Email Chain Letters Illegal?

Hi Netizens,

See the last item at the bottom of the included message for a comment on email chain letters.

Commentary:

Email chain letters are one of the worst forms of pollution of Cyberspace because the authors usually are not providing the reader with sufficent information to make a good decision about participating. It is a disgusting form of deception, and ultimately will result in someone at the bottom of the pyramid losing.

Thanks to everybody on comp.databases.oracle who didn't respond to the garbage that was posted recently. Shame on the rest of you.

Please respond to the author of the below FAQ for any additional clarification.

EP

• Forwarded Message Follows -------

Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 09:01:09 GMT
Supersedes: <D5BL15.B1C_at_deshaw.com>
Expires: Fri, 28 Apr 1995 09:01:08 GMT <-------------- !!!!! Message-ID: <D657pw.CpE_at_deshaw.com>
From: netannounce_at_deshaw.com (Mark Moraes) Subject: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Usenet Newsgroups: news.announce.newusers,news.answers Followup-To: news.newusers.questions
Approved: netannounce_at_deshaw.com (Mark Moraes) Lines: 970
Xref: csus.edu news.announce.newusers:1192 news.answers:40723

Archive-name: usenet/faq/part1
Original-author: jerry_at_eagle.UUCP (Jerry Schwarz) Comment: enhanced & edited until 5/93 by spaf_at_cs.purdue.edu (Gene Spafford) Last-change: 13 Mar 1995 by netannounce_at_deshaw.com (Mark Moraes) Changes-posted-to: news.misc,news.answers

           Frequently Asked Questions about Usenet

Subject: Introduction.

This document discusses some questions and topics that occur repeatedly on Usenet. They frequently are submitted by new users, and result in many followups, sometimes swamping groups for weeks. The purpose of this note is to head off these annoying events by answering some questions and warning about the inevitable consequence of asking others. If you don't like these answers, let the poster of thie article know.

... text deleted ...

Subject: Table of Contents.

1. What does UNIX stand for?
2. What is the derivation of "foo" as a filler word?
3. Is a machine at "foo" on the net?
4. What does "rc" at the end of files like .newsrc mean?
5. What does :-) mean?
6. How do I decrypt jokes in rec.humor?
7. misc.misc or misc.wanted: Is John Doe out there anywhere?
8. sci.math: Proofs that 1=0.
9. rec.games.*: Where can I get the source for empire or rogue?
10. comp.unix.questions: How do I remove files with non-ascii characters in their names?
11. comp.unix.internals: There is a bug in the way UNIX handles protection for programs that run suid, or any other report of bugs with standard software.
12. Volatile topics, e.g., soc.women: What do you think about abortion?
13. soc.singles: What do MOTOS, MOTSS, and MOTAS stand for? What does LJBF mean?
14. soc.singles and elsewhere: What does HASA stand for?
15. sci.space.shuttle: Shouldn't this group be merged with sci.space?
16. How do I use the "Distribution" feature?
17. Why do some people put funny lines ("bug killers") at the beginning of their articles?
18. What is the address or phone number of the "foo" company?
19. What is the origin of the name "grep"?
20. How do I get from BITNET to UUCP, Internet to BITNET, JANET etc. etc.?
21. Didn't some state once pass a law setting pi equal to 3 ?
22. Where can I get the necessary software to get a "smart" mail system running on my machine that will take advantage of the postings in comp.mail.maps? (E.g., pathalias, smail, etc.)
23. What is "food for the NSA line-eater"?
24. Does anyone know the {pinouts, schematics, switch settings, what does jumper J3 do} for widget X?
25. What is "anonymous ftp"?
26. What is UUNET?
27. I've posted a question in a newsgroup a day ago and still haven't seen it posted. What's wrong?
28. Isn't the posting mechanism broken? When I post an article to both a moderated group and unmoderated groups, it gets mailed to the moderator and not posted to the unmoderated groups.
29. comp.arch and elsewhere: What do FYI and IMHO mean?
30. Would someone repost {large software distribution}?
31. How do I contact the moderator of an Internet mailing list rather than post to the entire list?
32. I see BTW (or "btw"), wrt and RTFM in postings. What do they mean?
33. Are there any restrictions on posting e-mail someone sends to me?
34. What's an FQDN?
35. How do you pronounce "char" in C, "ioctl" in UNIX, the character "#", etc., etc.?
36. How do you pronounce "TeX"?
37. What is the last year of the 20th century A.D.?
38. I heard these stories about a dying child wanting postcards/get-well cards/business cards to get in the Guinness Book of World Records. Where can I post the address for people to help?
39. I just heard about a scheme the FCC has to implement a tax on modems! Where can I post a message so everyone will hear about this and do something to prevent it?
40. Is there a public access Unix system near me? How can I get access to system for news and mail?
41. In rec.pets: My pet has suddenly developed the following symptoms .... Is it serious? In sci.med: I have these symptoms .... Is it serious?
42. I have this great idea to make money. Alternatively, wouldn't an electronic chain letter be a nifty idea?
43. Where can I get archives of Usenet postings?
44. Is it possible to post messages to the Usenet via electronic mail?
45. Is it possible to read Usenet newsgroups via electronic mail?
46. How do I get the news software to include a signature with my postings?
47. I'm on Bitnet -- can I connect to the net?
48. What is a "flame"?
49. What is a mail-server/listserv?
50. Should one write USENET or Usenet?

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Subject: What is "food for the NSA line-eater"?

     This refers to the alleged scanning of all Usenet traffic by the
     National Security Agency (and possibly other intelligence
     organizations) for interesting keywords.  The "food" is believed to
     contain some of those keywords in the fond hope of overloading NSA's
     poor computers.  Other posters have taken up this practice, either
     as an ambiguous form of political statement, or as an attempt at
     humor.  The bottom line is that excessive signatures in any form are
     discouraged, the joke has worn stale amongst long-time net readers,
     and there are specific newsgroups for the discussion of politics.



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Subject: I have this great idea to make money. Alternatively, wouldn't an

     electronic chain letter be a nifty idea?

     In a few words: don't even think about it.  Trying to use the net
     to make vast sums of money or send chain letters is a very bad
     idea.  First of all, it is an inappropriate use of resources, and
     tends to use up vast amounts of net bandwidth.  Second, such
     usage of the net tends to produce extremely negative reactions by
     people on the net, adding even more to the volume -- most of it
     directed to you.  Users, particularly system admins, do not like
     that kind of activity, and they will flood your mailbox with
     notices to that effect.

     And last, and perhaps most important, some of this activity is
     against the law in many places.  In the US, you can (and will) be
     reported by hacked-off system administrators for suspicion of wire
     fraud or mail fraud.  In one incident, at *least* a half dozen
     people reported the poster to Postal Service inspectors; I'm not
     sure what the outcome was, but it probably was not a nice
     experience.

     Bottom line: don't try clever schemes to sell things, solicit
     donations, or run any kind of pyramid or Ponzi scheme.  Also,
     don't start or support electronic chain letters.



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