1y ago

Advocacy emails

This is the second such email I have received recently. Seems legit but I don't recognize the domain in the link to sign, and it seems like the people who make Firefox would know that the people who use Firefox would be hesitant to click. IDGI. Anyone else getting these?

Edit 2024-04-10: Got a new email today and it appears all the links now go to links dot mozilla dot org. I won't flatter myself that this post had anything to do with that, but maybe the same thought occurred to someone at Mozilla. Nice. ✌️

21 comments

Here's the direct link: https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/campaigns/whatsapp-must-act-to-protect-elections/
- Huh. Thank you. Wish they'd put that link in the email instead of the one to cmail19 dot com.
  
  Their marketing email provider rewrites the links to know who clicks on the links. Makes giving feedback to Mozilla more accurate so they can give open vs link click ratios.
  
  That domain appears to be associated with createsend who do bulk email.
  I'm guessing that it's used to track who is clicking on a link.
  I agree, seems a bit off for Mozilla to use such a process, but getting emails from the sender to each recipient is no longer trivial if you're doing it in bulk.
Steve? Is that you?
- Depends on who's asking. Does he owe you money?
  
  Nope, but he runs a great podcast
- I get the feeling this is not the kind of question that particular Steve Gibson would be asking 😛
  
  Unless he has a method of verifying the authenticity of unencrypted emails such as this one that literally no one else has, I don't see why he wouldn't be asking the same question. Also, I'm better looking.
  Edit: For clarity
Emails
Emails, Traffics, Deers, Mails. Same reason, all wrong.
- Thanks for the feedback! I'll try to do better next time.
  Though I think you can use "deers" if you were referring to multiple species of deer.
  Edit: Actually "emails" is the correct plural form when referring to the messages, not the system (which I was) according to m-w dot com
  https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/email
Noone cares just focus on the browser
- The Foundation cannot legally focus on the browser since they made a for-profit subsidiary for that purpose.
Why is a communication platform responsible for the content on it?
- 100%
  They're advocating for moderation of the internet, Shadow banning of wrong think, it's antithetical to a free and open communication system.
  They want to create a platform where essential authority decides what's true, and what's acceptable, and everything else just silently disappears into the void. Sure at the beginning, the " right people" Will run the system. But give it 5 to 15 years and the wrong people will kill public discourse on any critical conversation
- They aren't. You misunderstand the point. Private interests are using media to skew the behavior of the people ingesting that media. Another business is asking a third party to act on behalf of the affected demographic because of the infectious and addictive nature of the media. It is hard to compel people to quit something that makes them want more of it. So this is a call to action to stop being abusive towards people.

21 comments