E-Card (greeting card)

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E-cards are electronic postcards . The term is derived from the English words "electronic" and "postcard" and was generated in the course of "e-fication" , similar to e-mail , e-commerce or e-business .

technology

Websites that offer electronic postcards (also known as greeting cards) typically provide a selection of different motifs that are intended to correspond to the virtual image page. In a web form , you then enter your own email address and that of the recipient as well as a personal message to the addressee . This then receives an automatically generated email, which usually contains a link .

This technique was invented in the 1990s at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). In addition to the link to the "pick-up window", the e-mail to the recipient also contained a number that had to be entered there. Later on, with other ePostcard servers, the number is immediately noted as a transfer parameter in the link, but is occasionally also listed.

When the recipient of the e-mail calls up the link, both the selected image and the message from the sender are shown. He often has the option of answering a postcard immediately by clicking a button. In some cases, animated postcards based on Flash technology are also offered. Other sites use Java .

The other option of sending greeting cards directly in an email is more complex in terms of programming and has the disadvantage for the operator of the greeting card website that the recipient is not directed to his website. Therefore, there is only one provider on the German-speaking Internet that relies exclusively on this technology.

Sometimes it is also possible to edit the card on some websites and thus to individualize the card before sending it. Another variant is to create a greeting card online and add your own photos, which is then sent as a real postcard with a stamp.

Law

This article or paragraph presents the situation in Germany . Help us to describe the situation in other countries.

E-cards fell into disrepute, especially in the 2002 election campaign , when the Munich lawyer Günter Freiherr von Gravenreuth ordered several parties, including the Greens , SPD and Republicans , the FDP , the PDS and the DVU , to refrain from participating in the sending of unsolicited advertising. E-mails, meaning the e-mail generated for an e-card. Corresponding court rulings against commercial providers such as the CMA , the central marketing company of the German agricultural sector, had already been passed.

The judgments initially caused a lack of understanding, the warnings and injunctions were seen as harassment of the lawyer. In fact, however, the e-card inevitably contains advertising for the operator side. The operator of the e-card page is therefore the beneficiary of the mail sent, since the number of visitors increases, which is often viewed on the Internet as a measure of the popularity of a page. In addition, the visitor to the site will see additional own or third-party advertising on the website.

In consequence , numerous websites have become complicated methods for user authentication implemented . The decisions resulted in a great deal of legal uncertainty among the providers of e-cards, which has been resolved after the stabilization of case law.

decisions

(all legally binding )

Reporting on the decisions

Problems

Several problems can arise in connection with the use of e-cards:

  • E-card pages could also be used excellently by spammers as an anonymization aid for sending their advertising emails. This is now often made more difficult by procedures for user authentication.
  • There is a risk that the e-card provider will misuse the entered name and e-mail data for advertising purposes or pass it on to third parties. The sender of an e-card accepts this risk not only for himself, but also for the addressee, who may not agree to it.