Spam is Bad

The Internet Fraud Complaint Center (IFCC) is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C).

IFCC’s mission is to address fraud committed over the Internet. For victims of Internet fraud, IFCC provides a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism that alerts authorities of a suspected criminal or civil violation. For law enforcement and regulatory agencies at all levels, IFCC offers a central repository for complaints related to Internet fraud, works to quantify fraud patterns, and provides timely statistical data of current fraud trends.

The website address of the Internet Fraud Complaint Center is http://www1.ifccfbi.gov/index.asp

ID theft division of the Federal Trade Commission

How can someone steal your identity? Identity theft occurs when someone uses your personal information such as your name, Social Security number, credit card number or other identifying information, without your permission to commit fraud or other crimes.

The website address of the ID theft division of the Federal Trade Commission is http://www.consumer.gov/idtheft/

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Bureau of Consumer Protection provides a form that specifically mentions unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam):

“If you have a specific complaint about unsolicited commercial e-mail (spam), use the form below. You can forward spam directly to the Commission at UCE@FTC.GOV without using the complaint form.”

The address of the FTC form is:
https://rn.ftc.gov/pls/dod/wsolcq$.startup?Z_ORG_CODE=PU01

or visit the FTC home page at:

http://www.ftc.gov/

Petition U.S. Congress

The best way to communicate with your congressman is outlined by CAUCE, The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email. Please review http://www.cauce.org/congress/writecongress.shtml.

Petition Wisconsin Legislature

Lick A Stamp…

Yes… actual paper letters! It takes a little more effort to print a letter and address an envelope.

If you’re not sure of who your legislators are, check the Wisconsin State Legislature website look-up services:

Who are my state legislators?

The letter doesn’t have to be long: Two paragraphs is more effective than 10 pages. And you don’t need to write different letters, the same one can be sent to your State Representative and your State Senator. (Just remember to change the mailing address!)

And if you save spam, enclose one or two copies of some of the more offensive or obviously fraudulent ones you’ve received. Let them get a taste of this stuff. (However, we don’t want to get them angry with us so don’t flood them with 50,000 copies! One or two will be fine.)

We don’t provide you with “form” letters here, because Legislators can smell a form letter a mile a way. As a result, it’s important that you write your own unique letter, putting your own spin on the issues. Look through the news articles and use quotes and phrases that hit home for you.  Also visit CAUCE’s Legislation page.

To recap, here are some of the important points you might want to include:

• “Junk” email lets the advertisers make a profit while recipients pay the bill. This “Cost Shifting” was the problem with junk faxes, and is just as bad with junk email. If businesses are going to make profits, they should be required to pay the costs of doing business.
• Remind them that this is *not* an issue of censorship, rather it’s about stopping deceptive and damaging business practice.
• Tell them that you support a system that requires an “opt-in,” where individuals don’t receive advertising they don’t want, and don’t have to fight to get themselves dislodged from mailing lists.
• Tell them that you oppose “filtering” or “Opt-Out” approaches because those approaches do not require the advertisers to bear their own costs. Filtering requirements cost ISPs and consumers more money, not less!

Write your Legislators
and mail them today!