Re: Spam as a result of advertising

From: Jim Reardon <jim_at_amusive.com>
Date: Wed 11 Oct 2000 14:07:03 -0500

ALLAN POLLETT <allan_at_ucanbuyart.com> WROTE:
> Does anyone know where I can go to take action
> against these spammers? Is it still Spam if the message
> remains the same but the senders address changes
> slightly? I realize that is legal to send one
> unsolicited message as long as the user is given an
> opinion to prevent future mailings. This fact seems to
> be always mentioned in their messages as well. If
> anyone has a solution, I would love to hear it.

First and foremost: never, ever, ever reply to spam.
Don't reply to buy, don't reply to complain, and
certainly do NOT reply to get removed. "Remove lists"
sell for even more money than those "ten bazillion
email addresses" cds. Why? Even though you show
you're vitally against receiving this information
*they know your email address is active*. Most
spammers don't care who they bother... just that they
can get their email in front of a live person.

(Note -- you should even avoid opening spam if you can
help it. "Smart" spammers can embed HTML code that
will let them know automatically if your email address
is active, if you have HTML mail enabled).

As far as taking action, unfortunately, there really is
no legislation to attack them with (I'm not a lawyer
though, so I could very easily be wrong). Your best
bet is to take informal actions against them -- most
ISPs forbid users from spending spam. Use an automated
program such as SpamCop.net -- it automatically finds
out where the mail is from and what it is advertising,
and sends concise complains to the people in charge.

One thing -- send the complaints from a different (but
NOT a fake) email address. Why? Some complaints
might get on to a bulk-friendly ISP that will, in
turn, sell your address. You can also be the subject
of an attack by an angry spammer. Open up a Yahoo or
Hotmail email address and use that to send out the
complaints from; if the email address ever gets
overloaded or starts getting spammed, close it and
open a new one.

Jim Reardon <jim_at_amusive.com> 815-744-3119
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Received on Wed Oct 11 2000 - 14:07:03 CDT