___________________________________________________________________________
MAIL:  All About Spam


Q:  What is spam?

A:  In the context of the Internet, spam is something like junk mail -- an
    unwanted usenet posting or e-mail sent to a group of people who didn't
    ask for it, or posted to a bunch of newsgroups that deal with topics
    unrelated to the spam.  It's usually an advertisement.  The word is
    derived from the allegedly meat-based product 'SPAM', which (so the
    story goes) was often inflicted upon soldiers in at least one of the
    World Wars.  These soldiers supposedly expanded the name as if it were
    an acronym for "(excrement) Parading As Meat."  Thus, electronic spam
    is sent to people as if it contained useful information, but it instead
    contains detested commercial advertising.

    The verb "to spam" means to engage in the practice of sending spam to
    people.

    
Q:  Why do people hate spamming?

A:  Spamming is much like the old and thankfully quickly-outlawed practice
    of junk faxing -- the spammer incurs virtually no cost, instead using
    the victim's own resources to pay for the advertising.  The time you
    spend downloading the spam, and the space used to store it, all costs
    somebody -- be it the end user or their service provider -- money.
    The costs for a single spam may be negligible, but multiplied out over
    many instances, the practice can become expensive -- not for the
    spammer, but for the spammee.

    For these reasons, plus the fact that most people just plain don't
    like receiving spam, the practice is against the acceptable use policies
    of many Internet Service Providers, including Northwest Nexus and the
    backbone providers to which we connect.  All Northwest Nexus customers
    must agree to our terms and conditions of use when they open an account.
    We will give one warning to a customer who spams from our system;
    the next violation may result in termination of his or her account,
    without warning.


Q:  How did the spammer get my address?  Does Northwest Nexus sell its
    customer list to spammers?
    
A:  Northwest Nexus does not sell its customer's names, email addresses,
    or any other information to any party for any reason.  However, there
    are many other ways for a spammer to get your address.  If you have
    ever posted a message to a newsgroup or a public listserver, chances
    are you're on somebody's list.  When you browse web sites, there are
    ways for some sites to retrieve your email address from your web
    browser.  If you own a domain name, your email address is a matter of
    public record available from the Internic database.  And there are a
    number of tools available that will allow almost anyone to get
    usernames from any unix-based Internet host.
    

Q:  What can I do if I've been spammed?

A:  If the spam originated from our own system, please notify us at
    support@halcyon.com.  Otherwise, there isn't really anything we can
    do except help you locate the originating site of the spam.  You can
    then complain to the Internet Service Provider who hosts the spammer's
    account.  It is up to the ISP to investigate the actions of their
    customer, and take action at their discretion.

    To find the originating site, take a look at the complete headers of
    the spam.  Many email programs don't automatically show you the full
    headers, in which case you'll need to look for an option that will
    display them for you.  In Eudora, for example, you can click on the
    little "Blah Blah Blah" icon at the top of the message to display the
    hidden headers.

    Take a look at the "Received:" header, and you should be able to 
    follow the header backwards to the originating site.  Note, however,
    that these headers can be forged to throw off your efforts (spammers
    know people don't like getting these things, and try to cover their
    trail).  We can sometimes help decipher these headers if you send
    them to us in their entirety.

    Once you have determined the originating site, send your complaint
    to postmaster@offendingsite.com, abuse@offendingsite.com,
    root@offendingsite.com, sysadmin@offendingsite.com, and
    support@offendingsite.com.

    Feel free to be firm, but please be polite -- the owner has almost
    certainly received many other letters like yours.  This is good, as
    it will encourage him or her to take action, but you want to keep
    their animosity focused on the spammer, not on you.  A typical note
    might read as follows:

		"I received the following 'spam' from somebody that
		appears to be using your system or network.  I would
		appreciate it if you could pitch in and do your part
		to keep this 'spam' off the Internet.

		Thank you."


    Good luck!


Some additional resources:

Get That Spammer. A step-by-step guide to deciphering return addresses and
routing information so you can identify senders of junk e-mail and their
service providers.

     <http://kryten.eng.monash.edu.au/gspam.html>

How to Get Rid of Junk Mail, Spam and Telemarketers. Lots of tips for
dealing with junk mail of all types, as well as information about how to
remove your name from mailing lists.

     <http://www.csn.net/~felbel/jnkmail.html>

Net Abuse FAQ. The complete guide to Internet abuse, from junk e-mail and
spamming to information on joining and accessing news.admin.net-abuse, an
extremely useful newsgroup dealing with all aspects of the issue.

     <http://www.cybernothing.org/faqs/net-abuse-faq.html>

O.J.E.N. - Outlaw Junk E-mail Now! The Author of this site advocates
federal regulations prohibiting junk e-mail. There are also many links to
other sites covering various aspects of the junk e-mail problem.

     <http://www.public.asu.edu/~dtopping/ojen.html>


(30-Dec-97/maiaas/WRD)
___________________________________________________________________________
Copyright 1997  Northwest Nexus Inc.  All Rights Reserved.
This document may not be reproduced nor redistributed in any form without
express permission; contact us at support@halcyon.com with questions.