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I have started this page in hopes of helping to inform fellow netizens about how to put a stop to SPAM, or UCE. Being very active on the internet, my email address is an easy target for those businesses who have to lower themselves to adding it to their bulk mailing lists, or who purchase one of these lists with my email address already added. When I first got started on the internet I had no idea this problem existed and freely gave it to whatever site I went to, not realizing that they may be adding it to a large database of email addresses and selling it to whomever desires such a list.

As a result, I receive about 7-10 UCE's (unsolicited commercial email) a day at each one of my email addresses. What bothers me more is the blatant guilt of the senders in that have to hide their identities in their emails. If they have a product to sell that they believe in, why should they hide their information? We all know the answer to that. Therefore, I've spent a large amount of time searching through SPAM headers, trying to locate the origin of this CRAP. For those of you who have tried to do the same, you know how hard this can be. My success rate in identifying the senders' email servers and having their accounts discontinued is growing every day. However, it is poor (but getting better with experience) in relation to the amount of SPAM I receive.

If we all band together and try to put a stop to this unwanted, bothersome junk mail then maybe...just maybe we can be heard. Below I have some tips for identifying where an email originates and some links to more information on this topic. Please help us in the fight against SPAM!!!!!

• Contact your local Representative via email and ask him/her to vote for the "Netizens Protection Act of 1997".
• Contact your local Senator via email and ask him/her to vote for the "Netizens Protection Act of 1997".

  Choose Your state Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisianna Maine Maryland Massachusettes Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming

• Email your friends and get them active in the fight against SPAM.
• Join Cauce and add your name to the growing list. You'll receive newsletters keeping you up to date on current activites and best of all it's FREE!!
• If you own a web site, show your support by letting your visitors see your stance on the subject (graphics, links, your own anti-spam page, etc.) You may be saving a net newbie a lot of headaches if he/she learns about this before allowing everybody access to their email address.
• Add a little something to your signature file in your email program.
• Report any SPAMs you get to their respective mail servers.
• Check out what's happening on the political front at The Anti-Spam Campaign.
• See if your browser allows sites to view your email address here.
• Please join our S.H.U.T.U.P.! (Spam Haters Unite To Uphold Privacy) web ring!!
• Study up on some of the SPAM jargon.

Here is an example of a SPAM email header I have gotten. I'll show you how to tell where it came from.

Received: from hagbardc.net [207.105.194.48] by mx04 via mtad (2.6) 

  with ESMTP id 378DaJLNW0059M04; Sun, 10 Jan 1999 11:13:49 GMT 

  To: jason100@usa.net

  From: natmed@nationalbilling.net

  Subject: ADV: Help Wanted: National Billing Needs Full/Prt Time Medical Billers-no
  experience necessary. 

  Date: Sat, 9 Jan 1999 10:38:23 
  
  
  

Now all that's left is to report the SPAM to pbi.net but unfortunately I don't have a list of ALL the email servers out there. Thankfully, there are quite a few sites that have attempted to do this-some of which are listed below. Several Whois servers will also generate the email address you need for a specific IP. If the one you use doesn't then it's a good bet you'll reach the correct person by sending your email to both abuse@emailserver.com and postmaster@emailserver.com. Just replace emailserver.com with the email server you found in your search.

Almost all of these servers will send you an automatic reply to acknowledge receipt of your complaint, but don't be surprised if you don't receive any more contact from them. They are very overburdened with verifying complaints and acting on them. Some, such as psi.net and bellsouth.net, are very good about letting you know an offending spammer's email account has been deleted or some other appropriate action has been taken. These emails make it all worth the effort!!

NEVER reply to a spam thinking you're being removed from a list. The main reason for this is because you have now assured the offender that they have your correct email address. It's highly unlikely that they'll take you off their list but very likely they'll add it to a growing list of valid email addresses that are being sold every day. This only aggravates your problem. Lastly, these "reply-to" email addresses are often bogus as well, making your efforts fruitless.

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Here are some links to other Anti-SPAM sites by subject:

ISP'S Stance on SPAM and Their Complaint Addresses Help Finding IP's Anti-SPAM Organizations Help Reading Headers ISP/Domain AUPs and TOS IP Network Numbers CAUCE Stop Spam FAQ ISP Complaint Addresses IP-Whois Scam Spam Reporting Page The Anti-UMail FAQ Sample Acceptable Use Policies Sam Spade Consumer.net's Privacy Info The Anti-Spam HOWTO The current list of abuse.net reporting addresses Get that spammer! Blacklist of Internet Advertisers Afterburner's Header Reading Tutorial Internic Search Spam Cop F.R.E.E.-Forum for Resposible and Ethical Email Reading Email Headers

         


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