Suffocation via e-mails?

Sen. Barack Obama’s campaign is winning the presidential race when it comes to the number of e-mails they send out, but not everyone is thrilled, according to MX Logic, an IT security vendor based in Englewood.

After receiving multiple complaints from customers, several IT security vendors, including MX Logic, are beginning to block certain e-mails from the Obama campaign. Obama’s campaign has not been sending e-mails based on the recipient’s location, which some customers aren’t happy with, said MX Logic.

“Based on customer complaints, we have selectively blocked some of the content they have sent because people are saying it’s spam,” said Sam Masiello, vice president of information security at MX Logic.

Blocking e-mails

MX Logic and the other IT security vendors manage the Internet and track e-mail trends. When the trend becomes significant in volume or customers identify it as spam, the companies have the ability to automatically block it. Customers who want to continue receiving the e-mails can easily “whitelist” the entry and continue receiving the e-mails, said MX Logic. 

The Obama e-mails do not fall under the CAN-Spam act — the 2003 piece of legislation that makes it illegal for commercial entities to spam people — because non-profit groups and politicians are exempt from the law.

The blast e-mails were only being sent out to the people who said they wanted to receive updates on Obama’s Web site. When people submitted their information to BarackObama.com, they were asked to enter their e-mail and zip code. Masiello said this caused people to think they would only receive information relevant to their area.

“People are looking at their e-mails and saying this is just to many,” he said. “They don’t care about rallies going on 15,000 miles away.”

Not as many McCain e-mails

Masiello said there hasn’t been any spam blocks against Sen. John McCain because his campaign has sent out drastically fewer mass e-mails. MX Logic deals with only a couple of hundred McCain hundred e-mails a day, while they see around 20,000 daily from Obama’s campaign during the same time frame, according to the company.

“I don’t know if it’s an age thing or if Obama is trying to appeal to the younger, hipper generation,” Masiello said. “But he has the finger on the pulse of why it’s a technological society and what technologies people are using. Obama has been really using technology as a significant method to get the word out.”