How to Complain About Spam, or, Put a Spammer in the Slammer

Phil Agre
http://communication.ucsd.edu/pagre/

Feel free to post where appropriate until March 31st, 1998.

(1) Introduction

Unsolicited bulk e-mail, commonly called "spam", has lately become an extraordinary nuisance. Spam as such is not illegal (yet). The contents of some actual spam messages, however, may violate a state or federal law. Other spam messages may violate the spammer's contract with his or her Internet Service Provider, or else cause enough harm to a third party to warrant a civil lawsuit. No legal action will be taken against a spammer, however, unless someone reports the problem.

This article does not provide legal advice, nor does it make legal allegations against any particular spammer or any particular class of spam messages. It does, however, provide instructions for reporting those messages that, in your judgement, deserve further investigation by appropriate authorities. Reporting spam does take some effort at first, but once you get a little practice, it can easily become a regular part of reading e-mail. Let me emphasize: even though this article provides a whole menu of methods for complaining about spam, you'll be doing a tremendous public service if you simply pick ONE of these methods and do it on a regular basis. Pick the one that you find most convenient, or that gives you the most delicious feeling of revenge. There's no need to get overwhelmed or burned out. Follow the instructions a few times, just to see how it feels. Maybe try something else and see how *it* feels. Then slowly work your favorite spam-reporting measures into your daily and weekly routine.

The contact information that I provide here is incomplete, and at present includes only the United States. Those with contact information for other jurisdictions are encouraged to send it along for inclusion in future editions. This article only contains information for those wishing to complain about spam; those seeking deeper explanations of the problem, or who are curious about other topics, will find URLs for several encyclopedic Web sites toward the end of this article. Most of the information in this article, particularly on technical topics, has previously been described in other forms by these existing sites.

(2) Fraud and related consumer issues

Many spam messages make offers that seem too good to be true -- for example money-making pyramid schemes, impossibly lucrative work-at-home deals, suspiciously low prices, disingenuously described goods, questionable medical cures, free cable TV schemes, and so forth. These messages might be fraudulent, or they might not. You needn't judge for yourself which messages are legal. If you find a message suspicious then you have a right, and perhaps even a moral duty to others less sophisticated than yourself, to report the possible fraud or misrepresentation to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). The FTC doesn't settle particular disputes, but it is interested in patterns, and a massive, potentially fraudulent spam is nothing if not a pattern. Although the FTC has so far shown little inclination to do anything about potentially fraudulent spam offers, nonetheless it's their job and we should encourage them to do it. For their progress on related issues see:

http://www.ftc.gov/opa/9711/hlthsurf.htm http://www.ftc.gov/opa/9711/cdi.htm

To report a suspicious spam message, simply print the message out, add a cover letter that expresses your concerns, and mail it to:

Federal Trade Commission
6th Street and Pennsylvania Ave NW
Washington, DC 20580

Your cover letter can be very simple indeed. There's no need to quote chapter and verse of the law. You might simply say:

I received the enclosed message over the Internet today, presumably as part of a much larger "spam". I am concerned that it might be fraudulent, and I want to ask you to investigate it. Thank you.

I encourage you to report potentially fraudulent spam messages to law enforcement authorities using paper mail, because Internet messages seem to carry less weight in Washington. You can, however, make a report to the FTC over the Internet using the "scamspam" page:

http://www.junkemail.org/scamspam/

The FTC supposedly accepts electronic mail complaints about spam at uce@ftc.gov. I would be interested to hear of any evidence that they take complaints to that address seriously. (UCE means unsolicited commercial email, which is supposedly the polite way of saying spam.)

The British equivalent of the FTC is the Trading Standards Officer:

http://www.xodesign.co.uk/tsnet/pages/lalist.htm

One way to raise awareness of these issues is to seek media coverage. In the United States anyway, many regional television stations have excellent consumer affairs reporting. These folks are always looking for good story ideas, and potentially fraudulent junk mail on the Internet makes a clear story that's easy to explain. Pick up the phone and call a local station that produces a nightly news program. Ask for the name of the editor who handles consumer affairs and the mailing address of the station. Write that person a letter concisely explaining the problem. Draw on your own experience and use language that their viewers will understand.

A good consumer affairs story will ideally have a local angle -- for example, someone in the community who got burned by a fraudulent offer that they received over the Internet, or a questionable spammer who lists a mailing address in the area -- or a news hook -- for example, a recent news article about somebody being indicted for a consumer-related crime that involves the Internet. Even if those elements are missing, potentially fraudulent spam messages can still make a good story if you explain the following points:

Spam is an urgent, day-to-day issue in the lives of ordinary people who use the Internet. Most users receive at least a few messages every day, and many users receive dozens.
Spam is the Internet equivalent of junk mail, but much worse. Paper junk mail costs about 50 cents per item to send; electronic junk mail, on the other hand, is thousands of times cheaper, so that a spammer has virtually no incentive to target an audience.
Internet users must frequently pay to download each message they receive, whether they solicited the message or not. Paper junk mailers pay almost all of the social cost of their activities, but spammers create significant costs for Internet Service Providers and message recipients.
Junk mail on paper, furthermore, is strictly regulated by postal inspectors and strong mail fraud laws, whereas spam has been almost unregulated. One part of the problem is inadequate laws; another part is lack of understanding of the medium by regulators and law enforcement people.
Reputable businesses realize that spam violates the cultural norms of the Internet. As a result, the contents of spam messages are often offensive, such as get-rich-quick schemes and advertisements for pornography.
Internet users can defend themselves against spam to some degree if they really work at it. The ultimate solution, though, will be some combination of technical improvements and appropriate legislation. Bad legislation can interact in unexpected ways with the rapidly evolving Internet, but one solid principle is "opt-in": advertisers can easily use the Internet to provide consumers with opportunities to solicit advertising on topics that interest them, so they should be required to get permission from consumers before sending them any advertising.

Enclose some examples of spam from your own printer, and any news clippings on the subject that you might have (USA Today and the New York Times have covered the issue, or use the Spam Media Tracker -- see below) and perhaps a copy of this article. Some people make a habit of printing out spam messages that they find particularly offensive, just to have them ready for such purposes. The key, however, is your letter.

If you want to follow up with a phone call, wait about three days and then call in the morning, when deadlines are less urgent. Never try to talk to an editor or reporter on the phone without first asking if they are on deadline. Then simply ask if they've received the letter and whether they'd like to follow up. Be polite, don't pressure anyone, and be ready to accept a "no" gracefully.

(3) Issues relating to paper mail

Schemes that employ the US mail may interest postal inspectors. If you find a spam message suspicious, and the message invites replies at a US mail address, you might send a copy of the message to the relevant postmaster. Again, simply print the message out, add a simple cover letter expressing your concerns, and mail it to:

Postmaster
Anytown, XX 12345

where, obviously, you should replace "Anytown, XX 12345" with the real city, state, and zip code that was mentioned in the address.

You must use postage when sending a letter to a postmaster (or, for that matter, to the FTC or the other law enforcement agencies). In the United States, one first-class stamp pays for an envelope and about four sheets of paper. After that, put another stamp on it to make sure. Reporting spam, in other words, does cost a little money. If this bothers you, simply restrict yourself to reporting the most offensive messages, or the ones that seem the most obviously illegal.

(4) Complaining to the police

Messages that seem potentially illegal can also be reported to the FBI, to the attorney general of any state that the message claims as its origin, and to the local police. In each case, once again, simply print out the message and include a brief cover letter expressing your concerns.

To find the address of the nearest FBI field office, consult the following web page:

http://www.fbi.gov/fo/fo.htm

The attorney general of your state is your friend, and will be happy to investigate potentially illegal spammers if newspaper headlines can be generated by doing so. Here, just to give the idea, are a few of their addresses:

Attorney General Scott Harshbarger
One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108-1698
(617) 727-2200
http://www.state.ma.us/ag/ago.htm

Frank J. Kelley
Attorney General
Law Building
PO Box 30212
Lansing, MI 48909
(517) 373-1110

Hon. Drew Edmondson, Attorney General
112 State Capitol Bldg.
Oklahoma City, OK 73105
(405) 521-3921

Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office
16th Floor, Strawberry Square
Harrisburg, PA 17120
(717) 787-3391
info@attorneygeneral.gov
http://www.attorneygeneral.gov

Office of the Texas Attorney General
PO Box 12548
Austin, TX 78711-2548
(512) 463-2100

Office of the Virginia Attorney General
900 East Main Street
Richmond, VA 23219
(804) 786-2071
mail@oag.state.va.us
http://www.state.va.us/~oag/main.htm

The National Association of Attorneys General is on the Web at:

http://www3.issinet.com/naag/

The attorney generals' contact information, courtesy of various sources:

http://www.tobacco.org/Misc/ags.html
http://www.fraud.org/info/links.htm
http://www.counselconnect.com/agtierney/list.html
http://members.aol.com/reinbeaux/pass/stateag.htm

Many state attorneys general have offices to protect consumers. For example, the Washington State attorn