more on query re new spam law

[Dave Farber <dave () farber net>]

-----Original Message-----
From: Rich Kulawiec <rsk () gsp org>
Date: Sun, 04 Jan 2004 09:18:15 
To:Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Re: [IP] query re new spam law

On Sun, Jan 04, 2004 at 09:14:56AM -0400, Dave Farber wrote:
> What is to stop a spammer from (after I tell him to remove me) from then selling my name to other spammers as a live 
> target?

Absolutely nothing.  In fact, if you respond to a spammer in any way,
shape or form, it's a guarantee that this is exactly what will
happen, which is why we [well, some of us] have been telling people that
they should NEVER respond to spam no matter how angry they are or how
sincere the promise-to-remove sounds.

One unfortunate side-effect of this is use of 'vacation' auto-responders
almost guarantees it will happen, since they not only respond, but do so
automatically.

However, a more insidious side-effect of this is that many people 'respond'
to spammers without even realizing they're doing so.  This happens because
some people have, unfortunately, chosen to use HTML-cognizant mail clients.
So as soon a they read the spammer's message, they trigger an embedded,
individualized web bug which tells the spammer (variously):

        - that the message was read
        - what address that copy of the message was sent to
        - what the IP address it's being read on is
        - what the mail client being used to read it is
        - what the operating system is
        - etc.

All of which is highly useful information -- to the spammer.

This is one reason why we [again, some of us] have been telling
people that they should not use HTML in mail and should never
use HTML-cognizant clients.

---Rsk


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