What is spam? 
Can I stop spam? 
What can I do if I have been spammed? 
How do I find the spammer's ISP? 
How do I complain to the spammer's ISP? 
Should I retaliate by trying to spam the spammer? 
Isn't blocking spam censorship?
Aren't anti-spammers just anti-commerce in disguise?
Isn't spam just the same as traditional paper advertising (third class or 
"junk" mail)?Then isn't spam just the equivalent of traditional telemarketing?
Is spam legal?


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What is spam?
Also known as UCE (unsolicited commercial mail), spam is unsolicited e-mail.
 Often, spam will relate to dishonest get-rich-quick schemes, bogus products, 
 or invitations to pornography sites. Sometimes spam mail contains viruses 
 as attachments. For a more detailed explanation on spam and why it should be
  stopped, see the article on spam "About the problem" by CAUCE (the Coalition 
  Against Unsolicited Commercial Email).


Can I stop spam?
Prevention is better than cure. Be careful about giving your email address
 when filling in forms online. You could also consider using a separate email
  address for some public activities such as chat rooms, in order to protect
   your main address from spammers.



What can I do if I have been spammed?
Do not write back to the spammer. Often, spammers will try to guess email 
addresses. If they get a reply from you it simply confirms that they have
 found a valid email address. Although many spam mails include a link for
  removal from their list, this is normally a trick.

If you wish to do something about spam you have received, then you should 
report it to the spammer's ISP. Most ISPs realise it is bad for their
 reputation to have this activity on their networks and should be able to 
 take action against the spammer.



How do I find the spammer's ISP?
You need to open up the email header and find the spammer's IP address. For
 information on how to do this, see: Tracking spam

When you have the spammer's IP address, search the whois databases of the
 Regional Internet Registries (RIRs). For information on how to use the 
 Whois database, refer to: Using the Whois database to find the spammer/
 hacker's network



How do I complain to the spammer's ISP?
You can forward a copy of the spam, being sure to include the full header 
(although if the spam contained a virus you should not include the attachment).
 Although spam can be extremely frustrating or offensive, be polite when 
 telling the network contact about spam coming from their network. The network
  may be an intermediate party unaware that a spammer is using their network
   to send messages. For help on how to formulate a polite but firm complaint,
    see How to complain to the spammer's provider



Should I retaliate by trying to spam the spammer?
APNIC strongly recommends that you do not try launch a counter attack. In
 many cases spammers work by disguising their location or hijacking the 
 systems of others. By trying to spam them back, you may simply do more 
 damage to another innocent party. Depending on the applicable laws, you
  may be committing a criminal offence or exposing yourself to litigation.

For more information on other strategies that are counterproductive, see:


What not to do about spam 



I want to know more about spam
For more detailed advice on how best to deal with spam, visit CAUCE.






Q. Isn't blocking spam censorship?
No. Censorship is blocking information based on its content. Spam-blocking 
merely keeps the content in its proper place. My local public library has 
a bulletin board where people can post for-sale ads and business cards; they 
would be rightfully upset at someone who inserted an advertising flyer inside
 every book on the shelves,  which is the equivalent of posting a notice to 
 every Usenet group.

It would be censorship to try to restrict advertising from all parts of the 
Internet. However, asking someone to pay the fair costs of their actions is 
not censorship, it's simple economics.


Q. Commerce is on Usenet and the Internet to stay. Aren't anti-spammers just
 anti-commerce in disguise?No. Protecting users from spam makes the Internet
  more conducive to commerce, not less. Employers are more likely to let
   their employees read Usenet at work if the newsgroups remain topical and 
   functional. Using e-mail for business is much easier if mailboxes aren't 
   clogged with extraneous material. People are much likelier to take Net
    commerce seriously if they don't think of the Net as a cesspool of scams,
    questionable products, and pyramid schemes.

Many of the people fighting spam are already conducting commerce on the 
Internet. Some of us are even old hands at it. We want to promote responsible
 commercialization of the Internet, not an all-out land-grab. Right now,
  spammers are using unethical tactics, stealing resources from sites and users, 
to try to get a leg up on people who follow the rules.


Q. Isn't spam just the same as traditional paper advertising (third class or
 "junk" mail)?No. Third-class mailers pay a fee to distribute their materials.
  Spam is the equivalent of third-class mail that arrives postage-due. Real 
  people pay real money, in the form of disk space charges, connect time, or
   even long-distance net connections, to transmit and receive junk e-mail 
   and newsgroup postings. Unless we utterly overhaul the Internet's mail 
   and news software to charge a mailing fee, spam is taking advantage of the
    cooperative nature of the Net.

Indeed, spam is most like junk FAXes, which are sent at the convenience of
 the sender and the expense of the recipient. With third class mail, if you
  don't want it, you throw it out, and it takes very little time.  If you 
  are interested, you open it. Spam email costs you and your provider money 
  to receive whether you ever read it or not.


Q. Then isn't spam just the equivalent of traditional telemarketing?
No. Traditional telemarketers are closely regulated by law in many countries. 
For example,  they are prohibited from calling businesses, and they are 
required to stop calling anyone who asks to be put on their "do-not-call" list.
 Spammers do not follow these, or any of the other, restrictions on telemarketers. 
If you complain about spammers, they just harass you, and if you call their
 provider, you get indifference much of the time. 
 
The difference again is who pays the cost - a telemarketer will have to staff
 up, rent phone lines, and pay monthly and often per-minute phone charges.
  Telemarketers cannot call collect. A spammer gets a throwaway account 
  or a free trial disk, or signs up with a mass-mailing company, and blasts
   a message at hundreds of thousands of people.

In many ways spamming resembles those automated calling machines that became 
popular with telemarketers a few years ago. They programmed the machines to 
dial their way through entire prefixes, and frequently the machines hung 
people's phone lines and literally wouldn't go away. Likewise, spammers get
 email address lists and run through them. 

Spam can be viewed as machines harassing people in a way which is very cheap 
for the machine and a substantial burden to the people. 



Q. Is spam legal?
Maybe.

Part of the problem is that the explosive growth of the Internet, and the 
very recent rise of professional spammers, has moved much faster than the 
laws, or the knowledge of the people who are supposed to enforce them. For 
example, most people at the US FCC, which has jurisdiction over interstate 
junk faxes, don't even know what junk e-mail is, let alone how the laws they
 enforce apply to it. (The FCC's Consumer Litigation department can be 
 reached toll-free at 1-888-225-5322)

Many people think that spam can be shoehorned into the provisions of the U.S.
 anti-junk-fax and telemarketer regulation laws (US Code 47.5.II), but to 
 our knowledge this has not yet been tested in court.

There's a good chance that spam is illegal under various U.S. state laws.
 For example, a case has been brought against a spammer based on the 
 Washington state junk fax law. The Washington law defines a telefacsimile 
message as "the transmittal of electronic signals over telephone lines for
 conversion into written text." Check your state law if you would like to 
 sue a spammer.


In some countries, unauthorized use of computing resources is a crime. 
[If you know about legal issues with spam in other countries, please let us know!]

Another part of the problem is that many people want as little government 
interference in the Internet as possible. Although the Internet has its roots 
in a U.S. Government network, it is currently a cooperative coalition of
 commercial carriers. It is far better for the carriers to agree on the
  rules than for the government to step in and set up inflexible laws.

Yet another facet is the international nature of the Internet. If one 
country passes laws against spam, professional spammers will just move 
abroad, the same way that the phone sex lines moved to the Carribean 
after the U.S. regulations on them became too restrictive.