RE: Mailing list archives

From: Eddy Young Tie Yang <jeyoung_at_priscimon.com>
Date: Sat, 19 Dec 2015 11:34:58 +0000

Hi,

I completely understand that the recent reports spam are not necessarily
related to the mailing list archives, but nowadays to protect privacy the
minimum is to mask email addresses -- this is one reason why Facebook asks
your permission for showing contact details.

(Quick sanity test: What would you do if I asked for my email to be hidden
from the public archives? After all, I can exercise my right to privacy in
this way.)

I still strongly recommend hiding email addresses and masking participants'
names even if this is a public mailing list. If not, at least make it
optional at the discretion of the participants.

Sadly, the innocence of the 80s and 90s when you could reveal your
information on the Internet is long gone, replaced by risk of fraud and
retribution.

Again, please take measures to protect the identity of the participants on
the mailing list -- either by making the archives private or giving the
option to hide email addresses/identities.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: S Moonesamy [mailto:sm+mu_at_elandsys.com]
> Sent: 19 December 2015 10:25
> To: Eddy Young Tie Yang <jeyoung_at_priscimon.com>; Ajay R Ramjatan
> <ajay.ramjatan_at_gmail.com>; mauritius-internet-users_at_lists.elandnews.com
> Subject: Re: Mailing list archives
>
> Hi Eddy, Ajay,
>
> I read the mailing list archive to find complaints about spam. There were
three
> or four persons who reported that they have been receiving spam. None of
> those persons said that the spam is because of the mailing list archives.
I read
> comments about hiding email addresses as that would prevent spam. It
would
> not be possible to see the email address which was used to send a message
if
> that is done. It is easy to use any name you wish when you send an email.
It is
> less easy to use an email address which is not yours as there are some
technical
> measures which can be used, e.g. what is sometimes done to prevent
phishing.
>
> Mr Velvindron sent a message to the mailing list about "CCA Mauritius Root
> Certificate". I would like to give him credit for mentioning the "chain
of trust". I
> would not be able to contact him about that if I cannot find his email
address. I
> would like to copy this email to him. What if he says that my message is
spam?
> I chose not to copy this message to him as I am not sure whether he will
say
> that.
>
> I read that Mr Sookun is "representing consumers, purchasers and other
users of
> Information and Communication Services, including telecommunication
> services". I would like to email him to ask about the "up to" download
speed. I
> cannot do that as his email address is not published on the web site. I
would
> have to contact the secretary of the ICT Advisory Council and ask to be
put into
> contact with the representative. I have done something similar previously
and I
> did not receive any reply.
>
> The ICT Advisory Council was set up approximately fourteen years ago.
There
> wasn't any information published about the persons representing consumers
on
> the ICT Advisory Council over the years. Is that because of privacy?
>
> The choice for the subscribers is whether to adopt a culture of secrecy or
> transparency.
>
> Regards,
> S. Moonesamy
Received on Sat Dec 19 2015 - 11:35:12 PST