Boxbe supposedly is a service that filters and prioritizes your email, which sounds really good to someone who gets a lot of email. So, some people have signed up for the service. A pox on them, too!

Last night, I got two very puzzling emails from the gmail addy of a fellow Picasa Web user, someone I don’t know at all and have never communicated with.

The first subject line said, “XXXXXX sent you a message from Picasa Web Albums.” The message included a thumbnail of this photo I took last May,

Z2 roommates and the elephant at August Moon Lake

Hi John

 
I would like to make the following request regarding this photo.

 
Please don't share this with anyone

 
Please contact me if you would like any additional information. Thank you for your consideration.

 
XXXXXX

 
- This email was sent by Picasa Web Albums on behalf of XXXXXX

 
Note: You may change your notification settings regarding these emails by clicking on the Settings link on Picasa Web Albums

Of course, I went to XXXXXX’s Picasa Web album, to see who the hell he is. Nope, don’t know him at all. And, more importantly, unless he’s disguised as an elephant statue with a broken trunk, he is not in the photo I took. Besides that, he apparently lives in Detroit. The photo was taken near Jishou, Hunan, at August Moon Lake.

The second message arrived two minutes later, with the subject line, “XXXXXX has commented on your photo.” And by golly, there was this message under the same photo, “Maybe someday we will meet.” WTF?

So, I replied to the first message through Picasa’s mail service, asking him in response to his non-sharing request, “Why? It’s a photo of my students taken during a class trip.”

At that point, I went to sleep. When I woke up this morning, I found another message from XXXXXX had arrived about 10 minutes after my reply, but this time it came from noreply@boxbe.com. Here is what it said:


Hello John Wheaton,

 
Your message about "Re: XXXXXX sent you a message from Picasa Web Albums" was waitlisted.

 
Please add yourself to my Guest List so your messages will be delivered to my Inbox. Use the link below.

 
Click here to deliver your message. [Link deleted.]

 
Thank you,
XXXXXXX

 
About this Notice
Boxbe [Link deleted] prioritizes and screens your email using a Guest List and your extended social network. It's free, it removes clutter, and it helps you focus on the people who matter to you.

 
Boxbe
End Email Overload

The link, which I have deleted, points to XXXXXX’s Boxbe guest list, but unless you viewed the source code of the email, you might figure the mail had come from Picasa Web. The HTML version of the email, which I displayed here, just says “Guest List,” while the plaintext version says “my Boxbe Guest List.”

Well, this smells awfully like phishing to me, like those messages that look like they come from your bank or PayPal, but have a disguised link that takes you to some shady, cloned website in Romania or somewhere that will steal your personal information.

Some quick google-fu illuminated the situation. Boxbe has been around since 2005, to mixed reviews. While it does seem to manage email pretty well, its marketing tactics generally piss people off.

If you sign up for Boxbe, it will scan your email address books to build a whitelist of addresses you presumably want to receive mail from. At the same time, Boxbe sends messages of its own to all the people in your address book announcing that you have just signed up for this wonderful new service, and wouldn’t they like to join, too?

That’s annoying in itself, but the jimmying of Google Picasa Web and Gmail services is lightyears beyond in sheer chutzpah. To me, it appears that Boxbe (or XXXXXX, for all I know) is visiting random Picasa Web photo albums, leaving an obscure comment on a photo, and sending out puzzling messages like the one I got to the album’s owner. Boxbe has apparently found a way to use Google’s services to leverage Boxbe’s marketing strategy — spam. Vile.

I want to warn XXXXXX about Boxbe, but he is now behind Boxbe’s “spam wall.” If I send a message to his gmail address I will have to visit that Boxbe link. I’d rather respond to a Nigerian banking solicitation.

I am not even sure I should leave a comment on his albums, because I have to sign into Picasa Web to do it (through a proxy, since China blocks Picasa Web). For all I know, Boxbe is managing to monitor Picasa Web’s comment system for emails. I think they are that evil.

My advice: avoid Boxbe. Don’t respond to emails from friends coming from Boxbe. A pox on Boxbe.

If you’re a Gmail user afflicted with Boxbe, here’s how to cure the rash.

James Brown could sing it better than I can, but that’s how I felt this afternoon after I sent in my absentee ballot, all the way from Hunan, China. I had this mental picture of sticking it to Bush and Cheney, McCain and Palin. I hope it hurts. Ow!

An ex-pat, I discovered a few weeks ago that I could cast my vote in Indiana (my last US place of residence) by mail, fax or e-mail. All the necessary forms and instructions are right there on the Indiana state government website.

I want to extend a public thank you to Linda Moeller, the Floyd County Clerk, who in a very friendly manner immediately responded to my emails and faxes. (Linda’s a Democrat, by the way.)

While I could have preserved the secrecy of my vote by voting by mail, I chose the fax method. I wanted to be sure my vote arrived well within the Nov. 14 deadline. If Indiana is going to be a close race, I wanted to help decide the contest on Nov. 4.

Here’s the nuts and bolts, for anyone interested. If you are an ex-pat or someone in the uniformed services and are already registered to vote in Indiana, you fill in and fax form ABS-12 to your county clerk’s office. This form requests an absentee ballot be faxed back to you.

For whatever reason, Linda could not fax the ballot successfully earlier this week. Instead, she emailed the ballot and the secrecy-waiver cover sheet (ABS-9) to me on Monday. The cover sheet is an affidavit that you are waiving the secrecy of your vote. Without it, your ballot cannot be counted. No witnesses are needed; just fill it in and sign it.

I also had trouble faxing my ballot back today, because of a cranky multi-function printer/scanner/copier/fax in our office. I sent Linda an email, asking her to let me know if my ballot had arrived. It had. Case closed.

Because of the time difference, my faxes and emails arrived in her office in the wee hours of the morning today. I knew by the evening my time that all was well.

Since my vote is not secret, I don’t mind telling everyone that I voted for Obama-Biden. I will confess that it took me a while to warm up to Barack Obama. Hillary was my choice during the nomination run. Obama was eloquent, a gifted orator, but I wasn’t really sure he had the experience to be president. He could talk the talk, but could he walk the walk?

It may be hard to believe now, but the only Republican I had any respect for was John McCain. So, the choices before me were Obama and McCain.

To make a long story short, my respect for McCain quickly tanked after he picked Sarah Palin as his veep and sold out to the neocons and wingnuts in his party. Some frickin’ maverick he is.

Meanwhile, my estimation of Obama skyrocketed. His composure under pressure, his smooth handling of the debates, and most of all, his overall message of hope for a better USA, clinched the deal. I watched his half-hour program on YouTube after faxing my ballot in. It only confirmed that I made the right choice.

So, fellow ex-pat Hoosiers, warm up that computer and that fax machine, and GOTV! Modern technology has deprived you of all those lazy-ass excuses about sending in your paper ballot. It feels nice! Like sugar and spice!

Cross-posted on The Daily Kos