What is the governing Internet body that handles SPAM-related
complaints and issues?  I'd like to complain about SPAM policies.  For
instance, I get a particular unsolicited junk-email regularly, and the
only way to unsubscribe is to call the number listed.  Why should I be
so inconvenienced just to get out of something I never signed up for?

esarkissian, No one likes SPAM....

There are a few things you can do to reduce the amount of SPAM you
get.
1) Set filters....if you use a web-based e-mail service, like Hotmail
or Yahoo...use the "Options" tab to set your junk mail filter to HIGH.
On Outlook Express, go to Tools--> Accounts--> Properties--> and under
the General tab, you will find "Reply Address" You CAN enter a phony
address here, which will make it hard, if not impossible for a human
spammer to find you. An software spammer can still find you however.
The drawback of this is people you WANT to answer will have the phoney
address. You could advice close people not to answer you by hitting
"REPLY". Example: suppose your e-mail address is
hatespam@nomorespam.com   You can make your "reply" address
hatespam@nospam.com

2) From Tools(Again, in Outlook Express) go to Message Rules. You can
read the box and set up effective barriers. Also you can go to
Tools-->Blocked sender list.

3) Never reply to a SPAM...this confirms to the sender that yo have an
active account.

When I had a spate of mail bombs, (One every 5 minutes for a week), my
ISP was innefective in helping me.(Ineffective is mild). I finally
drilled down and found the sender's ISP and wrote them. Within hours
of writing to the ISP of the Spammer my mail bombs stopped!!!! In
Outlook Express,right click on an e-mail in the upper left pane and
click onto Properties, then Details to see the real address.

Remember, all of the above is meant to lessen the amount.....I don't
think we can always be free of SPAM. It is a true annoyance. We can
cut down on the frequency and amount however. There is no ONE central
authority on SPAM stoppage, but usually your ISP will help you. Start
with your ISP, and then the offending SPAMMER's ISP.Many ISP's have
policies against SPAM and may boot the offender right off.I believe in
reporting these groups as often as possible to some of the sites I
have at the end of this answer.

Some sites like     http://www.cnet.com    
  or                http://www.pcworld.com    have shareware to help
eliminate SPAM as well as those even more annoying pop-up and
pop-under ads.

Finally, try these sites for reporting SPAM:
http://spam.abuse.net/

http://anti-spam.outblaze.com/

This is a list of sites than have advice!
http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Internet/Abuse/Spam/Organizations/

Good luck!!!

---

Request for Answer Clarification by esarkissian-ga on 10 Jul 2002 12:46 PDT

crabcakes,

you mentioned not replying to SPAM.  Does that include unsubscribing
and/or going to their website to unsubscribe?  Do you suggest to
ignore it completely?

I guess I'm looking to attack this at the source, by legislation and
complaints and such, rather than defensively with filters, etc.  I
guess my real question is this- what is the government agency that
handles this stuff?  Who makes the laws regarding it?  Who is this
regulated by?

Each SPAM by itself seems harmless enough- a little bit of advertising
with a blurb at the end about how you can unsubscribe.  Unfortunately,
when you unsubscribe you're only doing so from that ONE "marketer"-
the Mothership is still selling your info to a billion other marketers
that you have to unsubscribe to individually.  At the LEAST, marketers
should be required by law to inform you of where they found you so you
can unsubscribe from the source.

Ed

---

Clarification of Answer by crabcakes-ga on 10 Jul 2002 21:00 PDT

esarkissian, 
As I mentioned before, there is no single official government agency
that regulates the internet, e-mail, and subsequently, SPAM. Following
the steps in my first answer is  your first, and best line of defense.
I did find a few extra sites with some additional information.The
following site has several suggestions as to whom to contact.
Moreover, this site brings up an excellent point.....that being, if we
involve the government in regulating SPAM, we may get more regulation
than we wanted. This site has several e-mail links to government
offices who may help (the website link to the Senator's Offices is
broken tonight...all the others are active at this time.)This site's
"Do's and Don'ts" reiterate the steps I outlined in the first answer,
particularly the one about NOT responding to SPAM, and writing to the
Internet Service Provider of the offender. Most ISP's addresses for
reporting SPAM and/or other abuse, is in this format:
abuse@spamnet.com , substituting the domain name of the offender. For
example, if you find the SPAM is originating from a hypothetical
@rinkydinky.com address, you would send an e-mail to
abuse@rinkydinky.com . You can verify this by going to the ISP's home
page, and using their search box, enter SPAM and see if their e-mail
address for reporting SPAM is given.
          http://www.arachnoid.com/lutusp/antispam.html#overview_rules


Another site that echoes the previous site, but has an ACTIVE link to
e-mail senators is
           http://www.fix.net/supt_spam.php


For $15 a year, you can sign up for this e-mail service that will
filter your e-mail from SPAM. This service sends a message to the
sender of any e-mail that they are not familiar with(ie, does not
match senders you have approved, and bulk mailers), such as bulk mail.
The sender then has a set period of time to respond with appropriate
credentials, proving they are not sending SPAM. IF the sender does not
respond in the appropriate time, their mail goes to an "unverified"
mailbox on your account, for 14 days. It is web-based e-mail, but is
POP3 enabled, allowing your other(SMTP-such as Outlook Express) e-mail
accounts to go through their service.
                  http://www.chooseyourmail.com/
 
For an interesting read about New York Attorney General Eliot
Spitzer,who is suing an ISP for originating volumes of junk mail/SPAM,
check the  press release, dated May 28, 2002:
                   http://www.oag.state.ny.us/press/2002/may/may28a_02.html

Hopefully, this will clarify things for you. If not, please ask for
more information! crabcakes-ga

I haven't tried the suggestions yet, but as far as response-time and
amount of information.....excellent!

SpamCop
http://www.spamcop.net

Best.  Spamfighter.  Ever.

spamcop.net is definitely the best anti-spam tool. However, some ISPs
have chosen to block e-mails from spamcop due to high volume. This is
indicated though. In such cases, you should report it to the ISP
yourself (in most cases, abuse@ISP).

McAffee also recently released a product called McAffee Spamkiller. I
own it and it works great.

http://www.mcafee.com