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California Looking For Spam Samples

Posted by timothy on from the forward-your-junk-to-where-it-belongs dept.

gessel writes "The California Attorney General's Office is looking for examples of spam e-mails being sent to consumers in violation of California anti-spam law, particularly from spammers operating in California. Send 'em to caspam@cadoj.samspade.org as well as to uce@ftc.org."

29 comments

  1. Send 'Em Samples? by GreenHell · · Score: 5, Funny

    You just posted their address on the Internet! I give them an hour before they're getting more "samples" and "special offers" than they know what to do with. Some of them may even be from people forwarding them as examples.

    --
    "I won't mod you down - I feel the need to call you a twit explicitly, rather than by implication."
  2. Huh? by orthogonal · · Score: 2, Interesting

    particularly from spammers operating in California

    Just how do I know if a spammer is operating in California?

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    Opinions on the Twiddler2 hand-held keyboard?
    1. Re:Huh? by Zocalo · · Score: 3, Informative

      The quickest way is probably to use SpamHaus.org. Go to the site, click on "SBL" at the top and enter the IP address where the spam originated from the the SMTP headers in the appropriate query box. If they've an entry for the IP then they'll probably have all the contact information on the spammer you could possibly need, and if they have a ROKSO (Registry of Known Spam Operators) record as well then that may also include the name of his dog (I kid you not!)

      --
      UNIX? They're not even circumcised! Savages!
  3. try usenet...? by Ummagumma · · Score: 2, Funny

    If they really want to get a TON of samples, we should post those email addresses all over the *.erotica.* groups on Usenet :)

    Or would that be considered a DOS attack, due to the volume of mail they would probably receive?

    --
    "The natural progress of things is for liberty to yield and government to gain ground." - Thomas Jefferson
    1. Re:try usenet...? by Thalias · · Score: 1

      Well they wouldn't be at fault for the DOS attack, though it could cause one. It would be blamed on thousands(okay maybe fewer) people who sent the spam. And I think as it is they won't really need to get people to forward spam since they posted the e-mail address on this site.

      --
      FOML: Rise to Power
  4. Some clarification? by skinfitz · · Score: 1

    particularly from spammers operating in California

    ...but does that mean that the spammers reside physically in Cali, have registered businesses in Cali, advertise businesses or services that are based in Cali, or that they use relay servers in Cali?

  5. They want spam? by kruetz · · Score: 2, Funny

    I can only guess that the poor bastards have been living without internet access up till now. But if you really want spam, is posting your email address to /. the best way to go about it? Why not join up to some free pr0n sites? (And if you actually get free pr0n, let us know, godamnit!)

    --

    This sig intentionally left bla... dammit!
    Who's got the whiteout?
    1. Re:They want spam? by addaon · · Score: 1

      Free Porn

      --

      I've had this sig for three days.
  6. Archive by tedDancin · · Score: 2, Informative

    They should try here. They currently have 1.3GB.

    --

    Ladies, form queue here -->
    1. Re:Archive by screaming_koala · · Score: 1

      1.3GB? Pfff..

      I have more that in my Hotmail account.

  7. Spamarchive.Org by stagmeister · · Score: 2, Informative

    There might be a LOT of that stuff at SpamArchive.Org...

    --
    http://www.virtualvillagesquare.com/ Online Communities: The Next Generation
  8. Hopefully somebody verified this story.. by Nathan+Ramella · · Score: 1
    Seems too much like the 'E-Mail us and the starving kids will get 1 cent of food for every e-mail we get!' pranks.. Or maybe the guy is building a spam database of known-good-emails?

    Or am I the only one that thinks a request to e-mail spam to someone is just too blatant? All he needs to do is post on Usenet or Slashdot with his real e-mail address.. There have been many uninteresting stories about 'journalists' gathering statistics on getting spam..

    Asking for it to be sent to you seems almost ridiculous.

    -n

    --
    http://www.remix.net/
    1. Re:Hopefully somebody verified this story.. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      not necessary. the story (and email addr) is on the california state website (the first link above).

    2. Re:Hopefully somebody verified this story.. by Sylver+Dragon · · Score: 1

      No, we have a law on the books here in CA which allows the State to go after spammers, if they don't have an "ADV:" or "ADLTADV:" at the beginning of the subject line. And with Gray Davis running the State into the dirt, we need to find money somewhere. So, we'll use the law as a way to tax the spammers to death.

      --
      Necessity is the mother of invention.
      Laziness is the father.
  9. Lazy or something? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Why don't they just sign up to a single offer...they should be getting plenty in a couple days.

  10. Hmm, why does it have to be our burden? by eamonman · · Score: 1
    The Attorney General's Office is looking for samples of spam that meet all of the following conditions:
    1. You are the recipient of the spam and you are a resident of California.

    2. The spam was delivered via servers located in California (sender's, recipient's or intermediary server will suffice).

    3. There is some indication that the spammer is operating in California, such as a California telephone number or address for orders. If you can identify the spammer and have information from other sources showing that the spammer is in California, that will also work.

    4. The spam fails to comply with the statutory restrictions. To comply, the unsolicited advertising emails' subject line must begin with "ADV:", the first text in the message must offer a toll-free number or functioning email address for removal of the recipient from further unsolicited emails, and that statement must be in a type size as large as most of the other text.
    Ok, so maybe I'm a lazy guy, but why does it have to be our burden to look for all this? Couldn't we just forward email to them, and maybe they could hire someone to write some parser and other functions to try and determine this? I mean, it's enough work to to weed out all the other spam I get daily. Oh well.
    --
    0- Eamonman Proud member of DNRC
  11. It's .gov by Wonko42 · · Score: 2, Informative

    I think you mean uce@ftc.gov.

  12. Here's a source for spam samples by egarrido16 · · Score: 2, Funny

    Dear California,

    Here is the necessary information to get spam samples:

    pop3.attglobal.net
    Username: lightinaugust@attglobal.net
    Password: twizzlers
    Check every 25 minutes for a good sample of spam.


    --
    "Brevity is the soul of wit." -Polonius, Hamlet.
  13. They could have just ... by Khalidz0r · · Score: 1

    If I wanted to see spam samples (which is very undesirable), the best way I'd go with is registering 2 or 3 random hotmail accounts and leave the "add to white pages" checkbox checked. 1 or 2 weeks and every possible spam sample is there in your mailbox :) start the analysis!

    --
    "What you 'seek' is what you get!"
  14. I just signed them up for a couple free offers. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Maybe that will help them.

  15. New Century Mortgage spam. by Animats · · Score: 1
    I just sent the AG's office a spam from New Century Mortgage Company of Irvine, California. No leading "ADV:", made it through two sets of spam filters. If you have spam from New Century Mortgage, please send it to the AG's office.

    Good to see the AG is finally getting active in this area. There was a long delay while the constitutionality of this issue was resolved, but the California Supreme Court decided that one late last year in Ferguson vs. Friendfinder. Now the prosecutions can start.

    The law in California is a "sends, or causes to be sent" law. So if a company hires a spammer to do the dirty work, both parties are liable.

    1. Re:New Century Mortgage spam. by Sylver+Dragon · · Score: 1

      I just wish that they law had allowed private citizens to go after the spammers and their masters for this type of thing as well. Imagine if, for every piece of spam you received (from a CA based company or spammer) you could go to small claims court and get $500 bucks out of a company. It'd be an easy case to prove, simply bring a copy of the email with subject line and associated headers. This could be a way to make a good bit of extra cash. As it is I own and operate my own mail server, all I would have to do is set up a mailbox and address, set up a filter to delete anything that has the right subject tags on it, start posting on chat boards and the like with my email address exposed and wait for the spam to start rolling in. Then spend a couple of hours each night sifting through the junk looking for companies/spammers that I can be pretty sure are in CA and then take them to small claims court. It'd be the next "get rich quick" scheme of the internet.

      --
      Necessity is the mother of invention.
      Laziness is the father.
    2. Re:New Century Mortgage spam. by Animats · · Score: 1

      The law in California does allow that.

    3. Re:New Century Mortgage spam. by Sylver+Dragon · · Score: 1

      Hmm, I actually reviewed the law I know about before posting, California Business Codes 17538.4 and 17538.45. And while I will admit to not being a lawyer (who is on /.) I didn't see anything that stated that I could personally pursue a spammer or the company for violating the subject line restrictions. Maybe I am wrong, on am looking in the wrong law. Could you provide more info?

      --
      Necessity is the mother of invention.
      Laziness is the father.
    4. Re:New Century Mortgage spam. by Animats · · Score: 1

      See California Civil Code section 1750, the "Consumers Legal Remedies Act".

  16. Spam = Spiced Ham by CFusion · · Score: 1, Informative

    They really want to find companies in California who are spamming because it is all to easy to prosecute them. I think our governments need to take this a step further and fund a program to come up with a legitimate solution to STOP spam, not just slow it down.

    --
    I used to be a MS fan but then I was brainwashed. Now I see the Light. Mac OS X pwns u.
  17. What are you bitching about? by www.sorehands.com · · Score: 1

    Whenever one complains to the police or file a complaint with the court, one identifies the who the criminal is, where they are, and details the elements of the crime that they committed.

    Isn't a little work with the pleasure of seeing the spammer hauled away in handcuffs?

    --
    Fight Spammers!
  18. no more spam by upt1me · · Score: 1

    Hopefully other states follow Californias lead. Hopefully we can push all the spammers or there server over seas to countries like iraq. If you need spam just post a few messages in some newsgroups.

  19. Spam Sample ... by one9nine · · Score: 1
    Will we be getting paid? Will they provide any movies or magazines? Do I have to bring my own plastic cup?

    Ohhhhhhhhhhhh spam samples. Nevermind.