Watch Dogs viral email accidently leaks thousands of emails

The first emails the Watch Dogs augmented reality site, www.dotconnexion.com, have been released announcing the death of art philanthropist Joseph Demarco. For those who don't remember, Demarco was the target of Aidan Pearce in Ubisoft's E3 gameplay preview of new IP Watch Dogs.

In that showing there was a QR code which took you to an AR site where you could sign up for an email list to be informed about "tickets" to an art event that was provided on the site. Of course, with the successful assassination of Demarco, that event had to be canceled and emails had to be sent out notifying fans.

The first was from a Joseph Demarco which actually refuted the death. It read:

d3m4rc0.j0s3ph@gmail.com:

THE REPORTS OF MY DEATH ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED.

Shortly after, another email from the dotconnexion team was sent. This one confirmed the death of Demarco and read:

From dotconnexion@gmail:

Hi,

It is with great regret that we inform you that Joseph Demarco passed away in a tragic, yet unexplained accident. Being one of the most important philanthropists in the local digital art scene, his demise is left with a deep void in the community. Out of respect for his friends and family, the dotconnexion exhibition will be cancelled.

Sincerely yours,

The dotconnexion Team.

What could've been a really cool viral marketing technique was actually spoiled by the fact that whoever sent the email mistakenly CC'd everybody on the list instead of BCCing resulting in thousands of emails getting leaked and trapping users in annoying reply chains. The mishap was spotted, perhaps halfway through it seems, and recipients whose addresses with "I" and onwards apparently haven't been affected.

I guess it fits in perfectly with Watch Dogs theme of technology and the digital connections we all share. Watch Dogs was unveiled at E3 as an open-world action-adventure that "blends cutting-edge technologies and sophisticated game design into a realistic and living open world where players must use any means at their disposal to take down a corrupt system."

[RipTen]