+----------------------------------------------------------------------+ Dealing With Spams, Junk Email, Hate Mail, etc. +----------------------------------------------------------------------+ A JewishGen InfoFile ABOUT SPAMS, HATE MAIL, FRAUD, CHAINLETTERS, HOAXES, VIRUS ALERT, COOKIES, OPINONS, TESTIMIONIALS, EXAGGERATION, PRIVACY. By Bernard Kouchel SPAMS ~~~~~ If you are offended by unsolicited bulk email ("spam")... If you see a blatantly offensive message, do not respond with another post. Instead, send a strong complaint to the poster's system administrator. Forward a copy of the mail, including full headers to: `postmaster' or `abuse' or `usenet' or `news', at the site given in the From: address. First try using the standard generic addresses: for junk e-mail and/or for Usenet news articles where "xxx" is the fully qualified domain name. Then, If you get no response after a couple of business days, use the 'whois -h' approach [Network Information Lookup Service]. The "postmaster" address should work for any site that sends or receives e-mail, and the "usenet" address should work for any site that sends news articles. Complaints directed to addresses or forums other than the standard problem-resolution addresses are less likely to yield results. As always, Internet sites are independent, your mileage may vary. Example: Complaining about an offending e-mail user at AOL specifically would mean sending a message like: Subject: Unsolicited commercial e-mail To: Cc: In addition to your message of complaint, include a copy of the offending mail, _with full header_. The persons who answer mail to postmaster@xxx are pretty good about dealing with inappropriate postings, so you should get results, if you go to the right place. Visit the following ANTI-SPAM related Web sites for more information on how to combat SPAM and what you can do about it. "Help stop Scam Spammers!" http://www.junkemail.org/scamspam/ Maintainer of the SPAM-L FAQ http://www.ot.com/~dmuth/spam-l Complaint Addresses (GoodGuys|Unresponsive|Foe) http://www-fofa.concordia.ca/spam/complaints.shtml "If you want to improve your spam-fighting skills, check out" http://abuse.net/spam-l. Anchor Desk "Special Spam Fighting Edition" http://www4.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_index_19970819.html How to Get Rid of Junk Mail, and Telemarketers http://www.csn.net/~felbel/jnkmail.html HATE MAIL ~~~~~~~~ Report incidents of anti-Semitism, racism or other forms of bigotry that you have experienced to these sites that monitor hate mongers: o ADL - Anti-Defamation League Home page: http://www.adl.org Jump to: Contact ADL Report Anti-Semitic Incidents. http://www.adl.org/frames/front_report.html o Simon Wiesenthal Center's Task Force Against Hate http://www.wiesenthal.com/watch/ FRAUD ~~~~~ Your friendly telemarketer could be your friendly thief. If you suspect telemarketing or Internet fraud, you are encouraged to contact the National Fraud Information Center at (800)876-7060, or at http://www.fraud.org If you receive a Pyramid scam (or anything else that may be fraudulent or illegal) via e-mail, or spot one in a newsgroup, don't forget to CC NFIC Internet Fraud Watch with your complaints. Whether they actually do anything or not, one can hope it'll scare the hell out of the offender. CHAINLETTERS and HOAXES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Internet community is constantly being bombarded with chain letters in the form of e-mail messages. They claim all manner of warnings and dire notices of doom and gloom for your computer systems or for some poor soul somewhere, all of which will be saved if you just send this message on to all of your friends. For info on chainletters, url to: http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACChainLetters.html For info on hoaxes, url to: http://ciac.llnl.gov/ciac/CIACHoaxes.html VIRUS ALERT ~~~~~~~~~~~ We suggest you buy the latest anti-virus computer software, install it on your computer and run a virus check whenever you turn on the PC. Don't open or download files from someone you don't know. Check the anti-virus pages on the Internet for information about the latest viruses circulating. The National Computer Security Association site is at http://www.ncsa.com/ Sometimes messages are circulated about 'false' viruses. This site will dispel myths and expose hoaxes about viruses circulating on the Internet. http://www.kumite.com/myths COOKIES ~~~~~~~ Cookies are nuggets of information that a Web site can be programmed to plant in the hard drives of computers. Depending on the computer, the files can be stored for long periods of time, leaving a trail showing where the user has visited. Some people see it as a security and privacy problem. It's sort of like a caller I.D., containing information you supply, such as your name, home address, work address, email address, credit card number, phone number, etc. That information may have been placed there when you filled out a form to buy or access something. Cookies could be telling many others all kinds of info about you, and where you go online. Some browsers allow you to disable or delete cookies. For more information on cookies, visit the Center for Democracy and Technology at http://www.cdt.org/privacy/ Opinions, testimonials and exaggerations ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Remember, not all sources on the Internet provide information that is accurate, complete, current, legal, or philosophically acceptable to all citizens. Question the qualifications of authors and presenters and the evidence for any statements that are made. We appreciate hearing from you when you identify errors in material which JewishGen has developed and mounted on the Internet. Privacy ~~~~~~~ Email should not be considered private. Confidential information should not be sent by email. --------------- [19June2000]bik filename- junkmail.txt Information edited from published sources. Copyright 2000 JewishGen, Inc. http://www.jewishgen.org +---------------------------------------------------------------------+