Re: FAQ maintainers addresses used for SPAM?

From: Andrew D. Taylor (adt@renc.igs.net)
Date: Sun Jan 16 2000 - 15:20:33 CST


Previously, Charles MacDonald <cmacd@achilles.net> said

> I received an e-mail that indicates that someone may be using my FAQ
> posting address to originate a spam...

[snip]

> Has anyone else seen their address abused this way.. Needles to say I am
> steamed!

I've seen evidence on two occations that my e-mail address was used by
others in communications that did not involve me at all.

The first instance someone posted something to soc.culture.indonisia using
my address. I traced this down to an ISP in Jakarta (capital of Indonisia).
I initially hesitated about reporting this to the ISP because the post was
not in English so I had no idea what it was saying and I am unfamiliar with
the severity of Indonisian law. I reported the forgery to the ISP with a
copy of the post. I also posted a follow up to the forgery stating that it
was a forgery, pointing out that e-mail addresses that end in .ca are
Canadian, and that the forged post originated in Jakarta.

I found out about the forgery in the first place through someone flaming me
through an e-mail reply.
About a week or two after sending the complaint to the ISP, I received an
appology from the guy who forged my e-mail address. He said something about
finding my e-mail address on the net and putting it in his "Netscape" and
then forgetting to take it out.

The second instance was what appeared to be someone posting to a mailing
list using my e-mail address. I found out about this because some of the
mail bounced and I got the bounces from the Mail-Daemon. It then appeared
as if I was subscribed to this list and that the messages were little more
than spam. I sent an unsubscribe and have not heard anything more.

> Charles MacDonald Stittsville Ontario
> ...Just beyond the fringe

Andrew Taylor, Renfrew Ontario.
FAQs posted using: af883@freenet.carleton.ca

--
Andrew D. Taylor  adt@renc.igs.net
http://www.renc.igs.net/~adt/

The greatest possession you have it the 24 hours right in front of you.



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