Tickling SPAM anyone?
Andrew A. Poe
If you have no idea what this header refers to, consider yourself
fortunate and move on.
The e-mail address for my group, Desperate Measures, was spammed three
times recently soliciting men for pseudo-pornographic videos.
I am, in theory, a liberal guy, but having my group spammed for
cybersmut really rubs me the wrong way. (When I want porno, I'll get it
myself; I don't want it coming to me!)
Has anyone else on this forum had a similar experience? I ask only
because I'm trying to figure out where this jerk got our address, and I
am wondering if it came from a master a cappella directory somewhere.
Thanks if you can give me any information. And if none of you know what
I'm talking about, that would give me even greater relief.
--
Andrew A. Poe, Publicist
DESPERATE MEASURES
PO BOX 4281
ANN ARBOR MI 48106-4281
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+1 313 913-9564
+1 734 913-9564
desperate...@umich.edu
http://www.eecs.umich.edu/~sixycd/dm
Elaine Chao
Andrew-
>Has anyone else on this forum had a similar experience? I ask only
>because I'm trying to figure out where this jerk got our address, and I
>am wondering if it came from a master a cappella directory somewhere.
Most spammers get their Email addresses from addresses published at web
sites or addresses in the headers on newsgroups. This is the reason why
you see so many people with antispam measures such as Ken Purchase's Xs
or people with NOSPAM or other capital letters in their Email addresses.
Spam is annoying and is also illegal. You can often complain to the admins
of major companies (even minor ones) by writing to abuse@system, like
ab...@aol.com or ab...@msn.com. Most systems have an anti-spam clause and
will happily enforce it.
-Elaine
Andrew A. Poe
> Has anyone else on this forum had a similar experience? I ask only
> because I'm trying to figure out where this jerk got our address, and I
> am wondering if it came from a master a cappella directory somewhere.
I should clarify myself here. I'm not insinuating that somebody here is
selling information to spammers. I'm just curious if this spammer--the
name is Terri DeSisto--has accessed a public a cappella directory. If she
has, it should manifest itself as other groups receiving similar spam.
I should point out that the spam was not sent to our group individually.
Rather, it was sent to the individual members 2 or 3 at a time. It's too
queer to be coincidence; we all got the message, and there's no other
connection between us. We don't even all use the same provider.
This is so bizarre. Our membership list can be obtained by anyone with a
finger command, but what nut would go through all that just to spam us
with an ad totally unrelated to our group charter?
becky kneubuhl
Andrew A. Poe wrote:
>
> Has anyone else on this forum had a similar experience? I ask only
> because I'm trying to figure out where this jerk got our address, and I
> am wondering if it came from a master a cappella directory somewhere.
andrew...
spam oozes from a number of places. people farm email addresses off of
website search engines (ie. the text you submit to engines so that
people searching on certain words will find your site). they get them
from links on your page. they collect them from your 'from' or 'return'
address when you post to newsgroups. they scan .sig files for email
addresses. they sell your name to bigger lists. when you get email
that says to visit www.someplace.com for "removal information," i have a
weird suspicion that these places have no ability to remove your name
from anyone's list and are probably collecting and selling your name
too.
you can mask your address so that the junk mail bounces back to them -
like put X's somewhere and then remind people to take them out when
sending mail to you. but most spammers have bogus return addresses
anyway, so you're not going to get "revenge" by clogging their mailbox
instead. you're just going to create an annoying mail loop that hops
around from server to server and eventually shrivels and dies. this
wastes bandwidth and is potentially costly to the people running the
involved ISP. also, i did it for a while but my junk mail load really
didn't seem to reduce significantly.
or you can try to get the sender booted from their isp, which is my
preferred method. additionally, some isp's are fining users if caught
spamming. i have a prewritten message to the effect of "dear
[postm...@realdomain.com], the following jizzhound is sending me spam
via your server. please shoot him/her."
you have to be able to read through all your message headers, since most
people sending spam have made some attempt to mask their address. if
you look carefully you can generally pick out the domain(s) through
which the message actually travelled. forwarding the headers to the
sysadmin or postmaster at that domain can get the user booted if you get
it to the right place.
if i make this message any longer i guess you should consider it spam
since it's completely irrelevant to matters regarding instrumentless
singing. so email me if you want an example of what you're looking for
in the mail headers. or shoot me for the unrelated post. :)
-becky
jes...@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca
Andrew A. Poe (andre...@umich.edu) wrote:
: Has anyone else on this forum had a similar experience? I ask only
: because I'm trying to figure out where this jerk got our address, and I
: am wondering if it came from a master a cappella directory somewhere.
I get on the average of three or four every time I post here (it's usually
the only non-local newsgroup I post in)... So yeah, I'm afraid RMAC seems
to be quite definitely SPAM fodder. Also, lots of these "businesses" trawl
websites (judging by the amount I get on one of my accounts which appears
ONLY on the relevant website and is never used to post anywhere).
But what can we DO about it as a newsgroup? Those of us fortunate enough
to be on systems that permit alias modification can, but the rest seem
screwed.
'ka
--
* Jessika Diamond, CASA * For A Cappella Radio shows, A Cappella in
Alberta or for the A Cappella Calendar (Apr/May dates by Feb. 25):
Http://www.casa.org/jessika.html
Northern Harmony Canadian A Cappella Festival, Oct. 3, 1998, in Edmonton
Laura Shapiro
>But what can we DO about it as a newsgroup? Those of us fortunate enough
>to be on systems that permit alias modification can, but the rest seem
>screwed.
I have seen newsgroups which are moderated in order to prevent this sort of
thing. The posts go to the moderator first, who screens for spam (*not* for
content - in other words, it's not censorship, but rather a way to
fast-forward through the commercials), and then posts to the newsgroup.
Obviously, it's not a perfect system, especially as some poor uncompensated
soul has to do the work, but it seems to work pretty well.
Seth Golub
In article <690il6$d9b$1...@news1.sirius.com>,
Laura Shapiro <la...@humandesign.com> wrote:
> I have seen newsgroups which are moderated in order to prevent this
> sort of thing.
That prevents most spam from reaching the newsgroup, but Andrew had
spam emailed to him. Newsgroups play a role in that because The
Forces Of Evil can read newsgroup posts just like anyone else, and
they collect the addresses that appear. As someone else pointed out,
they also collect addresses that appear in web pages, which is
probably how the folks in Andrew's group got pegged.
Don't worry, Andrew. It's nothing personal. Most of us are ticklish.
;-)
Meanwhile, I've been deliberatly baiting spammers, but have only
gotten 12 messages in the last eight months. It's so unfair..
--
Seth Golub --- se...@cs.wustl.edu --- http://www.cs.wustl.edu/~seth/
Please don't send email to ba...@thehouse.org -- it's just for junkmail.
B.Swetman
> Andrew A. Poe (andre...@umich.edu) wrote:
> : Has anyone else on this forum had a similar experience? I ask only
> : because I'm trying to figure out where this jerk got our address, and I
> : am wondering if it came from a master a cappella directory somewhere.
>
usenet group I follow and apparently also did email spamming. This has
been going on intermittently at least since August. Every time I post to
a usenet group my UCE goes up. If I don't post for a week or two it goes
way down again. From reading the abuse FAQ's (which I did not bookmark)
that experience is not unusual.
I you want to figure out how it's done, just wait a week or so. You
should be getting a ad offering to sell you the software that collects
the addresses and does the mass posting. Or take a look at the link
http://151.196.69.173/ in the classy adult site spam. "Here you find our
awarded Newsgroup AutoPoster and Bulk Emailer."
Paul Sinasohn
I know that the rec.music.makers.choral newsgroup is mirrored as a
mailing list - is it possible to do that for r.m.a-c? I have no idea what
the server requirements would be...
--
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Paul Sinasohn sina...@netcom.com SF Native CAL '80
Editor, Academic Computers Magazine CASA Arrangements Librarian
Bass & Business manager: PRESS ANY KEY - Acappella At Your Fingertips
Motto: There's a fine line between a groove and a rut!! Member, AAG
Elaine Chao
Laura-
>I have seen newsgroups which are moderated in order to prevent this sort of
>thing. The posts go to the moderator first, who screens for spam (*not* for
>content - in other words, it's not censorship, but rather a way to
>fast-forward through the commercials), and then posts to the newsgroup.
I don't think that's what the original poster meant. I've received spam
via Email, not only the obnoxious "Mass Emailing works" and mail "To the
Adult Webmaster," but also solicitations about music-related products.
Compared to the regular traffic in other newsgroups, RMAC receives relatively
little spam.
-Elaine
and...@porkshoulderandham.com
You'll find that I'm one of the more rabid supporters
of the First Amendment. However, I feel that the only
real solution to spam is... legislation banning
unsolicited commercial e-mail, similar to the legislation
currently in place banning unsolicited commercial faxes
(or "junk faxes").
The junk fax legislation works quite well, in my opinion.
Personal and business fax machines don't get bombarded with
junk faxes, and I personally do not shed one tear over
the First Amendment rights impinged by Business' inability
to fax or e-mail me advertisements for herbal remedies,
weight-loss creams, impotence and baldness cures, bulk
e-mailing software (tres meta!), etc. Let 'em find some other
way to ply their snake oil.
I know what you're thinking: It's a slippery slope. First they
ban unsolicited e-mail, and the next thing you know, they'll be
telling the credit-card and long-distance companies that they
can't call us every night during dinner, and before you know it
they'll be telling AOL to stop stuffing CD-ROMs into every
mailbox in America. Well, we'll just have to be conscientious
enough to make sure these disastrous consequences don't come
to pass.
So how do you stop spam? Write (or e-mail!) your congresswoman,
and tell her to support the only bill out of the approximately
four anti-spam bills pending legislation that treats junk e-mails
like junk faxes. I used to have more information on this bill,
but I accidentally deleted the e-mail message it came in when I
finally got around to trashing the other 328 solicitations to
$$$ MAKE MONEY FAST! $$$
Andrew Chaikin
andrew at house jacks dot com
Chris Tess
and...@porkshoulderandham.com wrote:
: So how do you stop spam? Write (or e-mail!) your congresswoman,
: and tell her to support the only bill out of the approximately
: four anti-spam bills pending legislation that treats junk e-mails
: like junk faxes. I used to have more information on this bill,
: but I accidentally deleted the e-mail message it came in when I
: finally got around to trashing the other 328 solicitations to
: $$$ MAKE MONEY FAST! $$$
Or even better, email her 100 messages per day telling her to support
anti-spam legislation... ;-)
-Chris
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Chris Tess RARB Coordinator
cmt...@artsci.wustl.edu CASA-Missouri
1909 Virginia Ave. St. Louis University School of Medicine
St. Louis, MO 63104-1522
H: 314-865-1457 (6-9pm CST) http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cmtess/
Email me to subscribe to the St. Louis Area A Cappella Calendar.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Check out my originals: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cmtess/mysongs.html
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
aka Louise
[(Paul Sinasohn <sina...@netcom.com> apparently wrote:]
> I know that the rec.music.makers.choral newsgroup is mirrored as a
> mailing list - is it possible to do that for r.m.a-c? I have no idea what
> the server requirements would be...
you don't want to do that - it just forwards the spam to the mailing list
as well. moderating the newsgroup is usually a better (but rather
time-consuming) answer. although given the low traffic on this ng, it might
not be _that_ bad. anyone got an hour a day to kill?
- brookes
---------------...@dti.net-------------------------------
R. Brookes McKenzie aka Louise
COPS: n. 1. Televised police brutality. 2. Reality television
(see 1). - with apologies to Ambrose Bierce
------------------http://www.dti.net/~rmckenzi-----------------------
aka Louise
[(Paul Sinasohn <sina...@netcom.com> apparently wrote:]
> I know that the rec.music.makers.choral newsgroup is mirrored as a
> mailing list - is it possible to do that for r.m.a-c? I have no idea what
> the server requirements would be...
you don't want to do that - it just forwards the spam to the mailing list
as well. moderating the newsgroup is usually a better (but rather
time-consuming) answer. although given the low traffic on this ng, it might
not be _that_ bad. anyone got an hour a day to kill?
- brookes
---------------...@dti.net-------------------------------
R. Brookes McKenzie aka Louise
COPS: n. 1. Televised police brutality. 2. Reality television
(see 1). - apologies to Ambrose Bierce
------------------http://www.dti.net/~rmckenzi-----------------------
jes...@freenet.edmonton.ab.ca
and...@porkshoulderandham.com wrote:
: to fax or e-mail me advertisements for herbal remedies,
: weight-loss creams, impotence and baldness cures, bulk
: e-mailing software (tres meta!), etc.
You don't get the "russian mail-order brides" ones? That's my "favorite"
(in a Hall of Shame-esque scenario). Yep - that's what *I* need...
and...@gdmf.com
Chuck Kennedy writes:
> The law that bans unsolicited faxes has no teeth to speak of. I receive
> anywhere from three to twenty unsolicited faxes per week...
Ah. Okay, then I take it all back.
One question: how do these gdmf fax-spammers know that your
fax number is a fax number? Is there some bot that calls
every number in a certain area code, looking for fax-tone
responses on the other end, hanging up if not? I'm intrigued.
Andrew "gdmf" Chaikin
andrew at gd house jacks dot mf com
EP Vitale
In article <MPG.f24a57e1...@nntp1.ba.best.com>, and...@gdmf.com
wrote:
>One question: how do these gdmf fax-spammers know that your
>fax number is a fax number? Is there some bot that calls
>every number in a certain area code, looking for fax-tone
>responses on the other end, hanging up if not? I'm intrigued.
Andrew -
The now sell Fax # directories on CD ROMS. Just like the ones the sell for 800
#s and Yellow Pages etc. From that point you just dump the numbers into you fax
software and click ...
Gary
AcerolaMan
>Andrew "gdmf" Chaikin
This is of course, a G dominant with a minor 14th? :)
---------------------------------------------
Are you from CVHS (Concord, CA), class of 1988?
Email CVHS...@bigfoot.com
---------------------------------------------
There's a nose ring in my soup!
http://www.bobs.com
---------------------------------------------
Lil Lamb
>Or even better, email her 100 messages per day telling her to support
>anti-spam legislation... ;-)
>-Chris
Maybe Gary could show us how to do that :)
Kahlene