> However, an increasing amount of the spam _I_ am receiving is 'personalized'
> spam - the equivalent of the Ed Macmahon "Larry Virden, you may have won..."
> letters. They come in with one email recipent, with my name in the body
> of the msg. Sigh.
What's in the To: line is not relevant. Personal mailer software
typically sends the message to the place named in the To: line,
but you see plenty of exceptions. Mailing list messages often
say "To: Multiple Recipients" etc. I get a good amount of spam
that has no To: line. And I've received To:-less personal mail,
apparently via broken mailers.
We may need a definition of substantial similarity. Or maybe not.
Perhaps "bulk" should simply apply to a single sender in a
limited period of time regardless of content. That has the
advantage of keeping the definition content-free. Um, that is,
without reference to content.
Then we have to define "sender" ...
Oh, I love the spammers who are searching for key words in
postings. Like the one that said "I saw your recent posting
about monitors, here's a great deal" ... apparently in response
to the diabetes FAQ, which discusses blood glucose monitoring
and has the word "monitoring" in the subject line of one
section.
> What if the law simply stated that all email MUST include an email
> address which belongs to the sender? That at least would enable
> folk to ensure there is a site easily identified to which complaints
> can go.
Better, that the headers must accurately identify all service
agents handling the message. That separates the question of the
origin of the message from questions about multiple email
addresses and underlying technical aspects. There still remains
the difficulty of connecting the technical sender to an actual
person -- establishing responsibility.
I suppose this thread has wandered far from FAQ maintainence, and
I'll try to restrain myself from further responses -- though not
retroactively to this one. The important point is that we have
fairly widespread agreement that the problem is "unsolicited
bulk email" -- I certainly did not originate the phrase.
Edward Reid
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