Is it worthwhile for me to report spam?

[ananda]

The question is in the title.

I diligently report spam to Spamcop yet very rarely do I get the reply "The ISP has indicated that spam will stop after ..."

I must report hundreds of spam emails per day.

George

[SpamCopAdmin]

Joining SpamCop is joining the army in the fight against spam. As in any army, as a soldier, you fight and fight and never see any benefit.

It's highly unlikely that you will see a reduction in spam as the result of using our service. By the time you found us, your address was already being passed around on the "Millions of Addresses" CDs the spammers sell each other. The level of spam will likely get worse from here on out.

The fight against spam is a long term battle. We get tons of open proxies, open relays, and exploited servers shut down, and we put a lot of spammers out of business, especially novices, but it's very difficult to stop the specific spammers sending *you* the spam.

Your reports make a difference! They are added to our blocking list database, which is being used by more and more ISPs around the world.

We feel like there is hope because of the effect the blocking lists are having. We're driving the professional spammers into ever smaller corners of the Internet where they're easier to block. Service providers around the world are starting to pay a lot more attention to plugging the holes in their systems. Unfortunately, the serious spam networks don't care much about being blocked because they still get their spam to enough gullible people to keep it profitable.

- Don D'Minion - SpamCop Admin -

- Service[at]Admin.SpamCop.net -

.

[ananda]

Thanks Don.

I deliberately do not use my ISP's spam blocker because they block at least one important sender, my bank

I will continue to report

George

[A.J.Mechelynck]

Thanks Don.

I deliberately do not use my ISP's spam blocker because they block at least one important sender, my bank

I will continue to report

George

The best mail providers store what they regard as spam at some place where you can still access it, rather than deleting it sight-unseen. In most cases it is a webmail (or maybe IMAP) folder distinct from your Inbox, and from which you can retrieve false positives; of course it requires additional action on the user's part. There may also be some way to mark false negatives (sometimes even after they've veen forwarded to your POP account), thus training a Bayesian engine (which will never be perfect, for spamhunting is a whack-a-mole chase, as dear Miss Betsy used to say, but they may get better and better for your purposes).

[turetzsr]

Hi, George,

<snip>

I deliberately do not use my ISP's spam blocker because they block at least one important sender, my bank

<snip>

...You may wish to check with them -- these days many have a means to indicate that "this is not spam" and/ or to "whitelist" senders. If your e-mail provider has no way to do that, you may wish to consider changing to one of the many that do.

[A.J.Mechelynck]

<snip>

I deliberately do not use my ISP's spam blocker because they block at least one important sender, my bank

<snip>

Hi, George,...You may wish to check with them -- these days many have a means to indicate that "this is not spam" and/ or to "whitelist" senders. If your e-mail provider has no way to do that, you may wish to consider changing to one of the many that do.

I tried to set my ISP's spam blockers off because I can tolerate getting spam but I won't accept a single unretrievable false positive. But I have no proof that they don't still silently send spam to some blackhole. So I subscribed to gmail, where I can check both what they thought was spam (and retrieve what wasn't) and (in the Trash) what they thought was legit and sent me (and there I can mark false negatives).

Of course, gmail doesn't get its $$$ from email subscribers like me, but they must get them somewhere. Maybe they scan my mail to provide some paid service to “advertisers†or “partners†(as they call them). (Don't rush to conclusions: I have no proof that they do.) OTOH, Spamcop Mail guarantees that it won't give your personal information to any third parties; but it's a paying service. So: weigh the alternatives and take your responsibilities.

[Farelf]

Getting a little off-topic now but an excellent point by Steve T, I think - there will often be an address, hidden deep within the bowels of an e-mail service that filters, for reporting false positives (also one for detection failures). That will often require forwarding a copy of the e-mail in question which, since it has never been delivered in the case of false positives, cannot be forwarded. Irony abounds.

Also/or, the blocking may result from a "policy" decision, such as not accepting mail from a source which lacks an abuse/administrator address, or doesn't use SPF, or is in some way deficient in some domain DNS record or ... well, there are many half-arsed filtering "solutions" out there.

Maybe MailDefender fits that definition and is applicable in this case. But the e-mail/filtering service's support desk should be able to assist in any event (though the point of contact customer service 'doids are often inadequately briefed in such matters, in my experience, so saintly perseverance may be the key to resolution).

And maybe the bank actually does has some small infelicity in its messaging service which it might be prepared to rectify should that be pointed out to whatever representation it retains in lieu of an abiding and anxious regard for the quality of its customer service and their satisfaction.

I may be a little curmudgeonly in my expression (ah, but it felt good!) but with any luck you might be able to sort something out concerning that errant bit of filtering George. What reassurance that might give that there are not other false positives waiting to afflict you is something you could better assess at the end of whichever journey takes you there. Tony M makes a point about that.

[petzl]

Of course, gmail doesn't get its $$$ from email subscribers like me, but they must get them somewhere. Maybe they scan my mail to provide some paid service to “advertisers†or “partners†(as they call them). (Don't rush to conclusions: I have no proof that they do.) OTOH, Spamcop Mail guarantees that it won't give your personal information to any third parties; but it's a paying service. So: weigh the alternatives and take your responsibilities.

Gmail/Google do electronically read all email and are good at it!

If electronic scan flags come up in email they may be actually then be read?

Not only do they provide information to nice paying "advertisers" one don't know how much or what, or even if the advertisers are anything but spamming pond scum!

Some goof in Google decided to replace ones "Pen" name with ones real one in their groups!

Luckily I register with my "boiler plate" false ID I use and have saved for years.

Still I took time in removing all posts from groups

On internet recommend everyone do the same. That is have a boiler plate ID concealing real name, address, sex, age, phone number, use your mother in laws only if you have to give a phone number.

Even doing this Gmail have worked out other emails I use (the watch and read your computer particularly Android/Linux) The email received from Travel agents, etc, have given them my actual address. They have even shown me a photo of my Sydney home asking "this your home"?

ID fraud is growing in Australia even had homes sold while owners on holiday!

Google could be aiding this fraud IMO