New ask Hacker News story: Tell HN: Legitimate voting email from city clerk marked as spam
Tell HN: Legitimate voting email from city clerk marked as spam
3 by Jupe | 1 comments on Hacker News.
Today I was browsing my spam folder and there I found an email from our local Deputy City Clerk. The topic of the mail was how to go about voting by mail. (I promise this is not a political post). I unflagged the "spam" status, perused the email... everything was legitimate. Emails, phone numbers, attachments (yes, I did check in VM), etc. So, it has just occurred to me (I'm a little slow sometimes, getting old) that the sensitivity to one or a handful of "negative" reviews or judgements is enough to flag something potentially important as "spam". It only takes a few (how many, I don't know) "reports" for our automated systems to consider something it is not. (In fact, apparently, a single, probably false, comment suggesting improper jury sequestering could be enough to declare a mis-trial in a recent, high-visibility court case here in the US.) I'm waiting on results of an important medical test. That's what first drove me to the spam folder in the first place (maybe somehow it was considered spam?). So, this "hole" in authenticating messages may apply to much more than just vote-related emails. Be careful, and don't assume anything!
3 by Jupe | 1 comments on Hacker News.
Today I was browsing my spam folder and there I found an email from our local Deputy City Clerk. The topic of the mail was how to go about voting by mail. (I promise this is not a political post). I unflagged the "spam" status, perused the email... everything was legitimate. Emails, phone numbers, attachments (yes, I did check in VM), etc. So, it has just occurred to me (I'm a little slow sometimes, getting old) that the sensitivity to one or a handful of "negative" reviews or judgements is enough to flag something potentially important as "spam". It only takes a few (how many, I don't know) "reports" for our automated systems to consider something it is not. (In fact, apparently, a single, probably false, comment suggesting improper jury sequestering could be enough to declare a mis-trial in a recent, high-visibility court case here in the US.) I'm waiting on results of an important medical test. That's what first drove me to the spam folder in the first place (maybe somehow it was considered spam?). So, this "hole" in authenticating messages may apply to much more than just vote-related emails. Be careful, and don't assume anything!
Comments
Post a Comment