Tricks, Tips, and Rants on dealing with Junk Email
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If
you have been spammed, and want to fight back, advice on how to deal with it can be found
here: 
The Problem:
The message "You have new mail" no longer fills this author with excitement. The reason is the high percentage of junk e-mail, instead of messages that I want and need to read. The above shark graphic expresses my feelings about the unwanted visitors who invade my home, my Internet account, and my computer -- all the while making me pay for it.
According to a fall 1997 study by Georgia Tech, 81% of all email users receive unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE, also known as "bulk e-mail", "junk email" or "spam"), and "...Most respondents(65%) don't like receiving postal mail that is sent to them based on their demographics. They dislike online targeted advertising even more..." In another study by World Research, Inc, 67% of us either hate junk e-mail or find it bothersome. If you haven't received any, don't worry. You will.
Why UCE should be restricted? Why should we care?
Simply put:
- The distributors of junk email use other people's property, usually without their consent, to distribute their commercial message.
- They pass the cost of distributing their message to the recipients.
- They repeatedly harass people by sending the same message over and over again.
- They (almost universally) ignore requests to be removed from their mailing list.
A more in-depth explanation of this can be found at Why Spam is wrong.
Read about how the late, unlamented, Cyber Promotions, Inc., disrupted service at Netcom while sending out junk email: http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,10204,00.html?dtn.head
Read the comments filed with the Federal Trade Commission by Raymond B. Everett of The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email (CAUCE) in response to "Comments for Consumer Privacy 1997 - P954807": Comment 025 - Raymond B. Everett for a detailed explanation on how UCE is distributed, how it shifts the costs to the receivers of junk e-mail, how it damages innocent 3rd parties, and how it can affect your children.
Read what R&D Associates is doing to combat spam: http://www.kclink.com/spam/.
Read the Direct Marketing Association's position on Junk E-Mail in an e-mail sent to
this author:
The DMA supports "opt-out" junk email. Opt-out means they get to dump in your inbox until you cry "uncle." Then, after a period of time that the junk emailer thinks is appropriate, they start all over again. "Opt-out" begs the question: Why should I have to beg to be taken off a list that I didn't ask to be put on in the first place?
Most people support "opt-in" email advertisements. "Opt-in" means that you specifically, with knowledge aforethought, sign up to receive advertisements, which are usually targeted to YOUR special needs and desires.
Read the comments made to the FTC by Russ Smith about the DMA and make up your own mind
if the market self regulation they propose will be effective. [You can review his entire comment in
its entirety at: http://www.ftc.gov/bcp/privacy2/comments2/rsmith.htm]
Russ Smith was nominated by the FTC to participate in the June 1997 FTC's "Workshop
on Consumer Privacy and the Internet" and publishes the The Consumer Information Organization Web Site.
Contrast the DMA's position to that of the Canadian Direct Marketing Association. The CDMA has implemented new mandatory rules for Internet marketing (including junk email). The CDMA's press release says, in part:
"The Canadian Direct Marketing Association (CDMA) released
amendments to its Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice that
will require members to seek consumers' consent before sending
them marketing email. As well, the rules require marketers to
inform consumers as to what personal information they are
collecting from online sources and how it will be used.
Compliance with these Standards is compulsory for CDMA
members. Consumers must also be given an opportunity to
decline to have this information collected."
Contrary to what the bulk email distributors claim, the email lists are culled from USENET, from web sites, screen names, etc., without regard to audience demographics or interest. They are not "targeted," there is no "research which shows you might might be interested" in what they are pushing, nor are they sent to people "who have indicated an interest." They are blind, untargeted, and designed to reach as many potential "suckers" as possible, as many times as possible! As a result many ads are sent to an inappropriate recipient. Examples include sending adult oriented email advertisements for sex services and pornography to children. Would you tolerate a telemarketer advertising a sex service calling your house and speaking to your child, who just happens to answer the phone?
The number of bulk email distributors has dramatically grown as so-called entrepreneurs have flocked to the Internet in search of a fast buck. As long as they can get away with it, they will continue sending you unwanted advertisements. Like the shark above, they enter your world using false pretenses, offering to sell you over-priced vitamins and other personal care products, fly-by-night long distance companies, Ponzi schemes (so-called multi-level marketing "opportunities", "make money fast" offers, and chain letters that the senders claim are "perfectly legal"), and pornography.
Read what this spammer promises if spam becomes legalized under the Murkowski/Torricelli amendment to S-1618.
The Solution:
The solution begins with the understanding that the fight against spam is not a "Free Speech" issue, but a property rights issue. Spammers think that your property may be used by them at their pleasure and convenience. In fact, your email workstation DOES NOT BELONG TO THEM. Neither does your ISPs mail spool file, or their backbone connection. Owners of private property do not have to be forced to carry anybody's commercial messages. Nobody has a First Amendment Right to place a billboard on your front lawn, or to paint an advertisement on the side of your house. Case law resulting from suits against the late, unlamented Cyber Promotions shows unambiguously that junk email (UCE) does not create a First Amendment issue and that equipment owners have a right to prohibit spammers from chattel trespass of their equipment.
Specific case law cites:
Cyber Promotions, Inc. v. America Online, Inc., 948 F. Supp. 456 (E.D. Pa. 1996)CompuServe Inc. v. Cyber Promotions, Inc., No. C2-96-1070 (S.D. Ohio Oct. 24, 1996)
The best legislative solution requires a modification of the Telecommunication Privacy Act of 1991 which outlaws unsolicited faxes, to outlaw unsolicited commercial email and to outlaw falsification of email return addresses. On 5/21/97, New Jersey Congressman Chris Smith introduced an amendment to 47 USC 227 that outlaws the sending of junk email. His bill ("Netizens Protection Act of 1997") can be found at: ftp://ftp.loc.gov/pub/thomas/c105/h1748.ih.txt.
This bill died in committee at the end of the 105th Congress. Mr. Smith promises to reintroduce it in the 106th.
Three rival bills were introduced in the House and Senate that legalize junk email -- and are supported by (surprise) the DMA. The Senate, on May 12, 1998, passed the Murkowski/Torricelli amended S1618 by a vote of 99-0. This bill, in effect, legalizes junk email -- provided that the spammer doesn't forge his return address and marks his messages as an 'advertisement'. Read this bill at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d105:s.01618: Read the House version at: http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d105:hr.03888:
These bills also died at the end of the 105th Congress. Significantly, the bill that survived and was passed, HR 3888, was amended to remove the Murkowski language it had and replaced it with:
TITLE II--SPAMMING
SEC. 201. SENSE OF THE CONGRESS.
It is the sense of the Congress that--
(1) in order to avoid interference with the rapid
development and expansion of commerce over the
Internet, the Congress should decline to enact regu-
latory legislation with respect to unfair or intrusive
practices on the Internet that the private sector can,
given a sufficient opportunity, deter or prevent; and
(2) it is the responsibility of the private sector
to use that opportunity promptly to adopt, imple-
ment, and enforce measures to deter and prevent the
improper use of unsolicited commercial electronic
mail.
It is unknown whether or not Senators Murkowski, Torricelli, and Representative Tauzin will reintroduce their pro-DMA legislation in the 106th Congress. However, it would not surprise this author if they also reintroduce their pro-DMA legislation again (See the flash for December 7 above).
In the meantime, until Junk E-Mail is banned, email users who find unsolicited commercial email unacceptable, must complain to the business who is advertising, and to the domain where the junk email is inserted into the network. Finally, they must insist that their ISP have a strong anti-spamming policy in place, with the promise to fine violators as part of the Terms of Service agreement.
A list of email addresses of major networks and domains that you can use to complain about junk email can be found at: http://www.tigerden.com/junkmail/compladdr.html.
To see this ISP's aggressive anti-spam policy, click here:
See what this email user is doing to fight spam:
Links, tool, and other information for the spam fighter:
Junkemail.org, a joint venture between Center for Democracy and Technology, and the now defunct Voters Telecommunications Watch.
Fight Net Abuse, Spam and Fraud!
The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email
Fight Spam on the Internet! (Scott Hazen Mueller's site)
National Fraud Information Center 1-800-876-7060
Lawsuits against spammers, the good-guys strike back!
Various resources on junk email from Yahoo
The Weekend IBM.NET almost died . . .
Internet World July 1996 -- Caveat Spammor
Blacklist of Internet Advertisers
Junk E-Mail / Spamming (From: The Cyberlaw Encyclopedia)
Hit back at the Spammers with Spam Hater! ["Spam hater" is windows based software to allow you to hit back at the spammer and complain. The company also offers "Spamicide" -- a program to automatically delete incomming spam.]
Get that spammer! This site has tools you can execute directly from the web page to track down junk e-mailers, junk news posters and their Internet service providers. It includes specific instructions on tracking that junk email back to the source.
Sam Spade This site will analyze an Internet address and identify the listed administrators and surface mail address. In addition, it has a Windows 95/NT *FREEWARE* program that does even more. Instructions on how to download are found at Sam Spade-Personal.
Finally, the junk emailer advertises a product or service at the request, and on
behalf, of a business. One way to attack the problem of unsolicited commercial email is to
boycott business who advertise via junk email -- and to let them know it! The one other
thing that we as citizens can do is to press our elected representatives to pass the
modifications proposed in HR 1748 to the Telecommunications Act of 1991 to prohibit junk
email the way it prohibits junk faxes. Call or write your representatives today:
Member information for the House of
Representatives
Member information for the United
States Senate
I've joined the War Against Junk Email...
The following link is NOT a real link, it is designed to trap spammer robot email address web harvesters in amber.
http://www.e-scrub.com/spammers-are-leeches/index.htm
Other Links that might be of interest (but are not related to spam):
Caroline Zoes, Attorney at Law
EFFweb - The Electronic Frontier Foundation
THOMAS: Library of Congress Web Server
Don't let it rain on your parade. . . (Unisys weather page)
Real History Archives (You might not know . . . what you think you know!)
This page last maintained on 6/4/00, by Jim Zoes, © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, Graphic: © 1997, James C. Zoes
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