E-Card

E-cards are electronic postcards. The term derives from the English words "electronic" and " postcard " and became, like e -mail, e -commerce or e-business, generated as part of the "E -fication ".

Technology

Sites that electronic postcards (also called greeting cards ) offer, typically provide a choice of different designs available, which should correspond to the virtual image side. In a web form you wear then your own e -mail address and the recipient and a personal message to the addressee. This will then receive an automatically generated e -mail, which usually contains a link.

Gets the recipient of the e -mail link on, he is shown both the selected image as well as the sender's message. He often has the opportunity to answer a postcard by clicking on a button directly. Partially animated postcards are offered that are based on Flash technology. Other sites use Java.

The other way to send greeting cards directly into an e -mail, is computationally expensive and has for the operator of the greeting cards website has the disadvantage that the recipients are not passed on his website. Therefore, there is in the German Internet only a provider that relies exclusively on this technique.

In part, it is also possible on some website to edit the map and thus customize the map before they are shipped. Another option is to create a greeting card online and also to provide possible own photos, which is then sent as a real postcard with stamp.

Right

E-cards are especially advised in the 2002 election campaign into disrepute, as the Munich lawyer Günter Freiherr von Gravenreuth several parties, including the Greens, the SPD and the Republicans, the FDP, the PDS and the DVU to enjoin such contributing to the sending of unsolicited commercial e mails laid claim, referring to the generated for an E-Card e -mail. Even before appropriate court rulings against commercial providers such as the CMA, the Central Marketing Organization of German Agricultural Industries are issued.

The judgments initially called forth incomprehension, the warnings and injunctions were seen as harassment of the lawyer. In fact, the e-card contains necessarily advertise the operator side. The operator of the e-card page is thus beneficiaries of sent mail, as its number of visitors increases, which is often considered the Internet as a measure of the popularity of a page. In addition, the site visitors get to see additional equity or debt Advertising on the website.

As a consequence, numerous websites have now implemented complicated methods for user authentication. The decisions had a great legal uncertainty for providers of e - cards to a result which has, however, done after the stabilization of the judiciary.

Decisions

  • LG München I judgment of 5 November 2002, Az: 33 O 17030 /02 ( full text )
  • LG München I " milk makes you beautiful " judgment of 15 April 2003, Az: 33 O 5791 /03 ( full text )
  • Munich Higher Regional Court judgment of 12 February 2004, AZ: 8 U 4223 /03 ( full text )
  • AG Hamburg judgment of 4 March 2003, Az: 36A C 37 /03 ( full text )
  • LG Rostock decision of 24 June 2003, Case No. 1 S 49/ 03 ( full text ) to Rostock AG judgment of 28 January 2003, Case No. 43 C 68 /02 ( full text )

(all final)

Reporting on the decisions

  • Joerg Heidrich: Unsolicited party advertising inadmissible by e -card. Report on heise.de
  • Joerg Heidrich: Unsolicited e -mail advertising for parties inadmissible. Report on heise.de
  • Jürgen Kuri: Supreme Court strengthens protection against unsolicited e -mail advertising. Report on heise.de
  • Peter Riedlberger: Injunction for Green - e-card. Gravenreuth strikes again. Report on telepolis.de

Problems

In connection with the use of e -cards, several problems can occur:

  • E-card sites could be used by spammers also excellent as anonymization help send their junk mail. This is now often hampered by methods for user authentication.
  • There is a risk that the e-card provider misused or passed on to third parties the entered name and e- mail data for advertising purposes. The sender of an e-card takes the risk not only for themselves but also for the addressee into account, which therefore may not agree.
  • Internet application
  • World Wide Web
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