I also don’t appreciate that apparently my opinion doesn’t matter, since “I’m not a resident of the EU” is a required field.

Which it of course is because they want to get past common sense EU regulations restricting their ability to infest people’s devices with malware.

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      5 months ago

      Spam IS a form of malware. Besides, if you think they aren’t going to also send a ton of tracking cookies to spy on you and sell your data, you’re being extremely naive…

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        5 months ago

        spam is just unwanted emails, it’s not software, in of its self.

        Also, the tracking beacons only load if you let it. I assume you have your email client set to not load remote content. (If you don’t, you really should.) not sure what you use for email, but thunderbird (mozilla) does it automatically.

        • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.worldOP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          5 months ago

          Malware is any unwanted thing on your computer that either you or your system has to deal with, whether in the form of software, emails, or pop-ups.

          Besides, they won’t just give you spam in the form of emails. They’ll also give you advertising cookies.

          Also, the tracking beacons only load if you let it. I assume you have your email client set to not load remote content. (If you don’t, you really should.) not sure what you use for email, but thunderbird (mozilla) does it automatically.

          That’s besides the point. I use Proton Mail and a lot of Firefox privacy and adblock extensions to guard against this sort of thing, but I shouldn’t have to.

          Not everyone is as savvy and aware and at least once a week, I have to use the computer of my mom who is the type who just says yes to everything and trusts that they’d never do anything too bad even though she’s giving them carte blanche to do so.

          And yes, I’ve suggested that my mom switches away from gmail and Edge to Firefox and Proton or another better free email provider and offered to handle it and installing the extensions for her, but she won’t hear of it.

          • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            5 months ago

            Malware is any unwanted thing on your computer that either you or your system has to deal with, whether in the form of software, emails, or pop-ups.

            Malware is Malicious Software it’s a very specific thing, Cisco defines it as :

            Malware, short for malicious software, refers to any intrusive software developed by cybercriminals (often called hackers) to steal data and damage or destroy computers and computer systems. Examples of common malware include viruses, worms, Trojan viruses, spyware, adware, and ransomware. Recent malware attacks have exfiltrated data in mass amounts.

            Cisco defines spam as:

            Spam email is unsolicited and unwanted junk email sent out in bulk to an indiscriminate recipient list. Typically, spam is sent for commercial purposes. It can be sent in massive volume by botnets, networks of infected computers.

            Sally from Accounting hitting reply all? spam. Kyle sending out embarrassing photos of Steve to everyone? Spam. your fifth cousin’s baby photos? well, I assume that’s spam. maybe you like baby photos.

            those chain letters? spam. but not malware. They might contain malware, but the email itself is not malware. For example, a malicious image, won’t load- it has to go fetch the image first. Until you load the remote content, it’s not malware. It’s just a way of pointing you at the malware.

            That said, it’s important to note that Raw Story is a legitimate company that wants your business. They’re not going to intentionally send you malware. mostly they’re going to be using the remote content to load pretty images and set up some basic telemetry (essentially read receipts. Maybe a cookie if you’re using a web client for your email, or perhaps clicked a link.) This is true of most legitimate companies. They want your business, so they’re not going to so brazenly piss you off with ransomware or a trojan.

            As long as you’re not loading remote content and clicking links, there’s basically nothing that email can do to you. you can train your email client to recognize it as spam and send it straight to the bin; reducing potential accidental openings.

      • Retiring@lemmy.ml
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        edit-2
        5 months ago

        Why is it important that you vote in that poll that is clearly just designed to get you to sign up for the newsletter? Just don’t do it, nothing good could come of it.

        • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.worldOP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          edit-2
          5 months ago

          Unlike the shysters at Raw Story, I never said that it’s important. Hence why it fits the “mildly” part of the community name.

          I was just curious about the results before I realized what they were trying to do and then annoyed by their bullshit.

  • Th4tGuyII@fedia.io
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    5 months ago

    I hate to tell you, but that answering that poll was absolutely not worth the consent to spam you. That “I’m not a resident of the EU” forced tick-box is a huge red-flag, and should already have you clicking away from that page.

    • Viking_Hippie@lemmy.worldOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      5 months ago

      I love to tell you, but I am aware of all that, which is why I’m happy to report that I followed your advice before getting it.

      I’m efficient like that 😁

      • Th4tGuyII@fedia.io
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        5 months ago

        Good to hear - from your post it looked like you were reporting the aftermath of clicking through all that, which sounded plan unfortunate

  • hydroptic@sopuli.xyz
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    5 months ago

    The amount of victim blaming in these comments is pretty weird. “Well duh nobody should answer that poll, everybody knows it’s just a scam to get you signed up for spam”.

    Way to miss the point, folks.