I've gotten this same message now from four different AOL users today. Just wondering if anyone knows if this is just a group of people working together to fight spam, or if AOL is doing this, sending e-mail from their users without them knowing, or ... ??? ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Sun, 16 Aug 1998 09:43:40 EDT From: *** FROM DELETED *** To: postmaster@nodomainname.com, *** OTHER ADDRESSESS REMOVED *** Subject: Polite Request Dear Sirs I have received Unsolicited Bulk E-Mail (UBE) apparently from yourselves or from one of your direct or indirect customers. I don't like it and would ask for your cooperation to put a stop to it. Most of the UBE I receive looks dishonest to me. I am sure your company isn't like that but you would do well to avoid using or permitting the same methods as these "spammers" lest you be tarred with the same brush. Also, you may be aware that a growing number of ISPs are taking to blocking incoming mail from "spam" domains. I don't want that to happen because I might lose legitimate mail and you might be inconvenienced. --snip-- The original message then followed, and it turns out that I am getting the mail because the spammer is trying to fake their host name, but it is simple to look and see their real IP address and reverse DNS, so, no, noone is spamming from my domain. I guess nodomainname.com is a popular domain name if you have no domain name. But that's beside the point. +-----------------------------+--------------------------------+ | Jakob 'sparky' Kaivo | jake@nodomainname.net | | NoDomainName Networks | http://www.nodomainname.net | +-----------------------------+--------------------------------+
I've gotten this same message now from four different AOL users today. Just wondering if anyone knows if this is just a group of people working together to fight spam, or if AOL is doing this, sending e-mail from their users without them knowing, or ... ???
That looks like the less than fabulous "spam hater" program in action. It writes complaint mail automatically, and is very easily confused by forged headers. I get enough screwed up spam hater mail at abuse.net that I got the guy who wrote the program to default the complaints to a special subdomain of abuse.net just for spam hater users so I can tell them using simple direct language why they're hosed. Not much to do about it other than to send them a boilerplate message encouraging them to learn how to recognize forged headers and to join CAUCE. Regards, John Levine, johnl@iecc.com, Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies", Information Superhighwayman wanna-be, http://iecc.com/johnl, Sewer Commissioner Finger for PGP key, f'print = 3A 5B D0 3F D9 A0 6A A4 2D AC 1E 9E A6 36 A3 47
On Mon, Aug 17, 1998 at 11:18:06AM -0700, Jakob 'sparky' Kaivo wrote:
I've gotten this same message now from four different AOL users today. Just wondering if anyone knows if this is just a group of people working together to fight spam, or if AOL is doing this, sending e-mail from their users without them knowing, or ... ???
The original message then followed, and it turns out that I am getting the mail because the spammer is trying to fake their host name, but it is simple to look and see their real IP address and reverse DNS, so, no, noone is spamming from my domain. I guess nodomainname.com is a popular domain name if you have no domain name. But that's beside the point.
No, it's not. Spammers naturally want to hide their identity because a lot of people dislike spam and a lot of ISP's nuke spamming accounts. 'nodomainname' doesn't sound to *me* like a domain name that's likely to be used, and I'd bet the spammers might agree with me... which is why they may be using it.. Basically, check your mail headers and complain to the ISP where the stuff is originating from. Since they are forging your company's domain name, if this is costing you a sufficient amount (in terms of time spent dealing with complaints, load on your mail server, etc.) you may want to consider suing. -- Steve Sobol, Cartel Member #1489 (tinc) Quote of the year: "If Bill [Gates] were tan, buffed and weighed 240 pounds, I bet people would dig IS." - Michael Cohn, COMPUTERWORLD Magazine, 8/3/98.
participants (3)
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Jakob 'sparky' Kaivo -
johnl＠iecc.com -
Steven J. Sobol