WSG Newsletter: SPAM, SPAM, SPAM, I don't want any spam.

Issue: Revised: October 26, 2001

It's just a matter of time before you receive spam. You'll find it in your e-mail box, you'll see it in newsgroups, you will notice signs of it in search results. Spam is bulk posting and it can fill your email account with junk e-mail, swamp newsgroups with advertising, and  clutter search results with pages that have been "spam indexed"  It's annoying  whenever it occurs, but the tempers of netizens are highest over bulk e-mail - and with good reason.

Over the last half year there have been chain letters, pyramid schemes, money maker propositions, religious messages, and an invitation to the pink pussy club. I probably receive about 5 spams a week, a trickle compared to the 30 or 40 some receive. One bulk e-mailer, Cyber Promotions, has said it sends out 4 million messages per day. ("Spam Attack" PC World, August 1997. p. 54)

Who Are The Spammers?

hey are commercial operators who believe that they should be able to use the Internet to advertise. They call it free speech and unimpeded commerce. Cyber Promotions, in Pennsylvania, USA, is often in the news because of court cases brought against them by AOL, Compuserve and others. Cyber Promotions keeps losing in court but making money in spamming. There are also many smaller operators who will compile mailing lists and sell them. Some will sell you the software to make your own. Heck, some will sell you software to block the spam. Message headers like 25-Million Addresses are an immediate tip-off; they want to sell you a list.

What's Wrong With Spam?

It's unsolicited mail which costs you money to receive and your Internet Service Provider to process. For the advertiser, it's a cheap way to do direct marketing since most of the cost is borne by the e-mail recipients and Internet Service Providers in funding the Internet connection, the mail server, the space, and the time. Personally, I don't mind advertisements that have some relevance to my business or interests, but sex, porn and scam aren't among them.

How Do They Get Your Address?

The spam-list makers  scour the  Usenet newsgroups and the web pages for e-mail addresses.  Some lists have been created from AOL and Compuserve member directories.  Addresses  are also gleaned from purchased software-registration lists and unscrupulous web sites.

How Can I Fight Spam?

The following are tips culled from several articles and personal experience.

1. Filter your email:

   No matter how hard you try, your address is going to be hoovered into a list. Be prepared to use an e-mail program that lets you set up rules to filter your email. Netscape Communicator, Internet Explorer 3.0 and above, Eudora Pro and Eudora Lite 3.0 and above, Pegasus are the leading ones.

   Tip 1: Direct messages that are not addressed to you to a separate folder - call it Hold for Review or Suspect. Most spam messages are addressed to names like friend@public.com, or Success@aaanews.com. Set up a To: rule to put messages sent to you in one folder, and the rest to your Holding Tank. Then scan to see if there are any you think you should read.

   Tip 2: Filter on commonly used spam words in the Subject line and the Body. Anything with iemmc can go to trash, as well as Extractor Pro. Many spam messages advise you to go to http://www.iemmc.com to remove your name from the list: don't do it; it's a scam. Delete the message instead. As for Extractor Pro, it's a  bulk e-mail software package.  You can also filter for character strings like: $$$; 00,000; xxx; free offer; earn $; remove request. It is risky  to delete messages  that have  the frequently used spam-words  -  opportunity, success, money making  - you might be trashing a  message from a friend.

   Update: August 1998: Most email programs let you set up rules to filter out junk e-mail. For Internet Explorer and Netscape, check the Mail section in TIG. Users of Eudora and other mail programs will want to check their documentation.

2. DO NOT  respond to remove-request instructions:

   I got sucked in, don't you. A spammer runs into  thousands of invalid e-mail addresses. How better to validate an email address than to have the sucker at the other end reply?

3. Complain to the Spammer's ISP

   The spammer's return address is almost always false, so it does no good to send a cease-and-desist order. But you might be able to locate the domain name of the ISP and send the postmaster an email of complaint.  You  can use WHOIS  at Internic (http://rs.internic.net/cgi-bin/whois) to look up the domain name and get contact information.

   If you receive spam from one of the web e-mail services such as  Hotmail or Rocketmail, you  can report the spammer to the postmaster. Forward  the offending email to postmaster@whatever. If the item is from aol.com, be sure to report it to abuse@aol.com.

   Update: August 1998: If you decide to take up spam fighting as a personal crusade,  you will find the guide on Spam Filtering by Heinz Eschabitscher at the Mining Company. He seems to have removed his article on how to locate a domain name and contact the ISP from his "library". (http://email.miningco.com). Also, people who are keen  to know the nitty-gritty of how email works will want to read Mr. Eschabitscher.

4. Software:

   Is there anything that another piece of software won't accomplish? There are freeware and shareware programs that will help you delete spam from the mail server before it reaches your machine, and to contact the postmaster of the domain. They go by such warlike names as Spam Exterminator, Spam Killer, Spam Blaster. For candidates for your machine you can check the TUCOWS collection (http://www.tucows.com). You will find E-Mail Anti-Spam tools for Windows and Mac.

5. Keep Your Email Address Private

   Tip 3: Newsgroups:  Configure your newsreader so that your e-mail address doesn't show in the From field.  Well this is a lot easier said than done. In Netscape and Explorer you must have an email address set up under Preferences (or Options) to send out mail or do postings. Trick: You can set that email address to a fake one: for example, I could set mine to gharris@nospamthe-wire.com. Then in my signature I  tell people to remove "nospam" when they reply to me. (Thanks to Scott Swedorski of The Computer Paper for this tip.)  This is more trouble than I'm willing to go to, but if you are worried about spam, it will afford some protection.

   Tip 4: Web Pages:  To prevent "spam scum robots" from picking up your address from your home page (or any mailto: link) construct it as mailto:%20yourname@yourdomain. The link will still work but it will be an invalid address to the robots. This very useful tip came from the Multi-Media Marketing Group at http://www.mmgco.com/nospam

6. Check that your ISP isn't Giving You Away

   It's unlikely, but your ISP might be letting web servers know who you are through an ident demon. You can check by going to http://ident.junkbusters.com. This site is also very useful for its Brief History of Junk.

Isn't Spam That Luncheon Meat From The 1950's?

Indeed it is. Most netters aren't old enough to remember canned spam, although it is still sold. Fry up a couple of slices, serve it with boiled potatoes and canned peas - hmmhmm good! The meat company, Hormel, has huffed and puffed about how its product name has been abused, but if you go to the Hormel-approved site on spam (http://www.spam.com) you can connect to Spamtastic and buy from the catalog Spam T-shirts, ties, jewelry, caps, cups, and for the truly nostalgic, a gift basket of luncheon meat and accoutrements including recipe book.

What's The Story About Monty Python?

But people would never have called bulk posting spam without the  Monty Python skit in 1970, where Vikings arrived in England and found that the main food item was spam. Spam, spam, spam, they say, over and over again. For sound bytes and the complete song take your pick from Sounds to Announce Spam or from the excerpts at Monty Python's Wavs. In case you'd like to sing along, the text is at the Amazing and fabulous Spam site.

Where Can I Read More?

You want more!  There are 100's of anti-spam sites.

For all-you-can-eat spam, go to Yahoo (Computers and Internet > Communications and Networking > Email > Spam).

First thing you'll notice at Yahoo is Spam Wars. There are so many stories about spam that  Yahoo has this as a headline category, (http://headlines.yahoo.com/Full_Coverage/Tech/Spam_Wars/)

One of the stories listed is this one from the LA Times: "Putting the Lid on Spam E-mail: Drenched in a deluge of ''Spam,'' Netizens are fighting back and hoping for legislation with some meat to it.", by Karen Kaplan, November 10/1997. It describes current political action in the US, and has links to some anti-spam crusaders. (Update: August 1998 - no longer available.))

The Net Abuse FAQ, associated with the new.admin.net-abuse newsgroups, provides a blow-by-blow history of spam, and lots of technical detail about e-mail spam and newsgroup spam. (http://www.cybernothing.org/faqs/net-abuse-faq.html)

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Newsletter by Gwen and Harris and Kirsten McKnight