[Dialogue] Spamming etc.

[george]

Any request via email for your information, name, address, etc. should 
be avoided.  ISP's don't operate that way.  Also beware of being 
referred to phony sites on the web to give your info.  Some scammers 
are creating look alike sites stealing logos, etc. from the main site 
and then getting you to give credit card, soc. sec., et al.

Only when you go to a legit site to purchase or set up an account is 
info required.  You can usually check the "long header", which most 
email programs will provide to spot spam and scan.

All the best

George Holcombe
14900 Yellowleaf Tr.
Austin TX 78728
512/252-2756
512/294-5952

On May 19, 2004, at 2:34 PM, Wayne Nelson wrote:

> "Harry Wainwright" wrote:
>
>>
>> 1. I received an e-mail that looked like it was
>> from my ISP asking me to click on a web link and verify personal
>> information.
>
> Your own ISP should have certain basic information about you - just 
> like the
> phone company. The kind of information involved in any standard 
> business
> transaction. You have a contract with them - they have to know who you 
> are.
> Verifying information and asking you to provide information are quite
> different matters.  You should be able to access their privacy 
> policies.
>
> All of the forms used in those things have required field and optional
> fields.  Certain information about you is necessary; and ISP's are 
> probably
> required to ask you for certain information. It's pretty basic, 
> though. They
> don't need much.
>
>> 2. One of the messages that was clearly spam
>> asked me to verify an auto reply. . . . . . This is a tactic to
>> verify that the spammer has reached an active e-mail address.
>
> The same goes for "unsubscribe" notices.  They are often just a 
> confirmation
> that you're alive. I've discovered that the ones that actually have a 
> way of
> unsubscribing on a web site do work.
>
> Spam filtering is a white water adventure at the moment and most ISP's 
> are
> tightening their filters as snugly as possible in response to client 
> outcry.
> I'd sure hate to have that job.
>
> Bounces from listserves happen because they often don't follow the spam
> filtering rules. They are technical and I don't understand exactly how 
> it
> works, but it happens in the sequence of beeps and hiccoughs we know 
> as the
> "handshake."
>
> - The originator's server says "I have mail for your server"
> - Your server says, "Who are you?
>
> As I understand it, it's the originator's response that either opens 
> the
> door or diverts your mail to the junk bin.  If something in the 
> response
> tells the ISP's server that the mail is coming from a mass mailer, it 
> gets
> dumped.
>
> Listservs have to do something with the preferences and settings in 
> order to
> get through.  ISP's have to recognize that kind of message and be able 
> to
> let them through.
>
> It's obviously for more complex than that, but that's the idea.
>
> I had a devil of a time with Topica and my own email provider in that
> regard. They are not easy conversations, because they each say that the
> other one has to change their practices.
>
> Wayne
>
>
> < >  < >  < >  < >  < > < >  < >  < >
> Wayne Nelson - ICA Associates Inc.
> 655 Queen Street East – Toronto, Ontario M4M 1G4
> 416-691-2316 - http://ica-associates.ca - wnelson at ica-associates.ca
>
>
>
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