forwarding spam to spam[at]uce.gov ?

[Tromso]

spam[at]uce.gov is the email address that spam can be forwarded to add to the FTC database of spam they use to help prosecute spammers.

I've been manually forwarding my spam to this email address, but recently my ISP filtering seems to be blocking me as it thinks I am sending spam when I do this. I'm using Wanadoo in the UK and notice this when I forwarded more than 5 spam emails at a time.

I wondered whether we can add spam[at]uce.gov as an email address our spamcop reporting could forward the spam email to. This could be an option in the preferences settings ? It obviously needs to be done in a way that does not confuse email header info for the FTC.

From a quick read of forum meassages it seems that Spamcop might have automatically forwarded the spam to the FTC in the past, but due to the volume, the FTC requested Spamcop stop reporting. The FTC did have to change the spam reporting address as it used to be mixed with the governements normal email, causing problems. So perhaps now that the email address is spam[at]uce.gov the FTC might be more recepetive to spam forwarding from Spamcop.

So maybe Spamcop could ask the FTC if they can start automatically forwarding their user reported spam again ?

If the FTC claims that spam is on the decrease next year, I'm going to be suspecting that it is largely due to ISPs filtering out the spam being reported to the FTC !

[Miss Betsy]

<snip> I wondered whether we can add spam[at]uce.gov as an email address our spamcop reporting could forward the spam email to. This could be an option in the preferences settings ? It obviously needs to be done in a way that does not confuse email header info for the FTC. <snip>

38024[/snapback]

I think most people use the User Notification Preferences

From the FAQ: The Reporter types or pastes in up to four email addresses that should be sent User Notification Report(s). <snip> User Notification Reports are not available to Free Reporters.

Depending on how your email application works, you can also copy the FTC when you submit (or create a group of your submit address and the FTC) .

There's always a workaround

Miss Betsy

Edit: Jeff G. fixed the quoting.

[Tromso]

I think most people use the User Notification Preferences

38026[/snapback]

Thanks for the suggestion.

I'm using the metered (paid by the byte) reporting service, not receiving email via spamcop email accounts. In the preferences there is a "Public standard report recipients" option for adding an email address to copy spam to. So maybe this is the equivalent of "User Notification Preferences" that I can use to copy spam to spam[at]uce.gov ? I wondered about this but was not sure whether I should use this or not if it might confuse the headers of emails being sent to the FTC. I don't want to get Spamcop into trouble ! I assume the FTC usually gets the reports directly from spam recipients.

If spam email forwarding to the FTC is useful, I think it would help to have this as a clear option in the spamcop preferences. Then more people might report the spam to the FTC and it might help future Spamcop maintenance if anything needs to be changed in this reporting to the FTC.

[Wazoo]

E-Mail spam submittals blocked by your ISP? .. with all the issues that wannado has, this has not been documented yet. Have you "proven" this fltering yet such that wannado.UK needs to be added to this list?

You may be mixing some FAQ data together .. the "automatic" feed was stopped per request as their servers weren't geared up to handle the flow .. period. There another set of FAQ bits, including snippets of an e-mail conversation I had that talked about why the address was changed ... this had nothing to do with an "automatic SpamCop feed" (having been attempted and halted years before)

The problem with sending a SpamCop "Report" as your "FTC complaint" is one of those 'legal' issues. If the spam data is to lead to a situation where it might be "evidence", the normal SpamCop munging of data would render that specific sample as basically unusable, other than as a part of some emperical / numerical data, which also could be seen as "tainted" due to the munging process ... a call mafe by the legal folks involved .... then one adds in the trumcation of files due to size, the changed headers (the SpamCop Report headers certainly fo not "match" the actual spam (e-mail) headers [being buried in the complaint is not the same thing]) .. on and on ...

Some folks complain of some submittals done this was bouncing ... of course, others say it works just fine ... it's the FTC you want to talk to.

[Miss Betsy]

Thanks for the suggestion.

If spam email forwarding to the FTC is useful, I think it would help to have this as a clear option in the spamcop preferences. Then more people might report the spam to the FTC and it might help future Spamcop maintenance if anything needs to be changed in this reporting to the FTC.

38028[/snapback]

Wazoo seems to have answered why spamcop reports are not necessarily the best way to send reports to the FTC.

I found cc'ing the reports worked just fine without a lot of extra effort. I thought after I posted that perhaps that wouldn't work because your ISP thinks it is spam. However, if your spamcop submissions are working, then a cc should work, I would think. Then the FTC gets the unmunged version.

Miss Betsy

[Lking]

The approach Miss Betsy outlines is the approach I use. All the manual reports I wish to send in the To: or Cc: addresses and spamcop as the Bcc: It has been reported in other earlier threads that is is best not to expose your private Submit address to everyone on the list. It was reported that Submit addresses have shown up in federal court, not a good security situation.

Lou

[turetzsr]

I think most people use the User Notification Preferences

Thanks for the suggestion.

I'm using the metered (paid by the byte) reporting service, not receiving email via spamcop email accounts. In the preferences there is a "Public standard report recipients" option for adding an email address to copy spam to. So maybe this is the equivalent of "User Notification Preferences" that I can use to copy spam to spam[at]uce.gov ?

38028[/snapback]

...Yes, that is what I use.

If spam email forwarding to the FTC is useful, I think it would help to have this as a clear option in the spamcop preferences. Then more people might report the spam to the FTC and it might help future Spamcop maintenance if anything needs to be changed in this reporting to the FTC.

38028[/snapback]

...If you wish to have this pursued (not that there is any guarantee that it will be), please add this as a New Feature Request. Thanks!

[btech]

I used to report to the FTC, but I read in recent reports that the database they are compiling has just data and no one knows what to do with it. Also, they aren't using the reports to prosecute anyone, so the reports sent are just more or less of peace of mind.

Anyone heard otherwise?

[Jeff G.]

I've seen the FTC use spam reports they were sent in their cases against spammers, some of which included Confidential Submit Addresses in machine-readable format that got put on the web and indexed by a search service. I don't doubt that they will do so again, but perhaps not during the term of the current Administration.

[Wazoo]

I used to report to the FTC, but I read in recent reports that the database they are compiling has just data and no one knows what to do with it.  Also, they aren't using the reports to prosecute anyone, so the reports sent are just more or less of peace of mind.

Anyone heard otherwise?

38186[/snapback]

The FTC holds / maintains the database. This data is available to other Government/law enforcement/official/etc. offices/agencies for legal/lawful purposes. The FTC themselves are only "authorized" to pursue certain items occurring within certain scenarios with certain parameters .. then one has to factor in the cost / manpower / time factors .... One of the most recent publicized court cases was the final resolution on charges made back in 2002 .... There have been press releases by other U.S. Government agencies that referenced use of this database for the / by the prosecution pf the case.