| Spam Delenda Est A Proud Member of the Internet's Immune System |
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(1) Privacy and Security resources
(2) Spam tracing resources. Domain lookup, IP address lookup, registrars
(3) Protecting yourself from spam, revenge spam, and subscription list abuse
Telemarketing
(4) Messenger spams
(5) Illegal and tortuous spams. These are punishable by criminal and/or civil sanctions.
(6) Links to other anti-spam pages
(7) Why we fight spam
Other pages in this domain
Tracing E-mail headers
Tracing Web pages that are advertised in spam
General examples
Newsgroup spams
How to trace E-mail form spams
(spams that use JavaScript to generate the spammer's real E-mail address and Web site from ASCII character codes.)
The Carthage Checklist: tracking down the name servers of the spammer's backbone providers
Humor: Uncle Romulus' Internet Sideshow. Spammers as sideshow freaks. Anti-spam songs and Net-NAZIs.
Tomahawk missile
and "Just hit Delete"
 * Electronic bulk mail (spam with small "s"), not the Hormel product Revision Date: II/II/MMVIII (02/02/2008) After the Romans killed every man in Carthage,
they sold the women and children as slaves, looted and burned the city,
and finally plowed up the fields and sowed them with salt so nothing
would ever grow there again. When applied to spammers,
those
Romans had some good ideas!
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Mission Statement:
It is the official position of Stentorian.com that spam (unsolicited
bulk commercial E-mail or UCE) raises the costs for all Internet users
while wasting users' time and impeding their enjoyment of the Internet.
Stentorian.com advocates the wholesale destruction of
spammers' online operations through all available methods, provided only
that they are legal and nonviolent. This page is intended to provide resources for this purpose.NEW ITEMS (2/2/08) Report illegal telemarketing calls. These include anonymous non-commercial (e.g. political "robocalls.") FCC Form 1088, Junk Faxes and Telemarketing (1/24/07) Report spam blogs to Blogger and Blogspot (10/19/06) Report fraudulent domain registrations, e.g. where the spammer has entered inaccurate contact information for his domain. (11/18/05) UXN Spam Combat discontinued: recommends http://www.dnsstuff.com/ instead (8/5/05) Report Problem Registrars that won't enforce ICANN standards (5/12/05) Abuse of VeriSign and TrustE logos (5/12/05) CAN-SPAM violation if sexually-explicit spam is not labeled (12/4/04) Netscape Communicator 7.2: NOT RECOMMENDED due to file losses, no technical support (7/7/04) Symantec security and antispam products: NOT RECOMMENDED due to poor technical and customer support. For the past few years, Symantec has been getting deservedly-poor reviews at Amazon.com and elsewhere. Symantec is permanently disqualified from selling us anything because of essentially-nonexistent customer support and also the reputation of its products for rendering some people's computers unusable. It is quite clear from where we sit that the company's only interest is its customer's money, and that neither quality or customer satisfaction are important aspects of its business strategy. |
Section 1: Privacy and Security Resources
- Telemarketing cockroach exclusion: National Do Not Call registration
- Security and Privacy Resources
- Spam-blocked E-mail
Do Not Call Registration can be completed at www.donotcall.gov or at 1-888-382-1222. It will be illegal for telemarketers to continue to harass anyone who is on this list after a certain date.
Violations, including not only of Do Not Call but also prerecorded calls that fail to identify their source or a phone number/address for the caller, can be reported to the FCC here.
Internet Security and Privacy Resources
- F-Prot Antivirus (we currently use this)
- Grisoft.com AVG (anti-virus)
- Kerio Personal Firewall (firewall)
- LavaSoft AdAware (anti-adware)
- Freeware program that removes adware that advertising systems (e.g. Doubleclick) plant on your computer. Version 6 available as of October 2003.
- Security.kolla.de Spyware Search and Destroy (anti-adware)
- Symantec Norton Internet Security (firewall, antivirus, ad-blocking)
- NO LONGER RECOMMENDED. We experienced what seems to be a very serious problem with SYMPROXYSVC.EXE, with Web pages loading at 100 bytes per second (dialup)-- if we were lucky. Symantec refused to provide technical support for Norton Internet Security 2002, even though it was quite willing to take our money to renew our subscription to it in 2004. Customer service refused to reply to E-mails and even faxes addressed to the manager (thus showing that the problem extends beyond lazy and uncaring tech support people-- and this attitude may well come from the top down).
- Symantec
was given numerous negative recommendations on Amazon.com. You might want to see what other users have to say about
Symantec's products before buying.
- Xblock.com (anti-spyware, anti-adware)
Spam-blocked E-mail services
- Spamblocked.com E-mail only, $10/year
Section 2: Spam Tracing and Reporting Resources
- Key Antispam Resources
- Domain Registrars
- IP address lookup. This is now handled automatically by Sam Spade (in most cases).
- Examples of Spam Tracing
- Report fraudulent domain registration information
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(b) Will terminate a domain registration for confirmed spamvertising. Copy abuse "at" the indicated registrar's domain. |
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Many spammers provide phony E-mail addresses and inaccurate phone numbers (including phone numbers that belong to innocent third parties) in their domain registrations. This is cause for revocation of the domain. Report it to http://wdprs.internic.net/ |
Spammers are now creating blogs at Blogspot and Blogger for the sole purpose of redirecting to other sites like illegal online pharmacies. They will frequently try to spam these blogs' URLs onto other people's blogs and bulletin boards. See this page for reporting spam blogs to Blogspot and Blogger. |
Section 3: Protecting Yourself from Spam, Revenge Spam, and Subscription List Abuse
- Spam-blocking your address
- Recognizing Revenge Spams or "Joe Jobs"
- Preventing Subcription List Abuse
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When posting your address on a Web page, don't use the mailto: function. Instead, post your address as an image that cannot be recognized by harvesting software, like this:  To prevent spam software from extracting your E-mail address from newsgroup postings, set your mail I.D. to something like yourname@SPAMBLOCKisp.###, where isp.### is your internet service provider. Spam sent to this address will bounce or go into a dead letter office (wastebasket, where it belongs), but people who actually read your article and want to reply can delete SPAMBLOCK from your address. Important (10/28/97): DON'T use a block like nobody@realdomain.realsuffix, since the mail WILL go to realdomain.realsuffix. Instead, try realname@SPAMBLOCKrealdomain.realsuffix (realsuffix = com, org, net, edu, and so on). That is, make sure the spam is not deliverable to a real domain, even with a nonexistent user I.D. In summary, don't use a spamblocked (munged) address that will cause inconvenience to a real domain owner. Warning! Address collection software like Extractor Pro, Floodgate, Web Weasel and so on may comb entire newsgroup postings or Web sites for addresses. The programs apparently look for xxx@yyy.zzz, where zzz = net, com, or org. (They may avoid .edu or .gov, I'm not sure.) This means that, if there is a mailto: expression on your Web page, the software will collect the address. The software may collect every xxx@yyy.zzz from your newsgroup posting or Web site. As long as it fits the pattern xxx@yyy.zzz, where zzz is a valid suffix, the program will extract it. Don't put a real address anywhere in a newsgroup posting, or it may be extracted. Examples:
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These take several forms, but they all involve framing an innocent
party for spamming.
E-mail header forgery: This involves forging someone else's E-mail address in the header of a spam. For example, a spammer can set the Identity preference in Netscape Navigator to myenemy@fake_domain_name_for_example.com. This is unlikely to get myenemy kicked off his service provider for spamming, since the forgery should be obvious from the headers (the message probably doesn't originate from fake_domain_name_for_example.com and, even if it does, the message I.D. won't trace back to myenemy.) However, the victim may get a lot of complaints from people who aren't familiar with this form of harrassment. Forward the spam to the postmaster of the originating mail ISP. They can track the real spammer with the message I.D. Web site forgery. The spammer gets a throwaway account
and spams an ad for someone else's web site. Spamming a Web
site
is cause for removal of the web site from many service providers. Spamming a link that shows one domain but connects to
another. E.g. www.legitimatebusiness.com's
hyperlink is http://www.legitimatebusinesss.com (it may differ by only
one letter). Check the hyperlink.
What to do: Send a copy of the revenge spam, with full headers, to the victims. This gives them the evidence they probably need to subpoena the sender's identity and initiate legal action against him. Warning: Any spammer who doesn't like me or this Web page, don't do it. Your identity can be traced via the E-mail service that you use to spam. The ISP will reveal your identity under a subpoena or court order. A civil tort (defamation) would probably be adequate reason for a judge to issue one. Forgery of my Web site in your spam would be prima facie evidence of malice, and malice is what brings the big punitive damages in defamation lawsuits. So be smart; it's not worth the risk. |
Allowing people to enter E-mail addresses via Web
page
is an invitation to subscription list abuse. Be VERY careful of how you
allow people to sign up to get E-mail from your company. More information here:
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(1) Register your home or cell phone number on the Do Not Call registry. (2) Although Do Not Call exempts political and other non-commercial messages, automated or recorded messages ("robocalls") must still follow certain rules. According to the FCC, FCC rules prohibit prerecorded advertising calls to home telephone numbers unless someone in the household has given prior express permission for the call to be made or has an established business relationship with the caller. For telemarketing purposes, making a purchase or having some other transaction within the past 18 months or making an inquiry or application within the past 3 months establishes a business relationship. Any allowable prerecorded telemarketing messages to residential telephone lines (those made under prior express permission or an established business relationship) must not be made before 8 am or after 9 pm. The prohibition on prerecorded messages covers advertisements – “any material advertising the commercial availability or quality of any property, goods, or services.” Messages that claim to be surveys actually may be advertisements if they are a pretext for the promotion of any property, goods, or services. In addition, messages that offer “free” information or products may also be covered if the offer is a pretext to a sales pitch. Further, messages that invite you to press a keypad or call another number to hear an advertisement are also prohibited. The rules do not cover calls made by tax-exempt nonprofit organizations and calls that are not advertisements, such as solicitations for charitable contributions, political and religious messages, and debt collection calls. At the beginning of the message, all allowable prerecorded messages must state the identity of the business, individual, or other entity that is responsible for initiating the call. During or after the message, the caller must give the telephone number (other than that of the automatic dialing system or prerecorded message player that placed the call) of the entity responsible for the call. Automatic
dialing systems that deliver a prerecorded message must release your
telephone line within 5 seconds of the time that the calling system
receives notification that your line has hung up. In certain areas,
telecommunications systems may not be capable of terminating the call
this quickly and there might be a delay before a dial tone is restored.
Your local telephone company should be able to tell you whether there
is a delay in your area. |
Section 4. Messenger Spams
Spammers are now using direct message systems to
send advertisements. I got one in a grey box whose only option was to
check "OK" and close the box; there was no way to discover who sent
it. Advice from news.admin.net-abuse.email:
 Click on HELP for an explanation of what this does. |
The following also may be helpful.  Furthermore, when someone attempts to send you a message box spam, Norton Internet Security displays an alert and logs the attempt, with the spammer's IP address number. Testing
your system for vulnerability to messenger pop-up spams and other
intrusions. From MyNetWatchman.com. |
Section 5: Illegal and Tortuous Spams (punishable by criminal sanctions and/or lawsuits)
- CAN-SPAM makes spamming a Federal crime under certain conditions
- Piracy and Warez. Report to the owners' piracy departments as well as the service providers.
- Tactic for pressuring their service providers to TOS (terminate under Terms Of Service) them. Also useful against product counterfeiters like vendors of fake Rolex watches.
- Product Counterfeiting: see http://www.stopfakes.gov/
- Illegal online pharmacies. Report to the Drug Enforcement Administration if the sites sell controlled substances like Valium, Xanax, or Phentermine
- Direct link to DEA reporting form
- Otherwise, report illegal online sales of prescription medications (e.g. Viagra) to the Food and Drug Administration.
- Illegal pornography
- Securities fraud, e.g. "pump and dump"
- E-bay, PayPal, credit card, and bank account "phishing"
- FBI Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC)
- 419 scam or Nigerian scam (a form of pigeon drop)
- Misuse of VeriSign, TrustE, or other logos. How to deal with sites that claim falsely that they are registered with these companies
In other words, we use the moral equivalent of nuclear weapons as the first resort. Causing the spammer to lose his domain, domain registration, or E-mail account may cost him ten dollars and some inconvenience. That is an example of using a conventional weapon. Getting him charged with a crime or sued by a software company can cost him thousands of dollars and perhaps everything he has. That is an example of dropping the Bomb on him. In addition, even a spam-tolerant internet service provider is not going to want to be around when the Big One lands on his customer; too much fallout in the form of bad publicity, subpoenas, and that sort of thing. To quote Major Kong in Dr. Strangelove: "YA-hooo! Eee-YA-hah!" (Tomahawk missile animation and "Just hit Delete")
The Federal CAN-SPAM Act (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act)
Federal Trade Commission site (As a publication of the U.S. Government, this is believed to be in the public domain)
- It bans false or misleading header information. Your email's "From," "To," and routing information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person who initiated the email
- It prohibits deceptive subject lines. The subject line cannot mislead the recipient about the contents or subject matter of the message.
- It requires that your email give recipients an opt-out method. You must provide a return email address or another Internet-based response mechanism that allows a recipient to ask you not to send future email messages to that email address, and you must honor the requests. You may create a "menu" of choices to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to end any commercial messages from the sender.
- Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your commercial email. When you receive an opt-out request, the law gives you 10 business days to stop sending email to the requestor's email address. You cannot help another entity send email to that address, or have another entity send email on your behalf to that address. Finally, it's illegal for you to sell or transfer the email addresses of people who choose not to receive your email, even in the form of a mailing list, unless you transfer the addresses so another entity can comply with the law.
- It requires that commercial email be identified as an advertisement and include the sender's valid physical postal address. Your message must contain clear and conspicuous notice that the message is an advertisement or solicitation and that the recipient can opt out of receiving more commercial email from you. It also must include your valid physical postal address.
- "harvest" email addresses from Web sites or Web services that have published a notice prohibiting the transfer of email addresses for the purpose of sending email
- generate email addresses using a "dictionary attack" – combining names, letters, or numbers into multiple permutations
- use scripts or other automated ways to register for multiple email or user accounts to send commercial email
- relay emails through a computer or network without permission – for example, by taking advantage of open relays or open proxies without authorization.
The law allows the DOJ to seek criminal penalties, including imprisonment, for commercial emailers who do – or conspire to:
- use another computer without authorization and send commercial email from or through it
- use a computer to relay or retransmit multiple commercial email messages to deceive or mislead recipients or an Internet access service about the origin of the message
- falsify header information in multiple email messages and initiate the transmission of such messages
- register for multiple email accounts or domain names using information that falsifies the identity of the actual registrant
- falsely represent themselves as owners of multiple Internet Protocol addresses that are used to send commercial email messages.
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/04/adultlabel.htm says,
Starting May 19th 2004, spam that contains sexually oriented material must include the warning “SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT: ” in the subject line or face fines for violations of federal law. The CAN-SPAM Act, passed by Congress in 2003, directed the Federal Trade Commission to adopt a rule requiring a mark or notice to be included in spam that contains sexually oriented material. The purpose of the notice is to inform recipients that a spam message contains sexually oriented material and to make it easier to filter out messages they do not wish to receive.
...The FTC’s final rule prescribes the phrase “SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT: ” as the mark or notice mandated by the CAN-SPAM Act. The final rule follows the intention of the CAN-SPAM Act to protect email recipients from unwitting exposure to unwanted sexual images in spam, by requiring this mark to be included both in the subject line of any e-mail message that contains sexually oriented material, and in the electronic equivalent of a “brown paper wrapper” in the body of the message. This “brown paper wrapper” is what a recipient initially will see when opening a message containing sexually oriented material. The “brown paper wrapper will include the prescribed mark or notice, certain other specified information, and no other information or images.
- FTC Spam Page
- Where to complain: spam "at" uce.gov
- Another page on CAN-SPAM
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Selling pirated software is illegal. Ads for "backups" of commercial software are often really ads for pirated software.
Report movie piracy to hotline "at" mpaa.org (Motion
Picture
Association of America). Dragonfans.net's
customer, moviehours.com, spammed us with an ad for "Lord of the Rings:
The Fellowship of the Ring" and other movies. (The site itself is
advertising "Die Another Day.") It was in Chinese so we couldn't tell if
the prices suggested piracy or not but Heaven help them if it is. New (Feb. 2005) spam fighting tactic for dealing with product counterfeiters and software pirates If the Internet Service Provider will not terminate the
spammer's domain, E-mail both the ISP and the owner of the intellectual
property (brand name or software) to put it ON RECORD that the ISP has
been informed that it is hosting a product counterfeiter or a software
pirate. As an example, if someone is selling "OEM Microsoft Warez," you
send your complaint (in the same E-mail) to the ISP and to piracy "at"
microsoft.com. This tactic, which was apparently successful in getting
a product counterfeiter kicked off at least two service providers, is
based on the ancient adage "Do it but don't tell me about it." In King Richard II, one of
Henry Bolingbroke's (later Henry IV's) retainers murders the deposed king (Richard II).
Then he goes to Henry IV, tells what he has done,
and expects to be rewarded. Instead, Henry IV exiles him from the kingdom on pain
of death if he ever returns, because now that Henry "knows about it," he
cannot be seen to condone or reward the murder of his rival. If, on the
other hand, he had merely suspected his retainer, he might well have
rewarded him had he (the retainer) kept his mouth shut.
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Drug Enforcement
Administration
Mailstop: AXS 2401 Jefferson Davis Highway Alexandria, VA 22301
The responsibility for writing a valid prescription for controlled substances rests primarily upon the physician. It is his or her obligation to ensure that controlled substances are prescribed for valid medical reasons and according to state and federal regulations. However, there is also a corresponding liability that rests on pharmacists to ensure that they dispense controlled substances only pursuant to a valid prescription. If the pharmacist fills a prescription knowing that it is based soley upon a 2-minute telephone consultation or on-line questionnaire, the pharmacist is also violating the law. |
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Pornography by itself is not illegal but sending it to minors
is. But beware of revenge spams that advertise a domain as child pornography simply to cause trouble for that domain's owner. W would suspect (not legal advice) that revenge- spamming another person's domain as a kiddie porn site is libelous because it is automatically libel to knowingly and willfully make a false accusation of a crime.
http://www.ftc.gov/opa/2004/04/adultlabel.htm says, "Starting May 19th 2004, spam that contains sexually oriented material must include the warning “SEXUALLY-EXPLICIT: ” in the subject line or face fines for violations of federal law. " Morality in Media, Inc. Form for reporting illegal pornographic spam to your state's attorney general |
Report these to the Securities and Exchange Commission, enforcement "at" sec.gov "Phishing" means fishing for personal financial information like your bank account number, PayPal or E-bay password, or credit card number. This may fall under the FBI's jurisdiction (since it often crosses state lines). Examples might include requests that are purportedly from E-bay (report to spoof "at" E-bay.com) and PayPal to "verify your credit card information." The idea is to get you to give the spammer your credit card information. You can submit a tip to the FBI here.
"IFCC provides a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of a suspected criminal or civil violation. For law enforcement and regulatory agencies at all levels, IFCC offers a central repository for complaints related to Internet fraud..." Types of complaints processed include:
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This scam is similar to the "Spanish Prisoner" scam in which someone claims to have found a lot of money. He needs your help to get it out of the country, though, and you have to put up money of your own for fees, bribes, and so on before you can get your share of the "found" money. "419 Fraud" (Four-One-Nine) comes from the relevant section of the Criminal Code of Nigeria regarding cons. The U.S. Secret Service has taken an interest in this scam. "If you are a United States Citizen or Resident and have suffered No Financial Loss write "No Financial Loss - For Your Database" on the documents you received and Fax them to the US Secret Service Task Force handling Scam matters at 202-406-6930 or 202-406-5031. Actual hardcopy of the 419er document(s) is required to add your 419ers information to the Task Force Database for legal reasons, merely telling Task Force about it will NOT suffice." You are unlikely to get a reply, though, unless you suffered a financial loss. Nonetheless, your report will still help the task force deal with this scam. "You may also email the 419er documents, especially any Banking Data they may have given you, marked No Loss, to Task Force Main in DC; that is also acceptable." E-mail 419.fcd "at" usss.treas.gov (A good place to forward E-mail spams for 419 scams; be sure to include the full headers of the spam.) Also copy 419 "at" nigeriapolice.org (if it's from Nigeria) and wafl "at" phonebusters.com (especially if it has Canadian contact information). "If you have NOT suffered a financial loss, so the matter is not Urgent, you may alternatively SNAILMAIL the Scam documents you have received to the United States Secret Service, Financial Crimes Division, 419 Task Force, 950 H Street, Washington, DC, 20001-4518, USA. But be sure to mark your documents "No Financial Loss - For Your Database" as described above." fraud.alert "at" met.police.uk for advance-fee frauds with United Kingdom contact information 419-related humor, including photos of 419 scammers!
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VeriSign Seen at SecureHerbal.com, which was advertised to me by spam.   In both cases, clicking on the VeriSign logo does nothing. According to VeriSign's Web page, "When the seal is clicked, no information pops-up" is evidence of misuse or fraudulent use. You should report this misuse to Verisign. TrustE  This one was seen at http://www.cooleremail.com/index.ice after we received a spam from that source.(1) List of TrustE-registered domains (2) Check to see if a specific domain is registered with TrustE and file a complaint if it is not. In this case, "The URL http://www.cooleremail.com/index.ice does not belong to a TRUSTe licensee." |
| Product Counterfeiting (e.g. online-replica-store.com, sells "replica" Rolex watches that use Rolex's distinctive mark) See http://www.stopfakes.gov/factsheet.asp Raising the Stakes for International Pirates and Counterfeiters
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Update (2/2/2008): Misuse of the FDA and Health and Human Services seals or logos by illegal online pharmacies may be a felony. (Not legal advice, we are not lawyers)U.S. Code Title 18 § 506. Seals of departments or agencies (a) Whoever— (1) falsely makes, forges, counterfeits, mutilates, or alters the seal of any department or agency of the United States, or any facsimile thereof; (2) knowingly uses, affixes, or impresses any such fraudulently made, forged, counterfeited, mutilated, or altered seal or facsimile thereof to or upon any certificate, instrument, commission, document, or paper of any description; or (3) with fraudulent intent, possesses, sells, offers for sale, furnishes, offers to furnish, gives away, offers to give away, transports, offers to transport, imports, or offers to import any such seal or facsimile thereof, knowing the same to have been so falsely made, forged, counterfeited, mutilated, or altered, shall be fined under this title, or imprisoned not more than 5 years, or both. You can tell the FDA about misuse of its logo here. http://www.fda.gov/oc/buyonline/buyonlineform.htm Internet crime can also be reported to the FBI's Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3) |
Section 6. Links to Other Anti-Spam Resources (last verified May 2005)
Newsgroup: news.admin.net-abuse.email (E-mail abuse)
- Alchemy Mindworks Death to Spam page
- Antiphishing.org Stop phishing and E-mail scams
- The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail (CAUCE)
- Child pornography reporting resouces: U.S. and European law enforcement links
- U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Report sites that sell controlled substances like Valium, Xanax, and Phentermine here.
- All online sales of prescription medications are unlawful unless the purchaser has a prescription,
but the DEA's primary concern is with controlled substances. If the
spammer is selling prescription medications that are not controlled
substances (e.g. Viagra), his site can be reported to the Food and Drug Administration.
- Distributed Intrusion Detection Shield
- DNSstuff.com Numerous tracing utilities
- Fight Spam on the Internet
- Fight Spam on the Internet (alternate link)
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration, for reporting unlawful sales of prescription medications over the Internet.
- GeekTools.com
- gfi.com white paper on using Bayesian logic to design a spam filter
- Internet Fraud Complaint Center (owned by the FBI), for reporting illegal fraudulent activity
- ISP Knotwork anti-spam page
- Junkbusters Privacy resources: anti-junk mail, cookie blocking software, and so on.
- MSExchange.com
- Morality in Media, Inc. Form for reporting illegal pornographic spam to your state's attorney general.
- My NetWatchman includes abuse/intrusion reports by IP address
- Net Demon Spam Tracing Software
- Network Abuse Clearinghouse
- Nigeria - The 419 Coalition Website. Information about the Nigerian "419 scam"
- Photo Gallery
of spam fighters, with links to home pages http://www.spamfighters.org/ not found
10/31/03
- Privacy Net
- Sam Spade, Spam Hunter (tracing resources: extremely useful)
- Spamcop.net
- Spamhaus.org
- Spamhelp.org SpamHelp offers a diverse anti-spam resource, featuring everything from books to appliances, from a customizable feature comparison to network tools, etc.
- Spamlaws.com Federal and State spam laws. Also European spam laws.
- Summary of spam laws by state. It is illegal to send pornographic materials in some states unless a warning is given in the subject line. It is illegal in some states to alter the headers of bulk commercial E-mail to disguise its origin.
- Spam Reporting Addresses from Javawoman's Ban Spam page
- SPEWS (SPam Early Warning System)
- U.S. Postal Inspector's Web page
- File a complaint
online to the U.S. Postal Inspector. Also fraud "at" uspis.gov
- XWhoIS. Very useful, it seems to go to the correct registrar to get the full domain information
Q: What's worse than finding two dead spam accounts lying face down in pools of cyber-blood?
A: Finding one.
Why We LART (Loser Attitude Readjustment Tool) Spammers
"Why We Need Nosy Parkers: Busybodies, it turns out, may help us coexist." (U.S. News & World Report, June 13) explains why Internet users take more time to report spammers than it takes to "just hit 'Delete.'"
"Social scientists call the behavior 'altruistic punishment': the willingness to step in and enforce societal norms even if doing so carries little chance of reward and significant personal costs."
The concept is demonstrated in a game in which players are given a small amount of real money-- perhaps $20.00-- they are supposed to invest in a joint venture that provides a modest return. Cheaters can prosper by not investing anything while taking their share of the (slightly lower) joint profits. When players are allowed to fine the cheaters they will often do so even if they must forfeit some of their own money to impose this penalty.
"Increasingly, researchers say, it's looking as if our tendency to sanction breaches of social norms is the key to human cooperation."