Ethical Question

[deadmessengers]

A few times per day for the last few weeks, I've received spam from someone pimping a get-rich-quick scheme. Normally, this would be a nonevent, but this spammer is different - they include, in the body of the message, what I think might very well be their real name and home address.

A quick WHOIS (whois, for the uninitiated, is a way of searching domain ownership records) search shows that the administrative and technical contacts for the spammer's vanity domain matches the name and address in the body of the message. Also, there is a listed phone number for that person, and the number and address match the records found within the email and WHOIS records. Furthermore, that address is in a residential area, so this phone number is likely to be her home phone.

My question is this: Should I call the spammer and ask her to remove me from her spam lists now, or should I wait until 2AM to call, so as to maximize the possibility that she'll be there to take my call?

[wildhorses]

1. i always try to play nice and give people the benefit of a doubt

of course my evil twin sister
can always come out to play
if i need her:P

[deadmessengers]

2. Yeah, I thought about that.

Half of me says "play nice", but the other half of me says "be an asshole". I'm going to have to stew on this one for a while - it's not like the spam is going to stop any time soon.

[grace0418]

3. I say play nice ONCE. Contact the person and ask them to remove you from

their list. If you get more spam, then take the gloves off.

[crispini]

4. Oh, report this person

Report them to spamcop.net and get them kicked off their ISP. :bounce: