SPREADING THE NET

Spreading the net

By Pratiksha Thanki Times News Network Wednesday, May 25, 2005 With a catchy subject line, lesser expense and larger reach -- is mbutt e-mailing fast becoming the best tool for spreading propaganda? Ahmedabad Times asks netas and software experts on their take

Comrades are using it, neo-Nazis are spreading virus through it and even the US Presidential candidates widely used it to spread anti-drugs messages.

It is different from the spam that comes from unknown sources to clog your inbox. Yes, we are talking about mbutt mailing or 'Email Campaign'. Millions of people can be reached through one single e-mail. The irony involved is that the message might always not be positive. Conventionally it has been used for marketing but of late it has played a part in a lot of socio-political activities. With a catchy subject line, lesser expense and larger reach -- is mbutt e-mailing fast becoming the best tool for spreading propaganda?

Former minister of Law and Justice and top lawyer Arun Jaitley believes, "Internet has a lot of advantages from educational as well as informative perspectives. But as far as mbutt mailing is concerned, the only advantage it has is instant communication. It reaches the very next moment to a large number of people. The effectiveness varies because it becomes an individual matter once a mail is in the inbox. But undoubtedly, it is a powerful medium that has affected more areas than just business."

When it comes to business circles, mbutt mailing has yielded good results. "Email marketing campaigns are an important part of business strategies. We ensure that the receiver is tempted to open the mail," says Ravish Maheshwari, system head of a leading city-based IT company.

But will it work as a vehicle for socio-political messages? One of India's youngest MPs Milind Deora feels "The medium has not been explored enough as yet." He adds, "I would emphasise that it should be unintrusive. Since unauthorised mails can be termed as spam."

Praful Shah, a senior software engineer who has made a software that can sent one lakh e-mails at once says: "Every new technology has a flip side to it. That does not discard the utility of such an influential medium. After all any message once generated is bound to be read somewhere and it has never been limited to business circles."

Seems like this instant tool cannot be kept away from our inbox for long. But still, as experts say, the choice to 'open' or 'delete' remains with the user. More at:

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The person mission of Jesus stated in the Christian bible:

"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not so send peace, but a sword. "For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in law. "And a man's foes shall be they of his own household. - Matthew 10:34-36.

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