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![[JCR Logo]](/books/00/01/97/00019705/http://lib.ru/SECURITY/jcrlogosmall.jpeg){kind=small} | Stop Junk Email |
![[men at work image]](/books/00/01/97/00019705/http://lib.ru/SECURITY/workmen.gif) | This page is undergoing a major overhaul. We apologize for the content churn, but we think the end result will be a better, more effective, and more informative page. You may want to visit frequently to check for updates until things settle down a bit. |
JCR Design and Consulting
proudly presents
The Campaign to Stop Junk Email
web site
It's irritating. It's rude. It's stupid. In short, it's a Really Bad Idea.
Let's put an end to Junk Email right now.
Visits to this site: (Counter provided by Web Counter )
More detailed server statistics for this page are also available.
Introduction
Lately I have been getting more and more unsolicited commercial email ("Junk email"). And, frankly, I'm damn sick of it.
This page is primarily directed at the victims of junk email, which generally means recipients, although junk emailers certainly cause systems operators and others big headaches, as well. Our goal is to eliminate all junk email.
To accomplish this goal, we will attempt to teach victims and potential victims (that's everyone with an email address) the most effective methods of prevention and retribution. We also hope to get current and potential junk emailers to see the error of their ways by making them see it from the victim's point of view, and getting them to understand why postage-due marketing isn't very effective.
Contents
On This Page
Sub-Pages
Dealing With Junk Email (A Victim's Primer)
What you should do (and not do) when you have been victimized by a junk emailer.
Understanding Junk Email
Further information to help you understand junk email and how it (doesn't) work
Information for Businesses
Survey about Junk Email Register your opinion! (item added 10/29/96)
GVU's WWW Survey The premier web survey. This year, it includes several questions about junk email and internet marketing. Survey closes November 10! (added 11/4/96)
Features; "How to: Stop Spam" by Michelle V. Rafter, December 19, 1996
"There's been an explosion of anti-junk-email sites, and experts say it reflects the frustration... of Netizens about junk email. One site, Stop Junk Email offers tips such as "stay calm, get mad, and fire."
C|Net, News.com; "Junk email victims fight back" by Jeff Pelline, November 12, 1996
"The Stop Junk E-mail Web site is a good resource for learning more about the dynamics of spamming. It includes a frequently asked questions area covering the hows and whys of junk E-mail and ways to keep the spammers away."
PC Week Online Net Resources section; "No spams: Online guides to thwarting junk E-mail" by Jeff Frentzen, Monday, October 14, 1996
"There are sites on the World Wide Web that offer plenty of other suggestions from computer-savvy folks about dealing with junk e-mail. One of the best is run by JCR Design and Consulting at http://www.mcs.com/~jcr/home.html, where a detailed account of the phenomenon is available."
The Chicago Tribune Binary Beat section; "Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam...or Just Block Junk" by James Coates (online version no longer available), Sunday, September 30, 1996
"John Rivard of Chicago created a "No Junk Mail" symbol and posted it on a Web site for his JCR Design & Consulting company. He said he hoped that visitors to his site would post the symbol on their own home pages to make known their opposition to bulk e-mail."
The New York Times Cybertimes section; "AOL's War on Junk E-Mail Escalates, but to Little Avail" by David J. Wallace (free registration required to access full text online), Thursday, September 26, 1996
"Like many people who have used e-mail for a long time to exchange messages with friends, family and colleagues, Chicago graphic artist John C. Rivard fears today's relatively minor annoyance of 10 unwanted messages could become tomorrow's 10,000 as the Internet grows....
'Junk e-mail is a growing irritation, but it is rapidly becoming a serious problem as the volume continues to grow,' said Rivard, who in February established the "Stop Junk E-mail" Web site (http://www.mcs.com/(tilde)jcr/junkemail.html). 'It seems to be growing exponentially. The sheer number of unwanted e-mail messages will soon be overwhelming people's e-mail boxes, clogging legitimate mail and wasting time and money.'"
The Chicago Sun Times Business section; "Rising tide of `junk' e-mail threatens to swamp Internet" by Howard Wolinski (online version no longer available), Tuesday, September 10, 1996
"Email spammer won't quit"; C|Net News.com, November 7, 1996--Cyberpromo is in court again, this time claiming AOL's junk email filter violates antitrust laws.
"Junk emailer down for the count"; C|Net News.com, November 4, 1996--Federal judge has ruled that AOL is not a public forum, and thus first amendment arguement for junk email is bogus.
"Mass emailer back on Sprint, temporarily"; C|Net News.com, October 30, 1996--Cyber Promotions will be allowed to use Sprint till November 15. They are shopping for new ISPs.
"Major Spammer Is On The Verge Of Bankruptcy"; Inter@ctive Week, October 24, 1996--CyberPromotions is about to belly-up now that their net access has been yanked by Sprint; meanwhile they are being sued by AOL, CompuServe, Prodigy, SprintNet and Concentric Networks.
"CompuServe wins order against spam mailer; AOL debuts anti-junk mail tool"; PC Week Online, October 24, 1996
"E-Mail Porno Messages May Be Hoax"; Computer News Daily, October 23, 1996--Recent child-porn message (itself a particularly disgusting junk email) may have been prank targeted at a junk emailer.
"No spams: Online guides to thwarting junk E-mail"; PC Week Online, October 14, 1996 (Jeff's Internet Adventure column)
"A Spam King Taunts and Tests His Foes"; The New York Times, October 10, 1996
"Junk e-mail wars heat up again AOL reinstitutes its shield against marketers' bulk mailings, but the case is still being fought in the courts--and on the Web"; Money Daily, September 27, 1996
"AOL's War on Junk E-Mail Escalates, but to Little Avail"; The New York Times, September 26, 1996 (free registration required to access full text online)
"Junk E-Mail: Obnoxious and Profitable"; The New York Times, September 21, 1996
"AOL Blocked in Junk E-Mail Battle"; Computer News Daily, September 21, 1996
"Court lets AOL block email"; C|Net/News.com, September 20, 1996
"Short: AOL resumes email blocking"; C|Net/News.com, September 20, 1996
"Junking junk e-mail"; San Jose Mercury News, September 19, 1996
"Voice and e-mail help them save, but we pay (of course)"; San Jose Mercury News, September 15, 1996
"New York's Panix Service Is Crippled by Hacker Attack"; The New York Times, September 14, 1996--Discusses Panix' AOL-like junk email filtering and a possibly related Syn-flood attack. "AOL asks court to allow junk email ban"; C|Net/News.com, September 13, 1996
"Judge
Prevents AOL From Blocking E-Mail"; The New York Times, September 7, 1996
"AOL fights to ban junk email"; C|Net/News.com, September 6, 1996
"Online Service Blocks 'Junk' E-Mail Aimed at Subscribers"; The New York Times, September 5, 1996
"AOL to block junk e-mail, Spamming is No. 1 complaint to online service"; San Jose Mercury News, September 5, 1996
"Tired of "Spam?" Junk e-mail delivers headaches to users"; CNNfn (The Financial Network), July 30, 1996
"AOL and Marketer Do Battle Over Mass E-Mailings"; The New York Times, July 4, 1996
"Junk-mailers Discover The Internet..."; Computer News Daily, June 25, 1996
"..=2E And How To Avoid Them"; Computer News Daily, June 25, 1996
"Groups Pen Junk E-Mail Guidelines"; Inter@ctive Week, June 24, 1996--Electronic junk mail now has the blessing of one of the industry's most influential trade groups.
"Virtual Magistrate Decides AOL Ad Case"; The New York Times, May 24, 1996
"Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam..."; The Netly News, April 3, 1996
"Fighting Off Junk E-Mail"; The New York Times,March 8, 1996--discusses junk email versus junk snail mail and "do-not-mail" lists
"How to keep the spam off your e-mail plate"; Money Daily, February 7, 1996
Make the Junk Email Stop, Please? column by Kim Komando (date unknown) "Battle for the Soul of the Internet"; Time, July 25, 1994
forced to pay the cost of the message. People pay for an email mailbox for various reasons, but not because they want to receive advertising. It costs the recipient real money in terms of extra connect-time charges, phone time charges, disk space, and lowered bandwidth. This is similar to the cost-shifting incurred with unsolicited faxed advertisements, which were made illegal in the US for this very reason.
It costs real money. Junk email wastes recipient's valuable time, because they have to spend extra time to download the unwanted messages, and then to wade through the junk email in order to get to the email they actually want. This costs real money in terms of productive time wasted sorting, identifying, and discarding unwanted junk email.
Junk email clogs up people's email boxes, mingling with and sometimes even preventing receipt of legitimate email. As more people conduct more business over the Net, this type of disruption can cost even more money.
It may cause employers to pull employee internet email access, because they don't want to pay money for their employees to receive advertisements, nor for the lost productivity of their employees wasting (employer-paid) time identifying and discarding junk email. This lessens diversity of the community and hurts the Internet as a whole, and hurts the advancement of the Internet as a medium for commerce.
It is contrary to the helpful and personal culture of the Internet The reason the Internet and interactive communication in general has become so popular is because of the personal one-to-one interaction possible with this technology. People from all over the world have helped each other with problems ranging from the technical to the intensely personal. Impersonal mass-emailings are the antithesis of the an Internet community.
It is inappropriate and contrary to the interactive nature of the Internet medium. Junk email is barely interactive at best, and is often not interactive at all, because the sender forged a fake return address to avoid retribution. It is sender-oriented push advertising, not an interactive, recipient-centered pull of information. Junk email is based on outdated advertising model.
shifted to the recipients, who are actually unwillingly paying to receive the advertisement.)
The only effective strategy to combat junk email, therefore, is to lessen or mitigate these three factors.
The first factor is only going to get worse, and the only way to improve it is to increase understanding along with the inevitable increase in awareness. To this end, we should all try to correct any misperceptions about the function or culture of the Net that we see in the media, via letters to the editor, open debate, etc.
The second factor, the trendiness of the Net as a commercial medium, is probably hardest to mitigate. But it will also probably fade on its own over the next couple of years, as more people get on the Net and the novelty wears off. The Future of Net commerce is beyond the scope of this document, but suffice it to say that the Net will soon be as ubiquitous as the telephone, and we don't really distinguish "telephone commerce" from other types. It's just another method of conducting business.
The third factor, the inexpensiveness of junk email, is where we can have the most effect. Until the cost burden of junk email an be shifted back to the advertisers, junk email will flourish.
Adding cost to the advertiser's end of the equation must be our primary focus.
do-not-mail list" model of preventing junk email, mostly because it shifts the burden to the recipient, doesn't actually work, and most importantly, because it legitimizes the idea of junk email as acceptable. I really can't, in good conscience, recommend something that, in the long run, is going to make the problem worse.
America Online
There are some 6.5 million potential junk email victims on America Online, and AOL email management tools are particularly cumbersome, making it that more annoying. On the plus side, due to customer complaints, AOL has really gone to bat against junk email.
I used to get a lot of junk email sent to
my America Online account, even though I never posted news or sent mail from there. Sometimes the mail originates from within AOL, but surprisingly, it mostly comes from outside. I believe this is because junk emailers use those ever-spiffy free AOL diskettes to abuse the Member Profile Search services and use it to generate a mailing list of people who have similar interests, (or rather, who have the same key words in their member profiles--what does a junk emailer care if the interests really match?). Then they use the list to feed a junk-email script on a Unix system. I deleted my already minimal member profile to see if it would decrease junk mail to that account. If you are an AOL member, you can do the same by selecting "Member Directory" from the "Members" menu, and then hit the "Delete Your Profile" option.
I was still getting loads of junk email there (It's probably too late if you are already on their lists), so I also recently completely blocked all email from my AOL address (which I don't use for email anyway). I had enough trouble keeping up with the junk email in my regular mailbox. To reject all mail addressed to your AOL account, you need to sign on under your master screen name (the one you created when you first opened the account) and go to keyword "Mail Controls=2E" For each screen name on the account, you have the option to block all mail, block all mail that originates from addresses or hosts you specify in a list, or only allow mail from addresses in that list. Obviously, if you want to receive legitimate email at your America Online account, blocking all mail is not an option.
Now that the court injunction has been lifted (see news), AOL has implemented PreferredMail, which blocks mail from a "regularly updated" list of known junk email sites. AOL's press release says that "the sites on the PreferredMail list have consistently sent large volumes of unsolicited junk e-mail and have been the subject of numerous member complaints over a short period of time."
You don't need to do anything to have this feature turned on--it is enabled on all accounts by default. Note that this is only going to protect you from known junk emailer addresses--it can't stop junk mail from new sites, nor junk mail forged cleverly to look like it came from a different site. AOL users should forward any junk email they receive to screen name TOSemail1 (or TOSemail2 if mailbox TOSemail1 is full). If you want to receive mail from those sites (maybe you don't trust AOL's judgement, or you are just sick and love junk email, I don't know) you can go to keyword "PreferredMail" to turn it off.
Automated Mailing List Precautions
If you subscribe to automated mailing lists (LISTSERV, LISTPROCessor, etc.), you should be aware of the ability of junk emailers to acquire your email address from these sources, and what you can do to prevent it.
Most mailing list software allows pretty much anyone to issue a command by mail to display the names and email addresses of all subscribers to that list! Since the mailing list administrator removes bad addresses in response to bounce notifications, the address list contains all valid addresses--a gold mine for junk emailers.
With most mailing-list software, you can send a command to prevent your address from appearing on these lists. I recommend doing this for all mailing lists you subscribe to. The method to accomplish this depends on the type of mailing-list software. When you originally subscribed to a mailing list, you got a message from the server that summarized commands gave instructions for getting off the list and changing options. This message should tell you on what kind of software the list is running.
Important: Note that the address you send these commands to is not the address you to which you send messages for the list. It is the address where you originally sent your "Subscribe" command.
If your mailing list software is LISTSERV, anyone who signs up to the list can issue a REView command to display the names and email addresses of all subscribers to that list. If you want to test this, send an email message to the LISTSERV command processor (again, not the address where you send messages to the list for distribution) with only this command in the body text: REVIEW
To prevent your name and email address from appearing, send a message to the LISTSERV command address (the same address you sent the "SUBSCRIBE" command to) with this command in the body of the message:
SET listname CONCEAL
If for any reason you change your mind and want you name and email address to be available to the REView command, send SET listname NOCONCEAL. Note that a complete list of members is always given to list owners and LISTSERV administrators regardless of this option.
If your mailing list software is ListProcessor, aka LISTPROC, a similar command for listing subscribers is available, in the form REView list-name SUBscribers (obviously, you put the name of the mailing list in place of "list-name"). To suppress your name, you need to send an email message to the ListProcessor command address (again, not the address where you send messages to the list for distribution) with this command in the body text:
SET list-name CONceal YES
Obviously, put the name of the list to which you are subscribed where the words "list-name" appear above (When you subscribed, you sent the either the command SUBscribe list-name your-name or JOIn list-name your-name.) Use the SET list-name CONceal NO if you want to make your name and address available again.
The Majordomo mailing-list software uses the who listname command to list the subscribers of a mailing list. Unfortunately, there is no way for an individual user to suppress display of their email address.
Majordomo supports "public" and "private" lists; "private" lists don't respond to the who command. So, if the who command sent to the Majordomo command processor works (again, not the address where you send messages to the list for distribution), you need to get the administrator to change the list from "public" to "private." (In fact, the administrator needs to have direct access to the system where Majordomo is running.)
Usenet
Every time you post a message to Usenet, you are making your email address available to everyone else on Usenet. It is trivial for a junk emailer or mailing-list vendor to get a news feed, and then grab several thousands of email address from the Usenet news headers.
Frankly, there's not a heck of a lot you can do about it. Your only option is to not put your real email address in you news reading software. Of course, entering a bogus address prevents people from responding to your posts via email, severely crippling communications (one more irritating effect of junk email). Some usenet users have taken to entering their address as user[at]host.com or other similar variations, which should fool automated address slurpers, but allow humans to respond by email after manually editing the return address.
The World-Wide Web
improve this page and/or help deal with junk email, by all means send them in.
Secondly, don't let junk email go unpunished. If you just delete it and don't complain, your silence indicates acceptance. The only way to stop junk email is to change the situation so that it is no longer worthwhile to send junk email. To accomplish this, you must take action.
Thirdly, make your voice heard via the Action Items
email letting me know you used a logo and where. Other than that, I currently have no other restrictions on their Internet use because I want the Stop Junk Email message disseminated as widely as possible. However, I still retain the copyright on these images, and I reserve the legal right to change this usage policy in the future if I feel it is being abused--for example, if a blatant junk emailer used a logo on their site in an effort to disguise their true intentions. If you want to use these logos in media other than the Web (including but not limited to print, television, CD-ROM, etc.) you need to get my permission first.
Static Versions
NoJunkEmailStatSmall.gif (GIF format, 90 by 72 pixels, about 12K)
NoJunkEmailStat.gif (GIF format, 250 by 200 pixels, about 18K)
Dancing Baloney Versions
NoJunkEmailSmall.gif (Animated GIF format, loops forever, 90 by 72 pixels, about 17K)
NoJunkEmail.gif (Animated GIF format, two loops, 250 by 200 pixels, about 55K)
Again, I would appreciate it if you made these graphics hot links back to this page, something like:
<A HREF="http://www.mcs.net/~jcr/junkemail.html">
<IMG SRC="NoJunkEmailSmall.gif" ALT="Stop Junk Email Logo"
WIDTH="90" HEIGHT="72"> Stop Junk Email Now</A>
Or you could just refer to these icons on my server directly from your page, as in:
<A HREF="http://www.mcs.net/~jcr/junkemail.html">
<IMG SRC="http://www.mcs.net/~jcr/NoJunkEmailSmall.gif"
ALT="Stop Junk Email Logo" WIDTH="90" HEIGHT="72">
Stop Junk Email Now</A>
let me know and I will add it. I encourage free use of the "No Junk Email" logo on the web as long as you provide credit via a link back to this page (see terms above--I do still retain the copyright). I assume that a site displaying the logo agrees with what they find here, but this does not necessarily mean that I agree with (or am even aware of) all opinions found at these sites. See legal disclaimers.
- David Topping's Outlaw Junk E-mail Now Page
- Bulk email reading and evaluating. Low cost. A clever tactic.
- Dave Touretzky's Home Page
- Dave "Tres Bizarre" Solko's junk email policy
- Fight Unsolicited Junk E-Mail! Featuring Shawn's "Stop Them Spammers Dead!" Tutorial
- Spam (Not the Hormel product)Many worthwhile suggestions and interesting public comments.
- Tom Raynor's I HATE Junk E-Mail Web Page Good documentation of the phenomenon and big offenders
- Internet Info & other cool stuff Part of Mike Cohen's web site
- Christopher Lott's misc.invest Investment FAQ
- Spencer's UMCC web page says nice things about the graphic
- STOP UCE - Uninvited Commercial E-mail Does Junk Email by any other name smell as...
- The Pinkboard Panther's Junk Email page (Uses some strong language--expletive-allergic visitors: you've been warned.)
- Junction Income Tax and Accounting Services
- CyberMe's #CyberChat Home Page
- Mark Neely's Anti-UMail FAQ
- Fred Elbel's How to Get Rid of Junk Mail, Spam, and Telemarketers
- Anders Eliasson's Official Total Waste Of Time Home page
- Cristian Redferne's Rothbart's Revenge & Retribution site
- 96, Damar Group, Ltd., Anti-Spamming Sites page
- Tim's Website
- Bob Allison's site
- Russ-Smith's Telemarketing and E-Mail Marketing Consumer Information Source
- Ram Avrahami's on-line privacy petition
- Christopher M. Hannington's Computer Concepts page
- Tomas Ahl's home page
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Sunday, January 5, 1997
at 11:31 AM by JCR
Copyright ©1997 John C. Rivard.
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'Junk e-mail is a growing irritation, but it is rapidly becoming a serious problem as the volume continues to grow,' said Rivard, who in February established the "Stop Junk E-mail" Web site (http://www.mcs.com/(tilde)jcr/junkemail.html). 'It seems to be growing exponentially. The sheer number of unwanted e-mail messages will soon be overwhelming people's e-mail boxes, clogging legitimate mail and wasting time and money.'"
"Email spammer won't quit"; C|Net News.com, November 7, 1996--Cyberpromo is in court again, this time claiming AOL's junk email filter violates antitrust laws.
"Junk emailer down for the count"; C|Net News.com, November 4, 1996--Federal judge has ruled that AOL is not a public forum, and thus first amendment arguement for junk email is bogus.
"Mass emailer back on Sprint, temporarily"; C|Net News.com, October 30, 1996--Cyber Promotions will be allowed to use Sprint till November 15. They are shopping for new ISPs.
"Major Spammer Is On The Verge Of Bankruptcy"; Inter@ctive Week, October 24, 1996--CyberPromotions is about to belly-up now that their net access has been yanked by Sprint; meanwhile they are being sued by AOL, CompuServe, Prodigy, SprintNet and Concentric Networks.
"CompuServe wins order against spam mailer; AOL debuts anti-junk mail tool"; PC Week Online, October 24, 1996
"E-Mail Porno Messages May Be Hoax"; Computer News Daily, October 23, 1996--Recent child-porn message (itself a particularly disgusting junk email) may have been prank targeted at a junk emailer.
"No spams: Online guides to thwarting junk E-mail"; PC Week Online, October 14, 1996 (Jeff's Internet Adventure column)
"A Spam King Taunts and Tests His Foes"; The New York Times, October 10, 1996
"Junk e-mail wars heat up again AOL reinstitutes its shield against marketers' bulk mailings, but the case is still being fought in the courts--and on the Web"; Money Daily, September 27, 1996
"AOL's War on Junk E-Mail Escalates, but to Little Avail"; The New York Times, September 26, 1996 (free registration required to access full text online)
"Junk E-Mail: Obnoxious and Profitable"; The New York Times, September 21, 1996
"AOL Blocked in Junk E-Mail Battle"; Computer News Daily, September 21, 1996
"Court lets AOL block email"; C|Net/News.com, September 20, 1996
"Short: AOL resumes email blocking"; C|Net/News.com, September 20, 1996
"Junking junk e-mail"; San Jose Mercury News, September 19, 1996
"Voice and e-mail help them save, but we pay (of course)"; San Jose Mercury News, September 15, 1996
"New York's Panix Service Is Crippled by Hacker Attack"; The New York Times, September 14, 1996--Discusses Panix' AOL-like junk email filtering and a possibly related Syn-flood attack. "AOL asks court to allow junk email ban"; C|Net/News.com, September 13, 1996
"Judge
Prevents AOL From Blocking E-Mail"; The New York Times, September 7, 1996
"AOL fights to ban junk email"; C|Net/News.com, September 6, 1996
"Online Service Blocks 'Junk' E-Mail Aimed at Subscribers"; The New York Times, September 5, 1996
"AOL to block junk e-mail, Spamming is No. 1 complaint to online service"; San Jose Mercury News, September 5, 1996
"Tired of "Spam?" Junk e-mail delivers headaches to users"; CNNfn (The Financial Network), July 30, 1996
"AOL and Marketer Do Battle Over Mass E-Mailings"; The New York Times, July 4, 1996
"Junk-mailers Discover The Internet..."; Computer News Daily, June 25, 1996
"..=2E And How To Avoid Them"; Computer News Daily, June 25, 1996
"Groups Pen Junk E-Mail Guidelines"; Inter@ctive Week, June 24, 1996--Electronic junk mail now has the blessing of one of the industry's most influential trade groups.
"Virtual Magistrate Decides AOL Ad Case"; The New York Times, May 24, 1996
"Spam, Spam, Spam, Spam..."; The Netly News, April 3, 1996
"Fighting Off Junk E-Mail"; The New York Times,March 8, 1996--discusses junk email versus junk snail mail and "do-not-mail" lists
"How to keep the spam off your e-mail plate"; Money Daily, February 7, 1996
Make the Junk Email Stop, Please? column by Kim Komando (date unknown) "Battle for the Soul of the Internet"; Time, July 25, 1994
forced to pay the cost of the message. People pay for an email mailbox for various reasons, but not because they want to receive advertising. It costs the recipient real money in terms of extra connect-time charges, phone time charges, disk space, and lowered bandwidth. This is similar to the cost-shifting incurred with unsolicited faxed advertisements, which were made illegal in the US for this very reason.
It costs real money. Junk email wastes recipient's valuable time, because they have to spend extra time to download the unwanted messages, and then to wade through the junk email in order to get to the email they actually want. This costs real money in terms of productive time wasted sorting, identifying, and discarding unwanted junk email.
Junk email clogs up people's email boxes, mingling with and sometimes even preventing receipt of legitimate email. As more people conduct more business over the Net, this type of disruption can cost even more money.
It may cause employers to pull employee internet email access, because they don't want to pay money for their employees to receive advertisements, nor for the lost productivity of their employees wasting (employer-paid) time identifying and discarding junk email. This lessens diversity of the community and hurts the Internet as a whole, and hurts the advancement of the Internet as a medium for commerce.
It is contrary to the helpful and personal culture of the Internet The reason the Internet and interactive communication in general has become so popular is because of the personal one-to-one interaction possible with this technology. People from all over the world have helped each other with problems ranging from the technical to the intensely personal. Impersonal mass-emailings are the antithesis of the an Internet community.
It is inappropriate and contrary to the interactive nature of the Internet medium. Junk email is barely interactive at best, and is often not interactive at all, because the sender forged a fake return address to avoid retribution. It is sender-oriented push advertising, not an interactive, recipient-centered pull of information. Junk email is based on outdated advertising model.
shifted to the recipients, who are actually unwillingly paying to receive the advertisement.)
The only effective strategy to combat junk email, therefore, is to lessen or mitigate these three factors.
The first factor is only going to get worse, and the only way to improve it is to increase understanding along with the inevitable increase in awareness. To this end, we should all try to correct any misperceptions about the function or culture of the Net that we see in the media, via letters to the editor, open debate, etc.
The second factor, the trendiness of the Net as a commercial medium, is probably hardest to mitigate. But it will also probably fade on its own over the next couple of years, as more people get on the Net and the novelty wears off. The Future of Net commerce is beyond the scope of this document, but suffice it to say that the Net will soon be as ubiquitous as the telephone, and we don't really distinguish "telephone commerce" from other types. It's just another method of conducting business.
The third factor, the inexpensiveness of junk email, is where we can have the most effect. Until the cost burden of junk email an be shifted back to the advertisers, junk email will flourish.
Adding cost to the advertiser's end of the equation must be our primary focus.
do-not-mail list" model of preventing junk email, mostly because it shifts the burden to the recipient, doesn't actually work, and most importantly, because it legitimizes the idea of junk email as acceptable. I really can't, in good conscience, recommend something that, in the long run, is going to make the problem worse.
America Online
There are some 6.5 million potential junk email victims on America Online, and AOL email management tools are particularly cumbersome, making it that more annoying. On the plus side, due to customer complaints, AOL has really gone to bat against junk email.
I used to get a lot of junk email sent to
my America Online account, even though I never posted news or sent mail from there. Sometimes the mail originates from within AOL, but surprisingly, it mostly comes from outside. I believe this is because junk emailers use those ever-spiffy free AOL diskettes to abuse the Member Profile Search services and use it to generate a mailing list of people who have similar interests, (or rather, who have the same key words in their member profiles--what does a junk emailer care if the interests really match?). Then they use the list to feed a junk-email script on a Unix system. I deleted my already minimal member profile to see if it would decrease junk mail to that account. If you are an AOL member, you can do the same by selecting "Member Directory" from the "Members" menu, and then hit the "Delete Your Profile" option.
I was still getting loads of junk email there (It's probably too late if you are already on their lists), so I also recently completely blocked all email from my AOL address (which I don't use for email anyway). I had enough trouble keeping up with the junk email in my regular mailbox. To reject all mail addressed to your AOL account, you need to sign on under your master screen name (the one you created when you first opened the account) and go to keyword "Mail Controls=2E" For each screen name on the account, you have the option to block all mail, block all mail that originates from addresses or hosts you specify in a list, or only allow mail from addresses in that list. Obviously, if you want to receive legitimate email at your America Online account, blocking all mail is not an option.
Now that the court injunction has been lifted (see news), AOL has implemented PreferredMail, which blocks mail from a "regularly updated" list of known junk email sites. AOL's press release says that "the sites on the PreferredMail list have consistently sent large volumes of unsolicited junk e-mail and have been the subject of numerous member complaints over a short period of time."
You don't need to do anything to have this feature turned on--it is enabled on all accounts by default. Note that this is only going to protect you from known junk emailer addresses--it can't stop junk mail from new sites, nor junk mail forged cleverly to look like it came from a different site. AOL users should forward any junk email they receive to screen name TOSemail1 (or TOSemail2 if mailbox TOSemail1 is full). If you want to receive mail from those sites (maybe you don't trust AOL's judgement, or you are just sick and love junk email, I don't know) you can go to keyword "PreferredMail" to turn it off.
Automated Mailing List Precautions
If you subscribe to automated mailing lists (LISTSERV, LISTPROCessor, etc.), you should be aware of the ability of junk emailers to acquire your email address from these sources, and what you can do to prevent it.
Most mailing list software allows pretty much anyone to issue a command by mail to display the names and email addresses of all subscribers to that list! Since the mailing list administrator removes bad addresses in response to bounce notifications, the address list contains all valid addresses--a gold mine for junk emailers.
With most mailing-list software, you can send a command to prevent your address from appearing on these lists. I recommend doing this for all mailing lists you subscribe to. The method to accomplish this depends on the type of mailing-list software. When you originally subscribed to a mailing list, you got a message from the server that summarized commands gave instructions for getting off the list and changing options. This message should tell you on what kind of software the list is running.
Important: Note that the address you send these commands to is not the address you to which you send messages for the list. It is the address where you originally sent your "Subscribe" command.
If your mailing list software is LISTSERV, anyone who signs up to the list can issue a REView command to display the names and email addresses of all subscribers to that list. If you want to test this, send an email message to the LISTSERV command processor (again, not the address where you send messages to the list for distribution) with only this command in the body text: REVIEW
To prevent your name and email address from appearing, send a message to the LISTSERV command address (the same address you sent the "SUBSCRIBE" command to) with this command in the body of the message:
SET listname CONCEAL
If for any reason you change your mind and want you name and email address to be available to the REView command, send SET listname NOCONCEAL. Note that a complete list of members is always given to list owners and LISTSERV administrators regardless of this option.
If your mailing list software is ListProcessor, aka LISTPROC, a similar command for listing subscribers is available, in the form REView list-name SUBscribers (obviously, you put the name of the mailing list in place of "list-name"). To suppress your name, you need to send an email message to the ListProcessor command address (again, not the address where you send messages to the list for distribution) with this command in the body text:
SET list-name CONceal YES
Obviously, put the name of the list to which you are subscribed where the words "list-name" appear above (When you subscribed, you sent the either the command SUBscribe list-name your-name or JOIn list-name your-name.) Use the SET list-name CONceal NO if you want to make your name and address available again.
The Majordomo mailing-list software uses the who listname command to list the subscribers of a mailing list. Unfortunately, there is no way for an individual user to suppress display of their email address.
Majordomo supports "public" and "private" lists; "private" lists don't respond to the who command. So, if the who command sent to the Majordomo command processor works (again, not the address where you send messages to the list for distribution), you need to get the administrator to change the list from "public" to "private." (In fact, the administrator needs to have direct access to the system where Majordomo is running.)
Usenet
Every time you post a message to Usenet, you are making your email address available to everyone else on Usenet. It is trivial for a junk emailer or mailing-list vendor to get a news feed, and then grab several thousands of email address from the Usenet news headers.
Frankly, there's not a heck of a lot you can do about it. Your only option is to not put your real email address in you news reading software. Of course, entering a bogus address prevents people from responding to your posts via email, severely crippling communications (one more irritating effect of junk email). Some usenet users have taken to entering their address as user[at]host.com or other similar variations, which should fool automated address slurpers, but allow humans to respond by email after manually editing the return address.
The World-Wide Web
improve this page and/or help deal with junk email, by all means send them in.
Secondly, don't let junk email go unpunished. If you just delete it and don't complain, your silence indicates acceptance. The only way to stop junk email is to change the situation so that it is no longer worthwhile to send junk email. To accomplish this, you must take action.
Thirdly, make your voice heard via the Action Items
email letting me know you used a logo and where. Other than that, I currently have no other restrictions on their Internet use because I want the Stop Junk Email message disseminated as widely as possible. However, I still retain the copyright on these images, and I reserve the legal right to change this usage policy in the future if I feel it is being abused--for example, if a blatant junk emailer used a logo on their site in an effort to disguise their true intentions. If you want to use these logos in media other than the Web (including but not limited to print, television, CD-ROM, etc.) you need to get my permission first.
Static Versions
NoJunkEmailStatSmall.gif (GIF format, 90 by 72 pixels, about 12K)
NoJunkEmailStat.gif (GIF format, 250 by 200 pixels, about 18K)
Dancing Baloney Versions
NoJunkEmailSmall.gif (Animated GIF format, loops forever, 90 by 72 pixels, about 17K)
NoJunkEmail.gif (Animated GIF format, two loops, 250 by 200 pixels, about 55K)
Again, I would appreciate it if you made these graphics hot links back to this page, something like:
<A HREF="http://www.mcs.net/~jcr/junkemail.html">
<IMG SRC="NoJunkEmailSmall.gif" ALT="Stop Junk Email Logo"
WIDTH="90" HEIGHT="72"> Stop Junk Email Now</A>
Or you could just refer to these icons on my server directly from your page, as in:
<A HREF="http://www.mcs.net/~jcr/junkemail.html">
<IMG SRC="http://www.mcs.net/~jcr/NoJunkEmailSmall.gif"
ALT="Stop Junk Email Logo" WIDTH="90" HEIGHT="72">
Stop Junk Email Now</A>
let me know and I will add it. I encourage free use of the "No Junk Email" logo on the web as long as you provide credit via a link back to this page (see terms above--I do still retain the copyright). I assume that a site displaying the logo agrees with what they find here, but this does not necessarily mean that I agree with (or am even aware of) all opinions found at these sites. See legal disclaimers.
- David Topping's Outlaw Junk E-mail Now Page
- Bulk email reading and evaluating. Low cost. A clever tactic.
- Dave Touretzky's Home Page
- Dave "Tres Bizarre" Solko's junk email policy
- Fight Unsolicited Junk E-Mail! Featuring Shawn's "Stop Them Spammers Dead!" Tutorial
- Spam (Not the Hormel product)Many worthwhile suggestions and interesting public comments.
- Tom Raynor's I HATE Junk E-Mail Web Page Good documentation of the phenomenon and big offenders
- Internet Info & other cool stuff Part of Mike Cohen's web site
- Christopher Lott's misc.invest Investment FAQ
- Spencer's UMCC web page says nice things about the graphic
- STOP UCE - Uninvited Commercial E-mail Does Junk Email by any other name smell as...
- The Pinkboard Panther's Junk Email page (Uses some strong language--expletive-allergic visitors: you've been warned.)
- Junction Income Tax and Accounting Services
- CyberMe's #CyberChat Home Page
- Mark Neely's Anti-UMail FAQ
- Fred Elbel's How to Get Rid of Junk Mail, Spam, and Telemarketers
- Anders Eliasson's Official Total Waste Of Time Home page
- Cristian Redferne's Rothbart's Revenge & Retribution site
- 96, Damar Group, Ltd., Anti-Spamming Sites page
- Tim's Website
- Bob Allison's site
- Russ-Smith's Telemarketing and E-Mail Marketing Consumer Information Source
- Ram Avrahami's on-line privacy petition
- Christopher M. Hannington's Computer Concepts page
- Tomas Ahl's home page
<!-- #include "footer.incl" -->
Last Updated:
Sunday, January 5, 1997
at 11:31 AM by JCR
Copyright ©1997 John C. Rivard.
All Rights Reserved.
Click here for legal info.
Back Home
<!-- end include -->
Prevents AOL From Blocking E-Mail"; The New York Times, September 7, 1996
shifted to the recipients, who are actually unwillingly paying to receive the advertisement.)
The only effective strategy to combat junk email, therefore, is to lessen or mitigate these three factors.
The first factor is only going to get worse, and the only way to improve it is to increase understanding along with the inevitable increase in awareness. To this end, we should all try to correct any misperceptions about the function or culture of the Net that we see in the media, via letters to the editor, open debate, etc.
The second factor, the trendiness of the Net as a commercial medium, is probably hardest to mitigate. But it will also probably fade on its own over the next couple of years, as more people get on the Net and the novelty wears off. The Future of Net commerce is beyond the scope of this document, but suffice it to say that the Net will soon be as ubiquitous as the telephone, and we don't really distinguish "telephone commerce" from other types. It's just another method of conducting business.
The third factor, the inexpensiveness of junk email, is where we can have the most effect. Until the cost burden of junk email an be shifted back to the advertisers, junk email will flourish.
Adding cost to the advertiser's end of the equation must be our primary focus.
do-not-mail list" model of preventing junk email, mostly because it shifts the burden to the recipient, doesn't actually work, and most importantly, because it legitimizes the idea of junk email as acceptable. I really can't, in good conscience, recommend something that, in the long run, is going to make the problem worse.
America Online
There are some 6.5 million potential junk email victims on America Online, and AOL email management tools are particularly cumbersome, making it that more annoying. On the plus side, due to customer complaints, AOL has really gone to bat against junk email.
I used to get a lot of junk email sent to
my America Online account, even though I never posted news or sent mail from there. Sometimes the mail originates from within AOL, but surprisingly, it mostly comes from outside. I believe this is because junk emailers use those ever-spiffy free AOL diskettes to abuse the Member Profile Search services and use it to generate a mailing list of people who have similar interests, (or rather, who have the same key words in their member profiles--what does a junk emailer care if the interests really match?). Then they use the list to feed a junk-email script on a Unix system. I deleted my already minimal member profile to see if it would decrease junk mail to that account. If you are an AOL member, you can do the same by selecting "Member Directory" from the "Members" menu, and then hit the "Delete Your Profile" option.
I was still getting loads of junk email there (It's probably too late if you are already on their lists), so I also recently completely blocked all email from my AOL address (which I don't use for email anyway). I had enough trouble keeping up with the junk email in my regular mailbox. To reject all mail addressed to your AOL account, you need to sign on under your master screen name (the one you created when you first opened the account) and go to keyword "Mail Controls=2E" For each screen name on the account, you have the option to block all mail, block all mail that originates from addresses or hosts you specify in a list, or only allow mail from addresses in that list. Obviously, if you want to receive legitimate email at your America Online account, blocking all mail is not an option.
Now that the court injunction has been lifted (see news), AOL has implemented PreferredMail, which blocks mail from a "regularly updated" list of known junk email sites. AOL's press release says that "the sites on the PreferredMail list have consistently sent large volumes of unsolicited junk e-mail and have been the subject of numerous member complaints over a short period of time."
You don't need to do anything to have this feature turned on--it is enabled on all accounts by default. Note that this is only going to protect you from known junk emailer addresses--it can't stop junk mail from new sites, nor junk mail forged cleverly to look like it came from a different site. AOL users should forward any junk email they receive to screen name TOSemail1 (or TOSemail2 if mailbox TOSemail1 is full). If you want to receive mail from those sites (maybe you don't trust AOL's judgement, or you are just sick and love junk email, I don't know) you can go to keyword "PreferredMail" to turn it off.
Automated Mailing List Precautions
If you subscribe to automated mailing lists (LISTSERV, LISTPROCessor, etc.), you should be aware of the ability of junk emailers to acquire your email address from these sources, and what you can do to prevent it.
Most mailing list software allows pretty much anyone to issue a command by mail to display the names and email addresses of all subscribers to that list! Since the mailing list administrator removes bad addresses in response to bounce notifications, the address list contains all valid addresses--a gold mine for junk emailers.
With most mailing-list software, you can send a command to prevent your address from appearing on these lists. I recommend doing this for all mailing lists you subscribe to. The method to accomplish this depends on the type of mailing-list software. When you originally subscribed to a mailing list, you got a message from the server that summarized commands gave instructions for getting off the list and changing options. This message should tell you on what kind of software the list is running.
Important: Note that the address you send these commands to is not the address you to which you send messages for the list. It is the address where you originally sent your "Subscribe" command.
If your mailing list software is LISTSERV, anyone who signs up to the list can issue a REView command to display the names and email addresses of all subscribers to that list. If you want to test this, send an email message to the LISTSERV command processor (again, not the address where you send messages to the list for distribution) with only this command in the body text: REVIEW
To prevent your name and email address from appearing, send a message to the LISTSERV command address (the same address you sent the "SUBSCRIBE" command to) with this command in the body of the message:
SET listname CONCEAL
If for any reason you change your mind and want you name and email address to be available to the REView command, send SET listname NOCONCEAL. Note that a complete list of members is always given to list owners and LISTSERV administrators regardless of this option.
If your mailing list software is ListProcessor, aka LISTPROC, a similar command for listing subscribers is available, in the form REView list-name SUBscribers (obviously, you put the name of the mailing list in place of "list-name"). To suppress your name, you need to send an email message to the ListProcessor command address (again, not the address where you send messages to the list for distribution) with this command in the body text:
SET list-name CONceal YES
Obviously, put the name of the list to which you are subscribed where the words "list-name" appear above (When you subscribed, you sent the either the command SUBscribe list-name your-name or JOIn list-name your-name.) Use the SET list-name CONceal NO if you want to make your name and address available again.
The Majordomo mailing-list software uses the who listname command to list the subscribers of a mailing list. Unfortunately, there is no way for an individual user to suppress display of their email address.
Majordomo supports "public" and "private" lists; "private" lists don't respond to the who command. So, if the who command sent to the Majordomo command processor works (again, not the address where you send messages to the list for distribution), you need to get the administrator to change the list from "public" to "private." (In fact, the administrator needs to have direct access to the system where Majordomo is running.)
Usenet
Every time you post a message to Usenet, you are making your email address available to everyone else on Usenet. It is trivial for a junk emailer or mailing-list vendor to get a news feed, and then grab several thousands of email address from the Usenet news headers.
Frankly, there's not a heck of a lot you can do about it. Your only option is to not put your real email address in you news reading software. Of course, entering a bogus address prevents people from responding to your posts via email, severely crippling communications (one more irritating effect of junk email). Some usenet users have taken to entering their address as user[at]host.com or other similar variations, which should fool automated address slurpers, but allow humans to respond by email after manually editing the return address.
The World-Wide Web
improve this page and/or help deal with junk email, by all means send them in.
Secondly, don't let junk email go unpunished. If you just delete it and don't complain, your silence indicates acceptance. The only way to stop junk email is to change the situation so that it is no longer worthwhile to send junk email. To accomplish this, you must take action.
Thirdly, make your voice heard via the Action Items
email letting me know you used a logo and where. Other than that, I currently have no other restrictions on their Internet use because I want the Stop Junk Email message disseminated as widely as possible. However, I still retain the copyright on these images, and I reserve the legal right to change this usage policy in the future if I feel it is being abused--for example, if a blatant junk emailer used a logo on their site in an effort to disguise their true intentions. If you want to use these logos in media other than the Web (including but not limited to print, television, CD-ROM, etc.) you need to get my permission first.
Static Versions
NoJunkEmailStatSmall.gif (GIF format, 90 by 72 pixels, about 12K)
NoJunkEmailStat.gif (GIF format, 250 by 200 pixels, about 18K)
Dancing Baloney Versions
NoJunkEmailSmall.gif (Animated GIF format, loops forever, 90 by 72 pixels, about 17K)
NoJunkEmail.gif (Animated GIF format, two loops, 250 by 200 pixels, about 55K)
Again, I would appreciate it if you made these graphics hot links back to this page, something like:
<A HREF="http://www.mcs.net/~jcr/junkemail.html">
<IMG SRC="NoJunkEmailSmall.gif" ALT="Stop Junk Email Logo"
WIDTH="90" HEIGHT="72"> Stop Junk Email Now</A>
Or you could just refer to these icons on my server directly from your page, as in:
<A HREF="http://www.mcs.net/~jcr/junkemail.html">
<IMG SRC="http://www.mcs.net/~jcr/NoJunkEmailSmall.gif"
ALT="Stop Junk Email Logo" WIDTH="90" HEIGHT="72">
Stop Junk Email Now</A>
let me know and I will add it. I encourage free use of the "No Junk Email" logo on the web as long as you provide credit via a link back to this page (see terms above--I do still retain the copyright). I assume that a site displaying the logo agrees with what they find here, but this does not necessarily mean that I agree with (or am even aware of) all opinions found at these sites. See legal disclaimers.
- David Topping's Outlaw Junk E-mail Now Page
- Bulk email reading and evaluating. Low cost. A clever tactic.
- Dave Touretzky's Home Page
- Dave "Tres Bizarre" Solko's junk email policy
- Fight Unsolicited Junk E-Mail! Featuring Shawn's "Stop Them Spammers Dead!" Tutorial
- Spam (Not the Hormel product)Many worthwhile suggestions and interesting public comments.
- Tom Raynor's I HATE Junk E-Mail Web Page Good documentation of the phenomenon and big offenders
- Internet Info & other cool stuff Part of Mike Cohen's web site
- Christopher Lott's misc.invest Investment FAQ
- Spencer's UMCC web page says nice things about the graphic
- STOP UCE - Uninvited Commercial E-mail Does Junk Email by any other name smell as...
- The Pinkboard Panther's Junk Email page (Uses some strong language--expletive-allergic visitors: you've been warned.)
- Junction Income Tax and Accounting Services
- CyberMe's #CyberChat Home Page
- Mark Neely's Anti-UMail FAQ
- Fred Elbel's How to Get Rid of Junk Mail, Spam, and Telemarketers
- Anders Eliasson's Official Total Waste Of Time Home page
- Cristian Redferne's Rothbart's Revenge & Retribution site
- 96, Damar Group, Ltd., Anti-Spamming Sites page
- Tim's Website
- Bob Allison's site
- Russ-Smith's Telemarketing and E-Mail Marketing Consumer Information Source
- Ram Avrahami's on-line privacy petition
- Christopher M. Hannington's Computer Concepts page
- Tomas Ahl's home page
<!-- #include "footer.incl" -->
Last Updated:
Sunday, January 5, 1997
at 11:31 AM by JCR
Copyright ©1997 John C. Rivard.
All Rights Reserved.
Click here for legal info.
Back Home
<!-- end include -->
The only effective strategy to combat junk email, therefore, is to lessen or mitigate these three factors.
The first factor is only going to get worse, and the only way to improve it is to increase understanding along with the inevitable increase in awareness. To this end, we should all try to correct any misperceptions about the function or culture of the Net that we see in the media, via letters to the editor, open debate, etc.
The second factor, the trendiness of the Net as a commercial medium, is probably hardest to mitigate. But it will also probably fade on its own over the next couple of years, as more people get on the Net and the novelty wears off. The Future of Net commerce is beyond the scope of this document, but suffice it to say that the Net will soon be as ubiquitous as the telephone, and we don't really distinguish "telephone commerce" from other types. It's just another method of conducting business.
The third factor, the inexpensiveness of junk email, is where we can have the most effect. Until the cost burden of junk email an be shifted back to the advertisers, junk email will flourish.
Adding cost to the advertiser's end of the equation must be our primary focus.
America Online
There are some 6.5 million potential junk email victims on America Online, and AOL email management tools are particularly cumbersome, making it that more annoying. On the plus side, due to customer complaints, AOL has really gone to bat against junk email.
I used to get a lot of junk email sent to
my America Online account, even though I never posted news or sent mail from there. Sometimes the mail originates from within AOL, but surprisingly, it mostly comes from outside. I believe this is because junk emailers use those ever-spiffy free AOL diskettes to abuse the Member Profile Search services and use it to generate a mailing list of people who have similar interests, (or rather, who have the same key words in their member profiles--what does a junk emailer care if the interests really match?). Then they use the list to feed a junk-email script on a Unix system. I deleted my already minimal member profile to see if it would decrease junk mail to that account. If you are an AOL member, you can do the same by selecting "Member Directory" from the "Members" menu, and then hit the "Delete Your Profile" option.
I was still getting loads of junk email there (It's probably too late if you are already on their lists), so I also recently completely blocked all email from my AOL address (which I don't use for email anyway). I had enough trouble keeping up with the junk email in my regular mailbox. To reject all mail addressed to your AOL account, you need to sign on under your master screen name (the one you created when you first opened the account) and go to keyword "Mail Controls=2E" For each screen name on the account, you have the option to block all mail, block all mail that originates from addresses or hosts you specify in a list, or only allow mail from addresses in that list. Obviously, if you want to receive legitimate email at your America Online account, blocking all mail is not an option.
Now that the court injunction has been lifted (see news), AOL has implemented PreferredMail, which blocks mail from a "regularly updated" list of known junk email sites. AOL's press release says that "the sites on the PreferredMail list have consistently sent large volumes of unsolicited junk e-mail and have been the subject of numerous member complaints over a short period of time."
Automated Mailing List Precautions
If you subscribe to automated mailing lists (LISTSERV, LISTPROCessor, etc.), you should be aware of the ability of junk emailers to acquire your email address from these sources, and what you can do to prevent it.
Most mailing list software allows pretty much anyone to issue a command by mail to display the names and email addresses of all subscribers to that list! Since the mailing list administrator removes bad addresses in response to bounce notifications, the address list contains all valid addresses--a gold mine for junk emailers.
With most mailing-list software, you can send a command to prevent your address from appearing on these lists. I recommend doing this for all mailing lists you subscribe to. The method to accomplish this depends on the type of mailing-list software. When you originally subscribed to a mailing list, you got a message from the server that summarized commands gave instructions for getting off the list and changing options. This message should tell you on what kind of software the list is running.
Important: Note that the address you send these commands to is not the address you to which you send messages for the list. It is the address where you originally sent your "Subscribe" command.
If your mailing list software is LISTSERV, anyone who signs up to the list can issue a REView command to display the names and email addresses of all subscribers to that list. If you want to test this, send an email message to the LISTSERV command processor (again, not the address where you send messages to the list for distribution) with only this command in the body text: REVIEW
To prevent your name and email address from appearing, send a message to the LISTSERV command address (the same address you sent the "SUBSCRIBE" command to) with this command in the body of the message:
SET listname CONCEAL
If for any reason you change your mind and want you name and email address to be available to the REView command, send SET listname NOCONCEAL. Note that a complete list of members is always given to list owners and LISTSERV administrators regardless of this option.
If your mailing list software is ListProcessor, aka LISTPROC, a similar command for listing subscribers is available, in the form REView list-name SUBscribers (obviously, you put the name of the mailing list in place of "list-name"). To suppress your name, you need to send an email message to the ListProcessor command address (again, not the address where you send messages to the list for distribution) with this command in the body text:
SET list-name CONceal YES
Obviously, put the name of the list to which you are subscribed where the words "list-name" appear above (When you subscribed, you sent the either the command SUBscribe list-name your-name or JOIn list-name your-name.) Use the SET list-name CONceal NO if you want to make your name and address available again.
The Majordomo mailing-list software uses the who listname command to list the subscribers of a mailing list. Unfortunately, there is no way for an individual user to suppress display of their email address.
Majordomo supports "public" and "private" lists; "private" lists don't respond to the who command. So, if the who command sent to the Majordomo command processor works (again, not the address where you send messages to the list for distribution), you need to get the administrator to change the list from "public" to "private." (In fact, the administrator needs to have direct access to the system where Majordomo is running.)
Usenet
Every time you post a message to Usenet, you are making your email address available to everyone else on Usenet. It is trivial for a junk emailer or mailing-list vendor to get a news feed, and then grab several thousands of email address from the Usenet news headers.
Frankly, there's not a heck of a lot you can do about it. Your only option is to not put your real email address in you news reading software. Of course, entering a bogus address prevents people from responding to your posts via email, severely crippling communications (one more irritating effect of junk email). Some usenet users have taken to entering their address as user[at]host.com or other similar variations, which should fool automated address slurpers, but allow humans to respond by email after manually editing the return address.
The World-Wide Web
improve this page and/or help deal with junk email, by all means send them in.
Secondly, don't let junk email go unpunished. If you just delete it and don't complain, your silence indicates acceptance. The only way to stop junk email is to change the situation so that it is no longer worthwhile to send junk email. To accomplish this, you must take action.
Thirdly, make your voice heard via the Action Items
email letting me know you used a logo and where. Other than that, I currently have no other restrictions on their Internet use because I want the Stop Junk Email message disseminated as widely as possible. However, I still retain the copyright on these images, and I reserve the legal right to change this usage policy in the future if I feel it is being abused--for example, if a blatant junk emailer used a logo on their site in an effort to disguise their true intentions. If you want to use these logos in media other than the Web (including but not limited to print, television, CD-ROM, etc.) you need to get my permission first.
Static Versions
NoJunkEmailStatSmall.gif (GIF format, 90 by 72 pixels, about 12K)
NoJunkEmailStat.gif (GIF format, 250 by 200 pixels, about 18K)
Dancing Baloney Versions
NoJunkEmailSmall.gif (Animated GIF format, loops forever, 90 by 72 pixels, about 17K)
NoJunkEmail.gif (Animated GIF format, two loops, 250 by 200 pixels, about 55K)
Again, I would appreciate it if you made these graphics hot links back to this page, something like:
<A HREF="http://www.mcs.net/~jcr/junkemail.html">
<IMG SRC="NoJunkEmailSmall.gif" ALT="Stop Junk Email Logo"
WIDTH="90" HEIGHT="72"> Stop Junk Email Now</A>
Or you could just refer to these icons on my server directly from your page, as in:
<A HREF="http://www.mcs.net/~jcr/junkemail.html">
<IMG SRC="http://www.mcs.net/~jcr/NoJunkEmailSmall.gif"
ALT="Stop Junk Email Logo" WIDTH="90" HEIGHT="72">
Stop Junk Email Now</A>
let me know and I will add it. I encourage free use of the "No Junk Email" logo on the web as long as you provide credit via a link back to this page (see terms above--I do still retain the copyright). I assume that a site displaying the logo agrees with what they find here, but this does not necessarily mean that I agree with (or am even aware of) all opinions found at these sites. See legal disclaimers.
- David Topping's Outlaw Junk E-mail Now Page
- Bulk email reading and evaluating. Low cost. A clever tactic.
- Dave Touretzky's Home Page
- Dave "Tres Bizarre" Solko's junk email policy
- Fight Unsolicited Junk E-Mail! Featuring Shawn's "Stop Them Spammers Dead!" Tutorial
- Spam (Not the Hormel product)Many worthwhile suggestions and interesting public comments.
- Tom Raynor's I HATE Junk E-Mail Web Page Good documentation of the phenomenon and big offenders
- Internet Info & other cool stuff Part of Mike Cohen's web site
- Christopher Lott's misc.invest Investment FAQ
- Spencer's UMCC web page says nice things about the graphic
- STOP UCE - Uninvited Commercial E-mail Does Junk Email by any other name smell as...
- The Pinkboard Panther's Junk Email page (Uses some strong language--expletive-allergic visitors: you've been warned.)
- Junction Income Tax and Accounting Services
- CyberMe's #CyberChat Home Page
- Mark Neely's Anti-UMail FAQ
- Fred Elbel's How to Get Rid of Junk Mail, Spam, and Telemarketers
- Anders Eliasson's Official Total Waste Of Time Home page
- Cristian Redferne's Rothbart's Revenge & Retribution site
- 96, Damar Group, Ltd., Anti-Spamming Sites page
- Tim's Website
- Bob Allison's site
- Russ-Smith's Telemarketing and E-Mail Marketing Consumer Information Source
- Ram Avrahami's on-line privacy petition
- Christopher M. Hannington's Computer Concepts page
- Tomas Ahl's home page
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Last Updated:
Sunday, January 5, 1997
at 11:31 AM by JCR
Copyright ©1997 John C. Rivard.
All Rights Reserved.
Click here for legal info.
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Secondly, don't let junk email go unpunished. If you just delete it and don't complain, your silence indicates acceptance. The only way to stop junk email is to change the situation so that it is no longer worthwhile to send junk email. To accomplish this, you must take action.
Thirdly, make your voice heard via the Action Items
email letting me know you used a logo and where. Other than that, I currently have no other restrictions on their Internet use because I want the Stop Junk Email message disseminated as widely as possible. However, I still retain the copyright on these images, and I reserve the legal right to change this usage policy in the future if I feel it is being abused--for example, if a blatant junk emailer used a logo on their site in an effort to disguise their true intentions. If you want to use these logos in media other than the Web (including but not limited to print, television, CD-ROM, etc.) you need to get my permission first.
NoJunkEmailStatSmall.gif (GIF format, 90 by 72 pixels, about 12K)
NoJunkEmailStat.gif (GIF format, 250 by 200 pixels, about 18K)
NoJunkEmailSmall.gif (Animated GIF format, loops forever, 90 by 72 pixels, about 17K)
NoJunkEmail.gif (Animated GIF format, two loops, 250 by 200 pixels, about 55K)
<IMG SRC="NoJunkEmailSmall.gif" ALT="Stop Junk Email Logo"
WIDTH="90" HEIGHT="72"> Stop Junk Email Now</A>
<IMG SRC="http://www.mcs.net/~jcr/NoJunkEmailSmall.gif"
ALT="Stop Junk Email Logo" WIDTH="90" HEIGHT="72">
Stop Junk Email Now</A>
- David Topping's Outlaw Junk E-mail Now Page
- Bulk email reading and evaluating. Low cost. A clever tactic.
- Dave Touretzky's Home Page
- Dave "Tres Bizarre" Solko's junk email policy
- Fight Unsolicited Junk E-Mail! Featuring Shawn's "Stop Them Spammers Dead!" Tutorial
- Spam (Not the Hormel product)Many worthwhile suggestions and interesting public comments.
- Tom Raynor's I HATE Junk E-Mail Web Page Good documentation of the phenomenon and big offenders
- Internet Info & other cool stuff Part of Mike Cohen's web site
- Christopher Lott's misc.invest Investment FAQ
- Spencer's UMCC web page says nice things about the graphic
- STOP UCE - Uninvited Commercial E-mail Does Junk Email by any other name smell as...
- The Pinkboard Panther's Junk Email page (Uses some strong language--expletive-allergic visitors: you've been warned.)
- Junction Income Tax and Accounting Services
- CyberMe's #CyberChat Home Page
- Mark Neely's Anti-UMail FAQ
- Fred Elbel's How to Get Rid of Junk Mail, Spam, and Telemarketers
- Anders Eliasson's Official Total Waste Of Time Home page
- Cristian Redferne's Rothbart's Revenge & Retribution site
- 96, Damar Group, Ltd., Anti-Spamming Sites page
- Tim's Website
- Bob Allison's site
- Russ-Smith's Telemarketing and E-Mail Marketing Consumer Information Source
- Ram Avrahami's on-line privacy petition
- Christopher M. Hannington's Computer Concepts page
- Tomas Ahl's home page
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Last Updated: Sunday, January 5, 1997 at 11:31 AM by JCR | Copyright ©1997 John C. Rivard. All Rights Reserved. Click here for legal info. | Back Home |
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