And it isn't just mail boxes they're taking addresses from, read this
request I sent to Koi USA:

My e-mail is listed as a contact for the Mid-Columbia Koi & Pond Club, I'm
also involved in our regional club and various other things so I am on
several e-mail lists. I'm not much of a web surfer, except to koi/pond
related sites so in the past I've rarely had to deal with spam. Due to the
complexities of computers though and the latest viruses. I've been getting
more spam lately, and more spoofed return addresses carrying virus related
attachments. I'm not too concerned for myself as my husband's business is
computer security, so we're well covered to keep viruses out.

Others are not so fortunate and I was wondering if KOI USA could inform the
koi community, and those who pick our e-mail addresses out of the
magazine, about the problem? Below is some discussion regarding this.

The latest netiquette news regarding sending things en mass to folks
through e-mail is the request that one use the Bcc: address line.

Not only do you get rid of the massive header, but did you know that many
Email programs will put all those addresses that they find in an incoming
email's To: and Cc: in a history file or cache? All of those people now
have all those addresses on their system, probably forever.

Next, one of those people gets infected by a virus that starts sending
itself out so it can spread. Let's say that it infects Sally's PC. The
virus doesn't just say that it came from Sally, it "spoofs" the return
address(es). It uses Sally's address book AND address history file for
addresses to use. So Sally's infected PC starts sending out virus copies
as fast as it can to the whole world AND it looks like it is from any one
of us. Personally, I've even had some coming in with spoofed Koi related
subjects lately, it's amazing, and scary.

Maybe a short notice on the page with our email addresses would be a
start: "Please help protect our volunteers email addresses from the
spammers. When sending email to multiple recipients, use the blind carbon
copy (Bcc) feature of your email software."

I haven't heard anything back, so I doubt they're run anything regarding
it. ( ~ jan


~ jan (Do you know where your water quality is?)