Re: [cobalt-users] Spam From Cobalt

["JFL" <jflittle@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

What is spam?
Spam is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an
attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to
receive it. Most spam is commercial advertising, often for dubious products,
get-rich-quick schemes, or quasi-legal services. Spam costs the sender very
little to send -- most of the costs are paid for by the recipient or the
carriers rather than by the sender.

There are two main types of spam, and they have different effects on
Internet users. Cancellable Usenet spam is a single message sent to 20 or
more Usenet newsgroups. (Through long experience, Usenet users have found
that any message posted to so many newsgroups is often not relevant to most
or all of them.) Usenet spam is aimed at "lurkers", people who read
newsgroups but rarely or never post and give their address away. Usenet spam
robs users of the utility of the newsgroups by overwhelming them with a
barrage of advertising or other irrelevant posts. Furthermore, Usenet spam
subverts the ability of system administrators and owners to manage the
topics they accept on their systems.

Email spam targets individual users with direct mail messages. Email spam
lists are often created by scanning Usenet postings, stealing Internet
mailing lists, or searching the Web for addresses. Email spams typically
cost users money out-of-pocket to receive. Many people - anyone with
measured phone service - read or receive their mail while the meter is
running, so to speak. Spam costs them additional money. On top of that, it
costs money for ISPs and online services to transmit spam, and these costs
are transmitted directly to subscribers.

One particularly nasty variant of email spam is sending spam to mailing
lists (public or private email discussion forums.) Because many mailing
lists limit activity to their subscribers, spammers will use automated tools
to subscribe to as many mailing lists as possible, so that they can grab the
lists of addresses, or use the mailing list as a direct target for their
attacks.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rodolfo J. Paiz (E-mail)" <rpaiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <cobalt-users@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, December 14, 2000 6:46 PM
Subject: RE: [cobalt-users] Spam From Cobalt


> > This is not SPAM by definition.. I do not see where any headers were
> > forged, or any unauthorized servers were used to relay this message..
> > there is nothing in the headers to indicate this as SPAM.
>
> *My* definition of spam is any unsolicited and unauthorized commercial
> email. If I didn't ask for it, or didn't give the company permission to
send
> it, it's spam.
>
> That said, I do want to know what companies I deal with are up to and what
> new and useful stuff they can offer me. To that end, I allow any company
> with which I do business to send me all the garbage they want to AS LONG
AS
> THEY ASK FOR PERMISSION PREVIOUSLY. The amount and quality of email
content
> they send me is then another variable in deciding how much future business
> to do with them.
>
> However, anyone who spams me (see definition above) instantly makes it far
> less likely that I'll buy from them, now or ever. No forging of headers is
> necessary to qualify as a spammer. They didn't ask me if I wanted to hear
> from them... that's enough.
>
> --
> Rodolfo J. Paiz
> rpaiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:rpaiz@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
>
>
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