Don't Get Mad, Get Even

Okay, unless you are a complete hermit on the web, you are getting spam (I'll bet you are getting it even if you are a complete hermit). If you are anywhere near as active as I am, you are getting a dozen or more spam emails a day. I know of some people who get hundreds of them every single day.

There are few subjects which will produce as heated a discussion as spam. Unfortunately, the answer usually seems to boil down to "just delete it". That seems simple enough, but it does not have anywhere near the satisfaction as a photon torpedo or a high explosive round from a field artillery piece! 

A couple of weeks ago someone sent me an email and mentioned a place called "Spamcop". I investigated and guess what? Here is your photon torpedo! Better yet, this torpedo is precisely guided and very inexpensive.

Here's what you do. Go to the site http://spamcop.net and read the information about the service. You can try out a free version, although the paid version is much better.

Okay, I quickly decided I liked this service and paid the $12.50 for a full year (actually it's 25 megabytes worth) of spam. Now what happens?

First, I get a cool email address. In my case I reserved internettips@spamcop.net, but you can make up your own. You place this email address on your web pages, in your guestbook postings and anywhere else you want (but not your opt-in mailing lists and ezine subscriptions). You generally want to put it in places where spammers might get it.

What happens when email is sent to this address? You can set it up to send a confirmation email to the sender (unless they have been previously approved). The sender must click the link in the confirmation email to cause the message to be forwarded to you. You also have the option to review held messages and approve, delete or forwarded as you desire, (with or without sending back the confirmation email).

That's very cool and cuts way back on the spam in the future. It basically solves the problem of needing to leave your email address in places where spammers might get them. But this is not the torpedo!! This is the shields.

Spamcop gives you another tool - the ability to hit back at the spammers where it hurts. Spamcop has an excellent screen which allows you to file reports with EVERYONE about this spammer. His ISP, his host, his email host, even affiliate programs and pay-to-surf programs. Anything referenced in the spam email is fair game.

Note, however, that is it quite common for spammers to reference programs which are intended to make the spam appear legitimate but actually have nothing to do witht them. Spamcop is so smart that it even knows when this is happening. In this case, Spamcop recommends NOT sending spam reports to those groups. It only recommends spam reports be sent to those groups which it believes need to be notified.

As you can see, Spamcop is smart. It even decodes strange addresses automatically for you. It figures out when the spammer is throwing out red herrings to fool you, and it even knows when the spammer is using some poor innocent person's information so you don't harm someone who doesn't deserve it.

So now I love getting spam. I just laugh gleefully. Open the message, copy the header (a simple command in Outlook and Outlook Express), paste it to Spamcop, copy the message, paste it below the header in Spamcop's window, press the submit key, review the information, grin, fire the guided missile! 

Better still, any reports from the ISP or host regarding the outcome of the report are sent back to your spamcop mailbox. You even get to see the results of your efforts!

I've had an account for a couple of weeks now and I know that I've closed half a dozen spammer accounts. That's vindication.

One last point that is very important: spamcop does not shut down spammers directly. What it does is allow you to send spam reports to the appropriate people. These people then weigh the evidence and determine if this is indeed a spammer. What the service does is make this reporting much easier than it would otherwise be.

Now, this tool is slightly advanced - just make sure you read the instructions and understand what you are doing before you send out your atomic blasts (don't want to flatten an innocent city, do you? well?) It does take a little work to copy the email header and message into the spamcop box, but once you've done it a few times it comes as second nature. And it feels so good to hit these idiots back for a change.

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