Where spam comes from

bbcnews.com ^ | april-24-2003 | bbcnews

[js1138]

I keep a hotmail address for travel and such. I was getting 50 spams a day until I made it exclusive, only accepting messages from a specific list.

[Lysander]

e-mail addresses listed on both personal and corporate websites.

Excuse me but is not putting your email address on a website inviting people to email you? How is that unsolicited email?

Here is my phone number, don't call me!

[ItsOurTimeNow]

Any business that has to make a living by cheating and conning its customers deserves to be shut down So, does the Government also fall into this category? lol

[boycott]

"For the last week or so I have been replying to every spam email to remove me from the mailing list. Will this work and what about the spam that does not have a remove option?"

Always remove yourself from the list. There's about a dozen companies that sell the email lists. Some will filter their lists for those that have requested removal. It certainly won't work 100% of the time but it should help.

Another thing to consider is that a lot of the spammers aren't in the USA. A few groups in Russia are heavy into Internet marketing. There is one Russian group that buys expired domain names for redirects. They also sell email lists, etc.

How do you police the spammers that are based in Russia, China, Maylasia, Singapore, etc.?

[ASA Vet]

Fastest way to get rid of spam is to tax it.

Is this where the Postal Services proposed 5 cent
tax on e-mail urban myth is supposed to be brought up?

[kissthis]

In many cases having contact info on a website is required. For example...If you have a commercial website that accepts credit cards, your merchant account provider will require it (if reputible).

This does not mean I am inviting spam. I have no problem at all with cusomers contacting me, but that is a far stretch from "inviting people to email" me. Exactly how is displaying contact info an "invitation", and how is that soliciting anything???? Especially since I don't have any particular need to increase my penis size.

[green team 1999]

aol is trying constantly to sell aol,time.warner, items,from cd music to subscriptions to dvd movies,but all the products are from the same superbig aoltimewarner.
i tell all my friends to stay away from aol.

[Oztrich Boy]

For the last week or so I have been replying to every spam email to remove me from the mailing list. Will this work and what about the spam that does not have a remove option?

Even if it does, there is nothing to stop the spammer selling your address to another as a prized active e-mail addressee who actually opens unsolicited e-mail.

[Oztrich Boy]

Oh, and Where spam comes from?

Spam is Babe!

[lawdude]

"Where spam comes from"

French head cheese!

[snopercod]

Just what is "mechanically separated chicken", anyway?

[tubebender]

Just what is "mechanically separated chicken", anyway?

The first thing that came to mind was those shredders Saddam used...never mind

[steve-b]

This is like arguing that having a window is an invitation to throw bricks through it.

[Vicki]

I got a porn email last week that involved guinea pigs. I'm not kidding. I am so sick of this stuff.

[Lysander]

This is like arguing that having a window is an invitation to throw bricks through it.

LOL! Close, but as bad an anology as mine. It is more like saying that leaving your curtains open is an invitation to watch you get dressed.

[Alouette]

It can be even worse. Recently, I had spammers spoof my domain in the "from" field of their mass mailings, to make it look as though the spam was coming from my server!

Anyone have any idea of how to stop this abuse?

[goldstategop]

Write to your ISP and tell them someone is abusing your e-mail domain to send out spam. They will investigate and take appropriate action against the party responsible for the domain abuse.