Friday, October 27, 2006
The unbearable lightness of BCC-ing
Left unsaid in Corrie Perkin’s report of the Aboriginal art hoax email brou-ha-ha, involving Beverly Knight/Alcaston Gallery and Samantha Pizzi/Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, is that the reason the (imposter) sender had access to Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi's email list (which I am on) is almost certainly due to the Pizzi gallery having failed to BCC it on at least one previous occasion.
To rub in this fact presumably, the imposter-sender reproduces a chunk* of the list in his/her email. Alternatively, he/she is forgetful about always BCC-ing, as well.
"Bizarre" (same URL) this ain't - if my theory is correct, the imposter-sender has merely chanced upon the online equivalent of an unlocked, unattended car with its engine running. And the AFR's calling this an apparent "hack"** of gallery (Pizzi and/or Knight) databases shows a lack of elementary detective work, as well as a naiveté about email list slip-ups in the real world – failing to BCC is a reasonably common slip-up in corporate/high-end group emails, in my experience as a recipient of such.
* I say "chunk" because the email I received had a mere 69 addressees.
** Katrina Strickland "Hoax makes ugly picture" AFR 27 October 2006
Left unsaid in Corrie Perkin’s report of the Aboriginal art hoax email brou-ha-ha, involving Beverly Knight/Alcaston Gallery and Samantha Pizzi/Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi, is that the reason the (imposter) sender had access to Gallery Gabrielle Pizzi's email list (which I am on) is almost certainly due to the Pizzi gallery having failed to BCC it on at least one previous occasion.
To rub in this fact presumably, the imposter-sender reproduces a chunk* of the list in his/her email. Alternatively, he/she is forgetful about always BCC-ing, as well.
"Bizarre" (same URL) this ain't - if my theory is correct, the imposter-sender has merely chanced upon the online equivalent of an unlocked, unattended car with its engine running. And the AFR's calling this an apparent "hack"** of gallery (Pizzi and/or Knight) databases shows a lack of elementary detective work, as well as a naiveté about email list slip-ups in the real world – failing to BCC is a reasonably common slip-up in corporate/high-end group emails, in my experience as a recipient of such.
* I say "chunk" because the email I received had a mere 69 addressees.
** Katrina Strickland "Hoax makes ugly picture" AFR 27 October 2006
