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messages on spam
``` [I have enclosed two messages about resisting spam. The first is from Stanton McCandlish at EFF (but writing on his own, and not as an EFF representative). The context is that he had written a little manual about tracing the route by which a spam message travelled into your mailbox, and I asked him to add some examples. Another is from someone I don't know well. I do not endorse everything he says, but the message is full of useful information and seems reasonable. Please use your own judgement and check your facts before doing anything serious. And, of course, please don't do anything illegal.]
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This message was forwarded through the Red Rock Eater News Service (RRE). Send any replies to the original author, listed in the From: field below. You are welcome to send the message along to others but please do not use the "redirect" command. For information on RRE, including instructions for (un)subscribing, send an empty message to rre-help@weber.ucsd.edu
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Date: Wed, 2 Oct 1996 14:16:47 -0700 (PDT)
From: Stanton McCandlish
These are genuine examples. I do not mean to imply that cyberpromo.com is a spammer and should be targeted, though others accuse them of being spammers on a grand scale. I just picked them as an example more or less randomly.
> Date: Wed, 25 Sep 1996 20:32:40 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Stanton McCandlish
An example of the traceroute maneuver:
% traceroute www.cyberpromo.com
traceroute to cyberpromo.com (208.9.65.20), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets 1 gw.eff.org (204.253.162.1) 3 ms 3 ms 3 ms 2 Loopback0.GW1.SCL1.Alter.Net (137.39.2.71) 7 ms 6 ms 17 ms 3 Fddi0-0.CR2.SCL1.Alter.Net (137.39.19.6) 8 ms 8 ms 8 ms 4 107.Hssi4-0.BR1.NUQ1.Alter.Net (137.39.70.125) 12 ms 13 ms 10 ms 5 sl-mae-w-F0/0.sprintlink.net (198.32.136.11) 25 ms 17 ms 20 ms 6 sl-stk-6-H3/0-T3.sprintlink.net (144.228.10.45) 26 ms 88 ms 113 ms 7 198.67.6.5 (198.67.6.5) 96 ms 245 ms 33 ms 8 sl-dc-6-H1/0-T3.sprintlink.net (144.228.10.1) 111 ms 89 ms 92 ms 9 sl-dc-15-F0/0.sprintlink.net (144.228.20.15) 89 ms * 131 ms 10 sl-cybrprom-2-S0-T1.sprintlink.net (144.228.125.66) 95 ms 11 cyberpromo.com (208.9.65.20) 91 ms 96 ms 85 ms
www.cyberpromo.com is obviously served by cyberpromo.com, which is the same folks, so the "last" hop on the list should be considered sprintlink.net.
> Next email abuse@site.name and abuse@net.feed's.site.name, and note > politely that a user at site.name, which appears to be getting its feed > from net.feed's.site.name is spammin' the globe, sorry if you've already > been notified.
It's generally important to send to the admins of the "master" host for a domain, since "sl-cybrprom-2-SO-T1.sprintlink.net" and the like may just be routers or something. You need, in this example, to talk to abuse@sprintlink.net. In this example, cyberpromo itself is accused of spamming, so no point in mailing them. If cyberpromo appeared to be an ISP serving a spamming user, perhaps joe@cyberpromo.com, you'd want to mail abuse@cyberpromo.com, too.
> If you get a bounce (not all ISPs have "abuse" aliases yet) resend the > message to postmaster@site.name (or postmaster@net.feed's.site.name - > whichever bounced.) > > If you suspect the site.name is actually a one-man operation of the > spammer himself, do: > > % whois site.name > > (or use a GUI whois application) and see if admin or tech contact is the > spammer (if they used real name). If in doubt call and ask what site.name > is (marketing biz? ISP?) At any rate, if you hit the site's net feed too, > no big deal.
An example of the whois maneuver:
% whois cyberpromo.com Cyber Promotions Inc (CYBERPROMO-DOM) 8001 Castor Avenue, Suite 127 Philadelphia, PA 19152 USA
Domain Name: CYBERPROMO.COM
Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Zone Contact, Billing Contact: Wallace, Sanford (SW430) cyberpr@ANSWERME.COM (215) 288-9230
Record last updated on 22-Sep-96. Record created on 26-Apr-96.
Domain servers in listed order:
NS3.CYBERPROMO.COM 208.9.65.10 NS4.CYBERPROMO.COM 208.9.65.11
The InterNIC Registration Services Host contains ONLY Internet Information (Networks, ASN's, Domains, and POC's). Please use the whois server at nic.ddn.mil for MILNET Information. This should give you a tidbit or two on which to make a judgement call. If the Admin or Tech Contacts for the domain are the spammer, bingo. If not, you can't really tell what this site is, so you might as well mail abuse@cyberpromo.com too. If they are the spammers, they'll just ignore you in most cases. If they aren't, and are the spammer's ISP, you might get some action.
Disclaimer: This is just a personal message and does not represent official EFF statements or opinions. EFF has no official position on spamming.
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mech@eff.org
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 1996 22:13:14 -0400 (EDT)
From: "George F. Nemeyer"
Cyber Promomotions, notorious for sending millions of unsolicited commercial advertising e-mail (UCE) messages, has filed suit against AOL which has been trying to respond to massive complaints from their own members to end the floods of junk they receive. The outcome of this court case is likely to be a landmark in the unsolicited junk e-mail issue. If unsolicited junk e-mail is given any legal legitimacy, the floods will be impossible to stem and your e-mailbox will be forever clogged.
Regardless of your attitude about AOL, they deserve your support in this fight. Hearings are coming up. The first as soon as 8 October.
Send AOL a polite message voicing your opposition to UCE and ask that they provide it to the judge. Provide an explaination as to why you resent having to pay for getting junk ads you didn't ask for, don't want, and have to pay to receive. Ask the judge to rule that unsolicited e-mail advertising is a violation of your desire for privacy and that it threatens to make an otherwise valuable personal communications tool worthless if such practices continue. YOUR VOICE CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE!
If you have any evidence to show you've requested to be removed from Cyber Promotions mailing lists, but have continued to receive from them, be SURE to include that information.
Write to:
America Online Legal Department Cyber Promo lawsuit 2200 AOL Way Dulles, VA 20166 Email: aollegal@aol.com
Help spread this word. Time is short to prevent bad law from being made which gives junk e-mail ad spammers a legal foothold. Pass this message to your friends. Please DO NOT mass spam it to newsgroups, but do help it propagate.
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The message above is the IMPORTANT PART, but there's lots more info and useful places you can lodge a complaint. Act on these as well, of course, but remember, the AOL lawsuit will be the first real legal test of whether you have a right to an uncluttered, useful e-mail system on the Internet. Put your main energy there for now.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Other Cyber Promo Info <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Informative and complaint locations for Cyber Promotions and UCE
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The following sections contain websites where articles describing Cyber Promotions' operations, practices, and attitudes may be found.
In addition, a section is provided that lists places you can contact where your voice can be heard directly by people who can make a difference.
If you are sick of junk e-mail and want to end it, don't just ignore it, FIGHT BACK!
This list will be revised as new information and locations are found.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Background Information <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
New York Times - A series of articles dealing with Cyber Promo and the AOL lawsuit. MUST READING! You have to fill out a form for a password, but it's free. There are buttons on the form to let them know if you will accept mail from them and/or their advertisers. CAUTION: These buttons default to 'on', so if you DON'T want to get on mailing lists, be sure to un-press them.
http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/0926aol.html http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/0921junkmail.html http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/0907aol.html http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/0905aol.html http://www.nytimes.com/library/cyber/week/0704promote.html
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Garbage In Garbage Out - deals with many aspects of the spam situation. Including an entire section devoted to Cyber Promo. This section includes quite a bit of past history, Wallace quotes, and horror stories about just the sort of tactics Cyber/Wallace employ. Good background material.
(main page) http://www.mindspring.com/~mdpas/gigo.html ('Your Pals at Promo Enterprises' section ) http://www.mindspring.com/~mdpas/promo/pe_count.html
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Places to Complain <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Better Business Bureau - Cyber Promotions touts their BBB membership. The BBB's mission is to promote accurate and responsible advertising, and can be a valuable asset in the war against junk e-mail. You can even file a complaint on-line. Be sure to urge them to come out strongly against the invasive, cost-shifting, practice of unsolicited bulk e-mailing as an advertising technique.
http://www.bbb.org/easternpa
Some actual names to write to: Ms Stacy Scholl Mr Aron Greberman
Better Business Bureau Serving Eastern Pennsylvania 1930 Chestnut Street Philadelphia PA 19103 Phone: (900) 225-5222 24 hours / 8:30-6:00 $.95/minute Fax: (215) 561-5216
The address below if for the national council of BBBs. The issue to address when writing here is that the BBB should set national policy which opposes unsolicited bulk e-mail as advertising practice. No truly responsible business should advertise in this manner.
Mr Allen Beatty Sr Vice President Council of Better Business Bureaus 4200 Wilson Blvd Suite 800 Arlington, VA 22207
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SPRINT - Sprintlink is the latest in a series of network access providers which have been infested by Cyber Promo. They've been booted from at least one area provider, and are now getting their connectivity to the net through this major national backbone provider. Unlike MCI, which will not tolerate the kind of abuses that Cyber Promo engages in, Sprint's current policies are more 'we don't care'. This can change. It must change. It's not the kind of behavior a respected, national company should allow on its facilities. UCE is net abuse. Period.
Generic complaint address: abuse@sprintlink.net
InterNIC listed Administrative Contact: Kurt, Gastrock (GK368) gastrock@SPRINT.NET 1-800-230-5108
Network Info & Support Center - (800) 669-8303 noc@sprintlink.net
Executive Offices - (800) 347-8988
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An article in InfoWorld and a gripeline 800 number http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayArchives.pl?dt_iwe37-96_23.htm
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>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Other anti-junk e-mail sites <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Outlaw Junk E-mail Now - generic site with lots of info and links to yet more sites and articles on the overall subject.
http://www.public.asu.edu/~dtopping/ojen.html
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> End <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Help fight the scourge of unsolicited commmercial ads before it's too late!
----- End of forwarded message from George F. Nemeyer ----- ```
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