Send this to 10 friends or I'll have bad luck?

You know what most of the e-mails you get that tell you "forward this on to 10 friends or you'll have bad luck", "forward this on to 10 friends unless you don't care about (insert cause)" etc. have in common? Most of these e-mails have a tracking system connected to them. That means that each time you forward that message to other people their e-mails are recorded. This is how companies collect vast lists of "active" e-mail addresses to spam with advertisements.

 I know it sounds terrible but that's what 9 out of 10 of them are, just e-mail collecting campaigns. It started with actual mail campaigns back in the day that said: HEY, this little boy in Florida is going for the Guinness Book of World Records for most business cards, so send your card back to this address and mail this message on to as many people as you know! Do yourself a favor and don't let yourself and your friends' information be collected without your consent.

By the way, e-mail petitions are NOT ACCEPTABLE TO CONGRESS either. These are at best spirited but vain attempts at policy change but are more likely another great ruse to get your active e-mail address. Who wants to send e-mails to addresses that haven't been checked in years when they know you have checked your inbox in the last week?