Spam Fighter's Toolkit

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Fighting the never ending tide of spam mail can turninto a very ...
... if you don't knowthe real tricks of the trade.
After all, there's awhole lot more to it than simply ... to Fighting the never ending tide of spam mail can turninto a very frustrating experience if you don't knowthe real tricks of the trade.
After all, there's awhole lot more to it than simply responding to a(usually bogus) From: address with a peevish complaint!Here's a fairly extensive overview of resources thatwill aid you in effectively combatting unsolicitedemail, showing you the possibilities (and, alas, thelimits!) of your endeavor.General resources-----------------The Spamhaus Project features a database tracks knownSpam Gangs, Spam Support Services and the providers whokeep organized spamming alive by knowingly hostingstealth spamming services on their networks. Anextensive set of databases allows for tracking ofestablished spam outfits, including statistics, etc.Look up this list of established spambots:Resources for header reading are listed at theForum for Responsible and Ethical E-mail (some brokenlinks, though):Some spambot harrassment programs are listed here:Spam.abuse.net calls for spam boycots and offers lotsof information an spam prevention legislation, and more.Read their useful guide titled "How To Complain ToThe Spammer's Provider" at:Mail forwarding services------------------------Protect your mail box with disposable email addressesby signing up with Sneakemail: this service forwardseverything to your regular box without disclosing yourreal address.
If you find your Sneakemail address isbeing abused, you can simply delete it. Plus, it willhelp you track down businesses that flog your addressto third party marketers.
Neat.Free email forwarding claiming to sport the net's bestanti-spam filters can be found at Despammed.com.Basically, it works as a remote spam filter. (That'swhy they term themselves a "mail filtration service".)Spamex takes a similar approach, offering disposableemail addresses as a measure to counter spam.
Itdoesn't bother with sophisticated spam filters, though -the minute your Spamex address receives spam, simplynuke it and get a new one. You can also fit their login box link into your web browser's links bar forfacilitated access.
Their slogan is noteworthy, too:"Because Sending You Email is a Privilege Not a Right!"One of the best known anti-spam forwarders is Spammotel(what a name!) which also offers a pretty sophisticated,award winning plug-in for your email client, allowing youto keep track of whom you have given which email addressof yours. This, of course, makes it dead easy to test websites' privacy policy.Moreover, it makes for a great tool to help you organizethe e-mail you actually do want to receive.(Windows only.)Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC offers a commercialspam protection forwarding service at:Spam filters------------Webmasters running their own mail server may beinterested in The MAPS Relay Spam Stopper, a queryableDNS-based database of spam-relaying mail servers.You can configure your server to utilize their listif you want to refuse mail from these types of servers.The same site offers the Realtime Blackhole List (RBL).This is a system for creating intentional network outages("blackholes") for the purpose of limiting the transportof known-to-be-unwanted mass e-mail.
The RBL is asubscription-only system, working in such a manner thatno one is denied connectivity to a non-RBLSM-subscriber.Reporting spam--------------This spam complaint primer spells it all out as it isand offers a sample complaint covering every importantaspect of reporting spam to get spammers' accounts andweb sites terminated.The all-time classic to report spam to is thenot-for-profit Mail Abuse Prevention System LLC.The Network Abuse Clearinghouse is a complaintservice that will forward your spam complaints to theculprits flooding your mail box.The MMF Hall of Humiliation takes the approach ofridicule to combat spammers. Lots of parodies andspoofs of obnoxious unsolicited commercial emails,and more.
Still, it has a very serious background,informing in detail about fraud indictments andoffering rudimentary legal analysis of spam scams.This site offers monthly case studies of reportingspam and lists successes. You'll see that while it'squite an uphill battle, it can be done.Reporting Tools---------------Some abuse reporting tools are listed here:As for anything on the net, there's a fitting mailinglist available for people interested in software toolsthat detect and process unsolicited bulk e-mail:Proactive Strategies--------------------UXN Spam Combat offers a nice one-page form aggregatingall the tools you need to solve the spam problem,ranging from NSlookup and Trace Routing to Pings,decoding of obfuscated web URLs, etc.
Very useful.Uni-encoding the email addresses displayed on yourweb site is still a very efficient method of thwaringemail address harvesters or extractor bots:This page offers you tools to "poison" the spambotswith by feeding them tons of invalid email addresses.While this admittedly places some strain on bandwidthand system resources, it's also pretty easy to crasha spammer's system this way - ah, sweet revenge!Many spammers are now offering their pathetic waresnot via the internet but offline, preferably usingtoll free numbers. This article outlines a strategyon where and how to hit them hard - in their pockets!Probably the most effective method of prevention isblocking spammers and their harvester bots from yourweb site altogether.
This tip expounds the strategyto pursue.The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email(CAUCE) is an international organization promotinganti-spam legislation.They also publish "True Tales of Spam" here, whereyou may see your own story featured some day if youwish tp submit it:Fighting spam with procmail under Unix is discussedin detail here:The Mega Zine SpamScript software generates tons ofbogus email addresses on the fly to feed (and crash!)spambot systems with.For people who can't run CGI on their systems, here's aremotely hosted version of the spam script:Tips on how to lure in spambots to special, "poisoned"sections of your site while keeping away innocent visitorscan be found here:Articles--------Steven Champeon, Save Your Site from Spambots.Techniques to Prevent Address ScrapingSpambot Fighting site:Humor-----As a comic aside, spam haikus (some more, some lesswitty) are featured by the chockfull here:Finally, yours truly's "Spam Sonnet" is offered asan educative example of what spam can inflict on thesensitive artistic mind ... Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .