Re: Anti-semitic posting

[Daniel Wa1ker <walker...>]

At 12:21 PM 5/3/95, Fred Karp wrote:
>Could we have a statement of policy and method on the posting of 4/30
>23:51?
>
>The same message appeared on soc.culture.jewish and had several follow-ups
>re: how the sender was removed.  Could we have a post or inclusion in a
>FAQ about who will deal with this in the future and how, whom to e-mail?

Nobody really has the authority to issue such a statement for the newsgroup
since it has already been established as an unmoderated group. The listserv
however is located at <jewish-music (at) israel(dot)nysernet(dot)ORG> and is 
maintained
by someone among the nysernet folks. A listserv can normally be limited to
allow only posting from legitimate subscribers, but THIS listserv is
gatewayed bi-directionally to the newsgroup where anarchy rules. I suppose
we could sever the link, but that would leave us with two different places
to look for our messages, and some of us have strong preferences for one or
the other means of correspondence (listserv or newsgroup).

What I usually do when SPAMMED:
1) I mail the sender of the EMail a note stating exactly why (IMHO) their
   posting was inappropriate for the forum in which it was posted. My note
   contains the full text of their posting, even (and perhaps especially)
   if it is a long message. I retain a copy of this message in my nuisance
   folder in case the jerk in question decides to bother me to a greater
   extent personally. This note is sent with CC: to root@ the spammer's
   domain and postmaster@ the spammer's domain.

2) If there is any hope that the message was inappropriate but not
   malicious, I will write that note mentioned above in a friendly and
   instructional tone of voice, and I'll also mail the spammer a short
   FAQ on network etiquette. This doesn't get CC: to the postmaster
   since I can assume she or he is sufficiently experienced to know that
   stuff.

   On those rare occasions when it is obvious that the message is intended
   to offend a great number of people (like this recent one), I just send
   my first note directly to the postmaster at the appropriate domain.
   Often this domain will be an anonymous re-mailer like the one in
   Finland. The Administrator on the anonymity server takes matters of
   abuse seriously and he has access to the REAL address of anyone using
   his system. (He also has years of experience in dealing with 'net
   abusers and securing local system administrators' cooperation in the
   censure of those who can't play nicely.)

3) Sometimes (like with this recent attack), the mail protocol has been
   "Spoofed", and a message is sent from a non-existent domain. I tell
   my mail program to view the headers of the message in verbose mode to
   see if I can figure-out where it came from. Usually, this doesn't work.

   It is possible to use Telnet to speak to another computer's mail
   handler port as if you were a sendmail program. You can then tell the
   other computer anything you want regarding your identity. It doesn't
   check-back unless some specific security measures have been installed.
   When someone knows the net THIS well, they're beyond my personal
   ability to track. (Though it CAN be done.) Fortunately, most of the
   people with this kind of knowledge respect the 'net and the people
   on it.

---
My old .sig line, back by popular demand (I guess my wit has peaked):
The simplest way to stop a flamewar is to breathe deeply, swallow
your bile and just LET an idiot have the last word.  -- Me
Daniel Wa1ker - walker (at) usit(dot)net - Quark XPress (QUARKXPR) list co-owner