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000108_news@columbia.edu _Mon Apr 21 16:08:29 1997.msg
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From: fdc@watsun.cc.columbia.edu (Frank da Cruz)
Newsgroups: comp.protocols.kermit.misc
Subject: Re: Pornographic junk mail
Date: 21 Apr 1997 20:08:27 GMT
Organization: Columbia University
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Xref: news.columbia.edu comp.protocols.kermit.misc:6926
> Mr. da Cruz,
>
> I thank you for your Kermit forum. I have benefited from
> being able to read the articles in the newsgroup.
>
Thanks.
> However, this morning when I started reading, there was an
> item entitled "*Tight Teen Snatch* teen1.jpg". Which gave
> an address for what amounted to child pornography.
>
This happens all the time in every unmoderated newsgroup.
Welcome to the global village.
Usually offensive posts like this are quickly followed by a "Spam
cancel" message originating from some public-spirited volunteer.
This cancellation message is supposed to either stop the message
from being propogated, or prevent your news server from showing it
to you in case it has already arrived. Such a Spam cancel quickly
followed the offending message, and the message did not even
arrive here, and I did not know about it until I got your email.
I think this is the case with most readers. So either you
happened to read the newsgroup during the short period between the
arrival of the original messages and the cancellation, or else
your news server does not understand or respond to cancellations.
Hoever, I confess that I do not have a very firm grasp on how the
cancellation process works. Evidently, however, it works better
some places than others.
> I realize you have little control over the articles which get
> posted to your news group, and I do not blame you for the
> fact that the article was there. However, I do not have
> the resources to find out who the offending carrier is, and
> lodge a complaint there.
>
I don't think it would do any good. Such messages are often
completely untraceable. In those cases where the poster was not
smart enough to disguise his identity (I use "his" advisedly), the
worst that happens is a cancellation of his account by his ISP, so
he moves to another ISP and continues his activities.
> Also, if our corporate IS group
> receives a complaint about the memo. They WILL block the
> Kermit newsgroup from our local server. They have done so
> before on other newsgroups because of provocative spams.
>
Then they might as well shut down their news service altogether,
because these messages are posted to thousands of newsgroups and
mailing lists simultaneously by special Spam generating programs.
You can't participate in netnews without leaving yourself open to
this and all other kinds of verbal assaults.
> Therefore, I would appreciate it if you would register my
> complaint with the carrier of whoever sent that message,
> and take whatever steps possible to prevent further
> occurances. Your newsgroup is a valuable tool which I would
> hate to lose.
>
And we would hate to lose you as a reader, but this problem is
bigger than both of us. Since the message did not even arrive
here, I have no way to trace it. In any case, I'm sure the
postmaster at the site listed as the origin of the message has
already received 100,000 angry letters because messages like this
are rarely targeted at a single newsgroup.
I'm sorry you and everybody else has to put up with this, but I'm
afraid it will only get worse.
- Frank