Synopsis:
Spam: University policy regarding unsolicited commercial e-mail

Solution:
At present there is nothing the University can do legally to prevent electronic junk mail from arriving at University e-mail addresses. Sometimes writing to the originating Internet service provider to complain is helpful. Please keep in mind the following considerations:

1. E-mail at this time should be thought of as similar to "snail mail." Just as "filtering" paper mail to determine what is wanted and not wanted is the responsibility of the person to whom it is delivered, so is it the responsibility of the e-mail recipient to make these decisions. There are no rules regarding which mail will be delivered to each person on campus and which will not. Presently, it is far safer for each of us to make our own selection with USPS mail as well as with e-mail.
   
2. New Jersey is not one of the states with legislation governing spam, despite language having been introduced each year for several years. The US also has no helpful legislation in this regard at this time. OIT has asked General Counsel for advice regarding possible protections and recourse for the University.
   
3. This is a global problem, not confined to Princeton University, and the general sense is that it will not abate until there is legislation which allows hitting violators in the pocket - if even then.
   
4. Some of the messages also say - untruthfully - that the person is receiving the mail because s/he has registered for a web site indicating s/he wants to receive this kind of mail. That is one of a number of standard lies that are used by "spammers" regarding all kinds of unsolicited, unwanted, mass e-mail and not just the X-rated messages. The truth is that very few people do not receive such unwanted e-mail, and their getting it has nothing to do with requests they've made or web sites they have visited. Spammers target as much of the world as they can, hoping to "sell" whatever they purvey to some percentage of those targeted.
   
5. As always, it is best to not reply to such messages, nor write to any e-mail address given to use to "remove your name from the list" nor to visit any web page said to remove your name. Often, this will only increase the likelihood of receiving similar spam. The most helpful method of dealing with unwanted junk mail of all kinds (including "adult") is to try to recognize it without opening it, and discard it unopened.
   
6. OIT and Princeton's Office of General Counsel are watching court cases and pending legislation, and if at any time it appears the University can take some legal action regarding such nuisances, it will do so. Until then, the easiest thing to do is delete the offending messages. Depending upon how you receive your e-mail on campus, there are ways to quarantine spam and/or filter your incoming e-mail. To learn more about anti-spam efforts at Princeton, see: http://www.princeton.edu/spam
   
7. If you wish to pursue the matter further, you can attempt to forward the message, including all headers (the "Received" headers are particularly important, and can reveal computers through which the message passed), to the postmaster at a site through which the message passed. For example:

   Received: from mail.state.edu by outbound.Princeton.EDU (8.8.7/8.6.12) with ESMTP id MAA22618 for person@princeton.edu; Tue, 20 Jan 1998 12:20:35 -0500 (EST)

   You might write to postmaster@mail.state.edu, asking for help. If unauthorized junk mass mailings originate from within the campus, however, there is something that can be done, and OIT should be notified. Often though, the return address is just being forged. For more information, please see Solution 5879.

   To turn on full headers in your e-mail application, see Solution 8567.