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Put a Spammer in the Slammer by Phil Agre


Part 3
Issues relating to paper mail

Schemes that employ the US mail may interest postal inspectors. If you find a spam message suspicious, and the message invites replies at a US mail address, you might send a copy of the message to the relevant postmaster. Again, simply print the message out, add a simple cover letter expressing your concerns, and mail it to:

Postmaster
Anytown, XX 12345

where, obviously, you should replace "Anytown, XX 12345" with the real city, state, and zip code that was mentioned in the address.

You must use postage when sending a letter to a postmaster (or, for that matter, to the FTC or the other law enforcement agencies). In the United States, one first-class stamp pays for an envelope and about four sheets of paper. After that, put another stamp on it to make sure. Reporting spam, in other words, does cost a little money. If this bothers you, simply restrict yourself to reporting the most offensive messages, or the ones that seem the most obviously illegal.

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Publication Restrictions:
Nonprofit user group publications may reprint this article provided that you print it in its entirety, verbatim, without any additions, deletions, or modifications, and so long as you include the following copyright statement:

"(c) 1997 by Phil Agre. All rights reserved.
Phil Agre is an associate professor of communication at the University of California, San Diego. He edits an Internet mailing list called the Red Rock Eater News Service, on which this article was originally distributed. Details on the Web at http://communication.ucsd.edu/pagre/rre.html . "

You'll also need to send Phil a hardcopy of the issue when it appears.

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