish to offend anyone, but saying "let's wait and see" is essentially inviting a problem. Having been around the web for a bit, I will guarantee that SPAM, Spyware, and AdWare will become an issue for widgets. I use these terms loosely because it may have a slightly different method or name — hopefully one less closely tied to packaged meat-like products. Nonetheless, it will attack the widget space, and in some ways already has.
Anytime there is a new product, someone somewhere is thinking of a way to break it or monetize it. That's just the nature of the Internet and we're already seeing these fly-by-night pay-per-widget products emerging. Most people don't realize how much personal information and behavioral data they trail across the web. Take email for example. Most people would never know that marketing emails usually contain a small transparent image in them. It's tiny — 1 pixel by 1 pixel and it's clear, so unless you know html and can look at the code, you’d never know it was there. When you view the email (even without clicking on anything), that image fires a call to the server with its unique code. From that information the marketer can tell the date and time you opened the email. If they have an advanced system, they can also tell your email address, time zone and basic geographic location (often within 20 miles). This is a big reason why your Outlook email doesn't automatically load images any more.
When I sign up for an email list, I do so with this knowledge and I weigh the value of that email. If it's a reputable company offering me something worthwhile, I don't mind that they have a little information on me. It actually makes their product and my ultimate experience better. But, in the wrong hands (say that of a spammer), this technique is dangerous. They can send out a few million random emails. When they see that one has been opened, they can instantly send that person a couple hundred more emails because they now know the email account is active.
So, think about it. If you were not aware that "tracking pixels" existed, how much more information or harm can be done when you begin pasting actual code into your website? And, don't you think that someone mischievous or malicious is thinking the same thing?
At Spinlets, we'd prefer not to "wait and see" before taking a stance against the invasion of your privacy because there are those out there who will go to great lengths to gain your information and abuse it.
-Kevin-
