Has Google bought email spammers?
The connection is LiveJournal and Brad Fitzpatrick. Fitzpatrick, a coding god, started LiveJournal but left after the Six Apart deal to join Google.
I've blogged about Gizmo before - when I had a surprising email from them.
The problem was I had used my LiveJournal account to access the (at the time) beta LiveJournal messaging system - one powered by Gimzo5. LiveJournal was supposed not to pass that email address on, an address I created and used exclusively with LiveJournal but nevertheless I started to get email marketing from Gizmo.
That shouldn't have happened.
I'm not saying Gizmo5 are email spammers. I did, however, take that email as spam. It could have been a mistake from LiveJournal and they may have passed my email address on and given them the impression they could contact me.
Once I kicked up enough of a fuss the emails stopped - at least none of them made it past spam filters and to my inbox.
Google's not in the business of buying email spammers Michael Arrington sagely points out the Google Talk integration and how Gizmo5 does PSTN very well. At the back of my mind I'm thinking about whether the Gizmo5 deal is about getting Google Talk better integrated with social communities - will, for example, LiveJournal users now find themselves using Google tech for their chats?
