Macintouch: Apple 'secretly' filtering Mac.com mail


Dan Frakes and Bruce Giles, both of whom are list moms (those who administer mailing lists) for a number of Mac and PC-related mailing lists, have noted a disturbing problem with the Mac.com mail service provided to iTools Mac.com mail users -- Apple is secretly filtering their mail -- according to a story on Macintouch

The mailings lists Frakes* and Giles** (see below) help administer are very public and, without doing exhaustive research, appear to be 100 percent on the up-and-up. They have noted on a number of occasions that Mac.com has erroneously filtered out mailings from the lists to list members who use the Mac.com mail service.

They've notified Apple of these filtering "errors" on several occasions, but apparently aren't satisfied with Apple's efforts to ammeliorate the problem and/or change the underlying practice.

Although it isn't surprising that Mac.com filters for spam, it is rather shocking that Apple is doing this without subscribers' knowledge or consent. Granted, there's probably legalese in the agreement one "signs" when registering for an iTools account that makes it all square with the lawyers, but there's apparently no way for users to control let alone turn off the filtering.

Here's an excerpt from a letter by Giles to Frakes that the latter sent to Macintouch:

"I'd like to point out a questionable practice that Apple imposes on users of iTools' mac.com e-mail addresses -- spam filtration. At first glance, you might think this is a good idea. After all, who wants more spam in his mailbox, right? But there are three problems with Apple's implementation:

1. Users aren't told their e-mail is being filtered.

2. Users don't have a way to turn off the spam filtration, or adjust the filter parameters.••

3. Apple determines what is spam and what isn't, and Apple makes mistakes."

Editor's note: Needless to say we're very interested in hearing your comments on Apple's practice of filtering Mac.com mail. Sound off below or post in IGM's forums.

•• I have visually confirmed that there are no spam filter controls listed in the Mac.com mail preferences or set up.

* Dan Frakes: Windows-L, PowerList (Apple portables) and Darwin
**Bruce Giles: Windows-L, PowerList, Photoshop, Graphics Cafe, Eudora-Mac, Eudora-Win, BugTraqMac, MacOSX-L, Apple Perspectives, Platform Wars
(Information gather from ListMoms.net)