Help Promote Responsible Internet Advertising NO SPAM!

Have you seen an increase in the amount of "junk mail" that shows up in your email or favorite newsgroup? The very active engagement of a small number of people are becoming a big problem for the Internet.

Mass bulk email to large lists of un-suspecting (YOU) netizines is clogging the internet highway. If you have been on the internet for even a short time, I am sure you have received the "Get Rich Quick", "Pyramind Scheme", and "Secrets of the Internet for only $$$$" type of emails. These offers (this term is used very loosely) are un-necessary and a major distraction to all who PAY to be on the internet. You can join the fight to keep SPAM off the Internet with the resources provided here. 

A Recent Survey
Here are the results from a recent survey about spam:

61% delete spam without opening
19% ask to be removed from future mailings
11% read the message
5% retaliate (via mail bombs, denial-of-service attacks, etc.)

Tips for Reducing Spam
I have found what seems to be a pretty effective way to reduce the spam I get. At least I do not get repeat spams from the same entity since I started following these steps.

When you have been spammed:

1. Copy the email header (check the help file of your email program) from the original email spam.

2. Click on your Forward mail button.

3. Forward the message to all of the postmasters that you see in the mail header (example below).

4. If your ISP has spam server level filtering, copy them on the message as well.

5. Paste the email header into the body of your message.

6. Click your send button!

This example was taken from an actual spam that I received (including the mis-spellings). I did change the real ISP names so please do not flame these sites.

Example of my response

Please refrain from sending unsolicited bulk commercial email.
Please remove me from your mailing list.

Postmasters: You have been forwarded this message because it
originated from or passed through your system.

Thank you.

The mail header that I attach to the email:

Return-Path: waifao81@spddial.com
Received: from mailgate32 (mailgate32-hme0.a001.sprail.com [205.137.196.58])
by camel5.mspring.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id XAA02594
for <yourname@mspring.com>; Sun, 19 Oct 1997 23:47:16 -0400 (EDT)
Received: by mailgate32 (SMI-8.6/SMI-SVR4)
id UAA00073; Sun, 19 Oct 1997 20:46:00 -0700
Date: Sun, 19 Oct 1997 20:46:00 -0700
Received: from sdn-ts-001caventp02.dialsprail.net(206.133.242.21) by
mailfep4-hme1 via smap (KC5.24)
id Q_10.1.1.10/Q_14562_1_344ad3ee; Sun Oct 19 20:45:51 1997
To: Oppotunity@Seakers.com
From: waifao81@spddial.com (James)
Comments: Authenticated sender is <waifao81@spddial.com>
Subject: RECIEVE $300.00 FOR GIVING AWAY 2-WAY HOME
SECURITY SYSTEMS!!!
Message-Id: <19971019375FAA45554@5976.a001.sprail.com>

Here is the list of postmasters that I sent the message to:

postmaster@spddial.com (seen in the 1st line - Return-Path)
postmaster@sprail.com (seen in the 2nd line - Received)
postmaster@seakers.com (seen in the 11th line - To)
postmaster@tvx.com (found in the original message - "...please go to www.tvx.com for details...")
spaminator@mspring.com (my ISP spam killer)

A special note, I make sure the sites exist by doing a DNS lookup on the IP address (also found in the header - the numbers in [ ]'s) and a Whois on the domain name from the Internic site.

Additional Resources
The links in the left hand column of this page are great resources to learn more about spam, how to fight it, how to track spammers down, and what to do when you get spammed.

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