Re: spam

From: Alun Jones (alun@texis.com)
Date: 02/16/03 

From: alun@texis.com (Alun Jones)
Date: Sun, 16 Feb 2003 20:05:38 GMT

In article <03f401c2d557$fb4f1450$2f01280a@phx.gbl>, "Mariana"
<mharari@attbi.com> wrote:
>When I go to "unsubscribe" lately from spam sites, my
>computer freezes when I try to type in my email. What's
>up and how can I unsubscribe from these sites otherwise?
>HELP!!!

Really, don't ever try to unsubscribe from spam. Only ever try to unsubscribe
from a mailing list that you voluntarily joined (or the previous owner of your
email address voluntarily joined) - and of course, since those lists were
voluntarily joined by the owner of the account, they should not be called
spam. To do so merely muddies the waters, and allows spammers to claim to
their ISPs that they really aren't spamming.

Spammers don't care whether you want their crap or not. For some peculiar
reason, though, they think that it is their job to pour more crap into "live"
mail boxes than into boxes that have no readers. They sell these lists
amongst themselves, and I'm sure you can make a good guess as to how they
build these lists. Yes, that's right, everyone who clicks an "unsubscribe" or
"remove me" link, or replies to their spam, gets put on the "live ones" list,
and that list is sold to other spammers.

Sure, not _every_ spammer is responsible for doing this, and it's easy to tell
the difference - spammers that really do honour your unsubscribe requests will
say something like "we honour all unsubscribe requests", whereas spammers who
sell your address to other spammers say something like "we honour all
unsubscribe requests". Hmm... maybe it's not so easy. If you want, you can
test this for yourself - create a throwaway address through some "free e-mail"
service, and send an e-mail from that account to one or two of the so-called
"unsubscribe" addresses. Now watch as the spam comes flooding in after a few
days. Hmm... let's see... virgin e-mail address, not used before, never
advertised anywhere except in the 'unsubscribe' request... voila - proof that
"unsubscribe" doesn't work most of the time - not only doesn't work, but
actually significantly _increases_ the spam load to your account.

So what _does_ work? I've found that there is another list that goes around
spammers, often called the "complainers" list. It's made up of people who've
complained to the spammers' ISP, and got the spammer kicked off. So, there's
a double benefit - first of all, you get the spammer kicked off the ISP (for
doing something he promised he wouldn't do - so don't feel bad for reporting
the spammer), and second, if you complain to enough ISPs, one will do the
nasty deed of passing your name to the spammers, and they'll add you to the
complainer's list, removing you from the spam runs of the future.

Granted, it would be nicer if all spam stopped, and spammers were subject to
summary fines and imprisonment, but at the very least, I'm sure you want to
stop your own load of spam. So find out how to complain (my favourite tool is
Sam Spade, from http://www.samspade.org), and complain about as much spam as
you feel you have time to. You'll help to kick off spammers, which helps
reduce everyone's spam load, and you'll eventually get onto the complainer's
list which further helps to reduce your own spam load.

Alun.
~~~~

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