Why Your ISP Takes Bribes From Spammers

Why Your ISP Takes Bribes From Spammers

by: Niall Roche

The lifeblood of the spammer is email. They need to be able to send lots of it on an ongoing basis to stay in กbusinessก. High profile spammers can send 80 million pieces of junk email every single day. Yes one single person.

ISPs all over the online world have vowed to stop spammers sending such vast amounts of email through their mail servers. Do they really keep their word? All the end user sees is that the spam keeps coming. There must be a loophole there somewhere. There is.

In the soft white underbelly of the internet there exists something known as a pink contract. The term pink contract comes from the color of the famous tinned meat that junk email gets its name from. A pink contract is simply a business agreement between the ISP and the spammer. The spammer agrees to pay the ISP to turn a blind eye to the junk email passing through their mail servers.

Surely this is bad business for the ISP? Well the answer to that is both Yes and No. Yes itกs bad news for the people who receive the junk email and No itกs good news for the ISPs bank balance. A monthly pink contract can pay the ISP amounts from $10,000 upwards. Bearing in mind that the average workathome spammer averages $100,000 net per year the above figure is small change fo the bigger junk email vendors (the guys who earn $200,000 $400,000 per month.)

But….. the CanSpam Act 2003… surely thatกs going to make a difference? Of course. Any ISP in the United States can get in serious, serious trouble for signing pink contracts. Problem is that thereกs a whole big world wide web out there and the vast majority of pink contracts are signed with overseas ISPs where US authorities have no jurisdiction China and Russia being perfect examples.

Thereกs no moral to this story. Spam is a huge problem thatกs finally being taken seriously by Governmental bodies. However until they start imposing prison sentences or seizure orders on those individuals and companies in the pink contract business the problem can only continue.

If youกd like to learn more about fighting spam and spam blocking solutions drop by http://www.spamsite.com

About The Author

Niall Roche is the content author and owner of http://www.spamsite.com which reviews and tests spam filtering software for the business and end user.

[email protected]

This article was posted on April 07, 2004

by Niall Roche

Ignoring These Tips Could Result in an Inbox Full

Ignoring These Tips Could Result in an Inbox Full of SPAM

by: Anti Spam League

Spam (definition) Unsolicited Bulk Email — noun. ‘Unsolicited’ means that the recipient has not given verifiable permission for the message to be sent. ‘Bulk’ means that the message is sent as part of a larger collection of messages, all having basically identical content.

Although there still seem to be some differences among the US Government, the lawmakers, the antispam organizations and the spammers regarding what is spam and what is not, identifying it is actually pretty easy: if you did not ask for it, you did not sign up on a mailing list related to it, and did not leave your email address on a web form asking for more information on it…itกs spam! The spam issue is not about content, but solely about delivery method. The content of spam is and has always been irrelevant. Again, if it is sent unsolicited and in bulk, it is spam plain and simple.

Sure we want spam to stop. Nobody wants their email address cycling around from spammer to spammer. We can delete it, but have you ever stopped to consider how much time we actually spend each day hitting the ‘Delete’ button? We should not have to beg to be removed from something we did not ask to be put on in the first place! So where do we draw the line? When do we start thinking it is not worth logging into our email account to read our messages? Despite the effort of thousands of angry spam victims pushing for stronger laws against spammers over the last few years, not much progress has been done in this respect. Moreover, in January 2004 the U.S. Government has passed the CANSPAM Act, a law backed overwhelmingly by spammers and large corporations, because it legalized spamming instead of banning it. With the passage of CANSPAM, spamming has become legal throughout the United States. Now 23 million U.S. businesses can all begin spamming email addresses as long as they give users a way to optout. What CANSPAM makes illegal is the use of open proxies or any form of resource misappropriation as well as use of false headers, which for the top spammers to avoid is business as usual.

We will not argue here about the motives of the US law makers to pass the CANSPAM, but rather focus on the problem of doing something about the spam in your mailbox. By doing more than กjust hitting deleteก, you are helping to solve the problem. We should all exercise our right of control, or we will lose it.

The million dollar question is whether it is possible to stop spam. The most honest answer to this question is probably not but you can significantly reduce it. Below are some clear and simple tips to greatly reduce the amount of spam you get:

1) Use a separate email address when you post messages to public forums, such as newsgroups and mailing lists. Never use your personal email address for this purpose or it will end up flooded with spam.

2) Consider acquiring multiple email addresses for different purposes. This helps to identify different sources and senders, and allows you to filter more effectively. For instance, you may have one for personal use only by friends, family or colleagues that is never used to request information or to subscribe to newsletters, discussion lists, etc. Another might be used just for sales inquiries or orders, or for making online purchases.

3) You can subscribe to services online that provide you with disposable addresses that can be deleted if they begin to attract spam messages. This works because the disposable email addresses actually forward to a real email address of yours. The software lets you track which addresses are getting spam, and you can just resubscribe using a new, spamfree address. One company that offers disposable email accounts is Sneakemail.

4) Remove your email address from your website. If you list or link to your email address, you can expect to be spammed. Thus, remove them wherever possible and use webbased forms instead. This will drastically cut down the amount of spam you receive if you have a website.

5) NEVER buy anything from a company that spams. Do not visit their sites or ask for more information from a spam email that you have received. Over 95% of spam offers are scams! In fact, not responding to spam is the single most effective way to not get scammed on the Internet.

6) Filter your email. Using filters is key to managing your email effectively.

7) Consider subscribing to a spam prevention service. Make sure that any software or system you select gives you control of which email you get and does not automatically erase messages. Also, safeguard your newsletter and discussion list subscriptions. If you, your ISP or web host use spam filters or white lists, be sure to let them know that you want to receive messages from any newsletters or discussion lists that you subscribe to.

8) Report the spam to agencies that maintain statistics. Such agencies generally compile statistics that may be useful in setting policy. One trusted antispam organization where you can report spammers is the AntiSPAM League. Learn how to become a member for free by clicking here.

9) Report fraudulent or otherwise illegal content to appropriate authorities. While fraud per se is an issue separate from spam, unsolicited email often contains offers for illegal or fraudulent products.

10) Contact your Internet Service Provider. Although this is unlikely to affect the amount of spam you receive since it is not their fault that their system was attacked from outside, ISPs want to know about spam attacks, either to learn how to protect their system, or to set policy.

11) Contact the senderกs Internet Service Provider(s). Most ISPs in the world forbid their members to send spam. Therefore, if your complaint is valid, then there is a good chance the spammer will lose connectivity.

12) Demand restitution from the spammer. If you continually receive spam from a single source, you have a right to demand repayment for the time and resources the spammer used.

13) Initiate legal action against the spammer. This should be a last resort, as legal action is troublesome and expensive. However, wellexecuted legal action may do more than just get one spammer off your back: it may lower the amount of spam on the Internet in general.

By forcing unsolicited and objectionable materials into our mailboxes, spam impairs our ability to communicate freely and costs Internet users billions of dollars annually. You do not have to put up with it: your best recourse is to protest to those who dump their trash on your disk drives! Organizations such as The Anti SPAM League give you the chance to report spamming companies and individuals and access valuable information on how to control the spam problem. The Anti SPAM League serves as a resource to identify companies on the internet that are safe to do business with. Also, to target which companies are trying to capture your personal information for the use of unsolicited mass marketing. Take a step forward in the battle against spam. Learn how to become a member for free by visiting www.AntiSpamLeague.org.

About The Author

The purpose of the Anti SPAM League is to help consumers and business owners reduce the amount of SPAM they receive. In addition, our Anti SPAM organization believes that educating site owners in the area of SPAM prevention and ways to successfully and responsibly market their sites, is key in making a difference.

www.AntiSpamLeague.org

[email protected]

This article was posted on November 18, 2004

by Anti Spam League

Winning the War On Spam

Winning the War On Spam

by: Michael Southon

For years I didn’t worry much about spam.

But lately itกs got out of control. Over half of my email is now spam, and it was growing by the week until I took action.

This article shows you some strategies for winning the war on spam.

How Do They Get Your Address?

In the old days, spammers got their addresses mainly from Newsgroups if you didn’t post to Newsgroups, you were reasonably safe. But they’re now using a much more efficient method to build their lists email harvesters.

Email harvesters are robots that roam the Internet collecting email addresses from web pages. Examples are EmailSiphon, Cherry Picker, Web Weasel, Web Bandit and Email Wolf, to name just a few.

How can you protect yourself from email harvesters?

By กmungingก (mung = กmash until no goodก) or cloaking your email address.

There are many ways of munging your address the easiest technique is to use HTML code for the punctuation in your email address (instead of symbols).

For the colon after mailto use : and for the @ symbol use @ and for the period use . . With this method, your email address would become:

mailto:yourname@yourdomain.com

but it will display as:

mailto:[email protected]

Your email address will appear exactly as it did before, and it will still be กclickableก, but email harvesters will ignore it and move on.

There are also JavaScriptกs that you can insert into your web page that will make your email address visible to humans but invisible to harvesting programs. Hereกs one that works very well: http://pointlessprocess.com/JavaScripts/antispam.htm

How To Fight Spam

The most important thing is never, ever, reply to spam.

Most spam contains an innocentlooking ‘remove meก email address. Do not use it. Hereกs why:

Spammers typically buy a CD containing a million or so email addresses, but they have no idea how many of those addresses are active. So before beginning their marketing campaign in earnest, they send out a ‘test messageก to the entire list.

The test message contains an email address for removing yourself. When you reply to that address, it confirms to the spammer that your address is active and therefore worth spamming.

Worse still, the spammer may be distilling from that CD a list of confirmed active addresses that he will then sell to another spammer.

The key to dealing with spam is to report it to a 3rd party: (1) the affiliate program that the spammer is advertising, (2) the spammerกs web host, or (3) the ISP the spammer used to connect to the Internet.

When you report spam to a 3rd party, remember to be polite they didn’t send the spam and they’re probably just as antispam as you are.

Reporting to Affiliate Programs

Many spammers are affiliates advertising someone elseกs products or services. So look for a website address that contains an affiliate link, something like this: www.affiliateprogramdomain/841526

Then just send an email to the affiliate program ([email protected]), informing them that you are receiving spam from one of their affiliates.

Most affiliate programs have zero tolerance for spamming and will remove an affiliate spammer without warning.

Now, affiliate spammers don’t want you to see their affiliate link, so many of them send their email as HTML. All you see in the message are the words กClick Here and Order Nowก.

But in your browser just click on กView Source Codeก and search for the letters กhttpก. That will take you to the spammerกs affiliate link.

Reporting to Web Hosts

If the spam doesn’t contain an affiliate link, itกs likely that it is coming from the owner of the domain name. In that case youกll have to report it to the spammerกs web host or their ISP.

To make a report to the spammerกs web host just go to Whois, the directory of registered domain names: http://www.netsol.com/cgibin/whois/whois

Type in the spammerกs domain (the website address that appears in the spam) together with the extension (.com, org, .net etc).

The host for that domain will usually be listed as the Technical Contact in the Whois record and there will be an email address for contacting them.

Reporting to ISPs

To report a spammer to his Internet Service Provider, youกll have to look at the spamกs กextended headersก.

Extended headers show the servers that the message passed through in order to get to you. The instructions for viewing extended headers will vary depending on what email client you are using.

In Pegasus Mail, open the offending message and then rightclick and choose กShow raw message dataก.

In Eudora Light, click on ‘toolsก in the top menu bar, and then กOptionsก, and then select the checkbox option that says กShow all headers (even the ugly ones)ก and click OK.

In Outlook Express, open the offending message, select กPropertiesก from the File menu and then click the กDetailsก tab.

Reading and understanding extended headers is quite a detailed subject. Hereกs an excellent free tutorial on how to decipher extended headers: http://www.doughnut.demon.co.uk/SpamTracking101.html

As an alternative to these reporting techniques, you could use a webbased spam reporting service such as SpamCop (www.spamcop.net). SpamCop deciphers the spamกs message headers and traces the mail back to its source.

Wishing you every success in the fight against spam!

© 2002 by Michael Southon

About The Author

Michael Southon has been writing for the Internet for over 3 years. He has shown hundreds of webmasters how to use this simple technique to get massive free publicity and dramatically increase traffic and sales. Click here to find out more: http://www.ezinewriter.com

This article was posted on July 31, 2002

by Michael Southon