Re: Dealing with Spam

From: Steve Werby <steve-lists_at_befriend.com>
Date: Wed 31 Jul 2002 17:25:08 -0500

"Cliff Kurtzman" <cliff_at_tenagra.com> wrote:
> Rob Frankel <rob_at_robfrankel.com> wrote:
>
> >Responding back to those spam remove links only verifies
> >your address, so forget that. Auto responders do the
> >same thing, since spam vendors only promise to sell
> >"valid" e-mail addresses to their victims.
>
> This may be true in some cases, but I think this is largely
> urban legend.

There are no universal truths concerning spam, but those of us who have
expertise in the spam control field believe that unless you're sure of what
will result by following removal instructions from a given sender, it's best
not to do so. Best case is that you'll be removed and won't receive repeat
spam from that sender for the particular email address reported. Worst case
is that your address will be tagged as live and will be distributed as such
to many potential spammers. And both extremes can result from the same
removal request. It's a game that will never end, will use your valuable
time and is more likely to increase the level of spam you receive than to
reduce it.

> Most of the unsub links that actually take you to a working
> page to unsubscribe are valid... they will remove you from the
> list.

But that's not to say that they won't add you to another list sent from a
different domain they control or that your email address won't be shared
with others. So you might feel like you won the battle, but be hurting your
outcome in the war.

> Every once in a while, some jerk spammer that does not
> want to process unsubs sends you to someone else's unsub page
> just to make you think you are getting off their list... but
> usually if the domain in the spam and the domain of the unsub
> page match... the remove link is legit.

I won't argue with "usually" because I don't have statistics, but even if 1%
of the companies behind those removal pages share your email address with
others I believe the risk is excessive. In general, spammers are either
unethical, ingorant or both and are breaking the law, stealing services and
taking advantage of the fact that there's little or no cost involved
compared to the potential payoff related to sending large quantities of
unsolicited email. Those that do have valid removal mechanisms in place
simply realize that only between 0 and 2% of recipients will make the effort
to unsubscribe and it's better to appease this small minority than it is to
risk lawsuits and other unpleasantness. An alternative to letting the
spammers know who you are is to use an anonymous reporting service like
http://spamcop.net/ which can result in the spammer being blacklisted if
action isn't taken to stop sending spam. And if you, your ISP or server
administrator was using those blacklists you'd be seeing a lot less spam.
SpamCop has a lot of other useful services you may want to take a look at.

> For example, last Tuesday, I found two of my addresses had been
> suddenly subscribed to ADBUMB without permission...

I too was recently subscribed to their newsletter - likely the result of
them harvesting email addresses from this list.

> requiring me
> to spend my time figuring out which addresses where being
> spammed and follow the links given to unsubscribe them. Not
> a big problem with just two addresses from one spammer, but
> when it gets to hundreds of spams a day by dozens of spammers
> a day, it results in a real loss of productivity to have to
> mess with it.

It's a lot more effective and less time consuming to implement white lists,
black lists and proven complex filtering rules with scoring on your hosted
email account or at your ISP or hosting organization than it is to
selectively follow spammer removal instructions and implement your own
personal basic filtering rules. I suspect most people on this list aren't
in a position to or don't have the expertise to implement a solution
themselves, but there are plenty of people who can and you can and should
put pressure on the responsibility parties to implement such a solution.

> All in all, I'd guess that I have reduced my spam volume
> by about 60% by unsubbing.

If so, you truely are lucky. I would not suggest that others go the same
route. Your goal should be to greatly reduce the spam in your mailbox,
while continuing to receive the emails you do want, using as little of your
time as possible. Unsubscribing *might* ensure that some specific spammers
don't spam you again at the same email address from the same domain, but
that doesn't necessarily translate into less overall spam. After all, there
are tens of thousands of active spammers. So you might have stopped a few
dozen (at least temporarily or in part), but there are thousands more
waiting to deliver you unsolicited email.

> The other 40% seems unsubbable.

If your goal is for the other 40% not to end up in your mailbox, there are
many better solutions. I've shared quite a few. Others have shared some of
the many end-user tools available.

> I am not at all sure it was worth the time it took me to
> unsub from all the lists.

It sounded like an interesting experiment and you were able to form some
generalizations which are definitely not hard and fast rules, but IMO
unsubscribing in general is not very effective, is a waste of time and is
likely to backfire. But don't take my word for it - spend some time
monitoring any of the mailing lists at spamcop.net, spamcon, spamassassin,
spam-l, spamtools, suespammers, etc. - all easily located using google.

--
Steve Werby
President, Befriend Internet Services LLC
http://www.befriend.com/






Received on Wed Jul 31 2002 - 17:25:08 CDT