I have done a small amount of study in to how this totally obnoxious
practice works.  First of all, it is almost impossible to stop but
we should keep trying or the lifetime opportunists will win.

        Most of what we are getting today comes from people who have
either figured out or paid somebody else to write programs that trick SMTP
mail agents in to handling Email with fake return addresses.  It's not hard
at all to do this and after the fake has passed through one legitimate mailer,
it is on its way.

        There are enough unscrupulous "business" people who see the money
to be made in the black side of the telecommunications industry that it is
not hard to find a shady network provider who will sell you mail services
you can use for Spam.  One hand washes the other.

        When you get Spam, be careful who you flame.  I recently chatted with
a couple of very nice and contrite people in Canada who had bought what
they thought was targeted advertising on the Internet.  They didn't know
the first thing about computers and were mystified as to why everybody was
so furious when calling their toll-free number.  I felt sorry for them and
explained about how the spammers troll Usenet news groups and subscribe to
Email lists in order to get addresses.  They were amazed and very apologetic.
They had paid good money to some place called EmailUSA only to be victomised,
themselves by all the wrath and no business.

        There is probably somebody on this list who wouldn't know a PIC
if they stepped on one in their bare feet (_WISH, HOPE_) who has never read
a single message, but who knows a weakness in the mailer software or can
forge a header to get messages in to the list without revealing their own
identity.  This is basically what we are up against.  If you want to make
a joke or gripe about the Spam, keep in mind that the creeps who put it there
won't see your response.  They may have a robot running to strip your name
from the message, however, so you can be notified of the next opportunity
to make millions of Dollars at home when it comes around.  Look at all the
headers in the message.  You will see your address is on the first line and
previous addresses are on subsequent lines as you move toward the body.
The last address you see is probably junk and the one above that may be
some poor network provider whose mailer got sucked in to relaying the trash.
It may also be somebody who is a bad guy and deserves 10 gigs of gif's in
his mailbox.  The point is to be careful and don't jump to conclusions.
The spam business is ripe with forgery and deception and the folks like the
mutants at places like Cyber Promotions and similar bulk Emailers love
nothing better than to make it look like somebody else did it.

        My advice if you want to cause trouble for spammers is to go slowly,
know your facts, and be nice to whomever you complain to because they may
be just as much or more of a victim than you are, more like an innocent
bystander.

Martin McCormick