Hi, Jacob and everyone else on this list. Jacob, NPR (National Public
Radio) not too long ago did a report on this subject (you can actually hear
at http://www.npr.org). During this two-part documentary, reporter Rick
Karr noted that every time you place your E-mail address on a website,
spammers using webcrawlers have access to it and will then start sending you
E-mail. In addition, I suspect certain websites may have moneymaking deals
to check the computer IDS of all visitors. To slow the number of spans, Mr.
Karr makes two suggestions: (1) never give out your E-mail address unless
required; and (2) where possible, when you do provide an E-mail address,
spell out the punctuation marks (for example, my E-mail address would be
tchittendenatmsndotcom).
Concerning the E-mail address you were given, that appears to be legitimate.
The overworked FTC is the Federal Trade Commission, and they are charged
with investigating false and fraudulent advertising claims, among other
things. Sending your spam E-mail to them will probably not stop your spam
in the short-term, but it probably help investigators track down spammers in
the long run.
Of course, U.S. laws do not apply internationally, and I suspect that there
will have to be an international agreement among all nations before that can
be stopped.
That's it for now. To all, take care.
Ted Chittenden
>From: Jacob Joehl <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: Jacob Joehl <[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Spam Question
>Date: Sat, 24 May 2003 17:20:21 -0500
>
>Hi everyone.
>I have been getting two or three messages a day from someone in a far-off
>country, usually Nigeria or Angola, asking me for some type of transaction.
>I am just wondering if any one knows how the heck these things reach only
>designated people on the web. I had a friend's father tell me to forward
>all spam I receive to the following email: [log in to unmask] Having known this
>friend and his family for quite a while and really liking them, I trusted
>him and sent some junk mail I received to the address he gave me but
>nothing
>has happened. Should I take this to mean that the messages have been or
>are
>being processed and therefore it was the right thing to do, or what? In
>the
>one I just received, something I found rather interesting is that this
>person mentioned the war in Iraq. Thanks for any possible explanation into
>this matter.
>Jacob
>
>
>VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
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