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Spam and Remailers

Damien Lucifer (ncognito(at)rigel.infonex.com) operates an anonymous remailing service. He's put together a page covering spam and remailers, including how to get a remailer to stop spamming you, and it is my pleasure to host this page for him.

Unfortunately, it is becoming increasingly popular for remailers to be used by spammers and mailbombers in order to shield themselves from the consequences of their actions. It should be understood, however, that shielding spammers is NOT one of the intents of any remailer operator that I know. In fact, spam is a very serious issue for remailer operators.

Obviously, remailing spam generates complaints from users who perceive the remailer as simply a tool to be used in irritating them. Every spam that is sent via a remailer results in a huge volume of return mail, in the form of bounces, complaints, and reverse-spammings directed back at the remailer.

Spam also creates an enormous load on the remailer's machine, bogging down the system with huge processor and bandwidth demands. Since remailers are a free service, the cost of the spam is carried solely by the remailer operator, and the remailer's host ISP. For small remailers operating over a 28.8 modem, the effects of a large spam remailing, and the subsequent deluge of replies can be devastating, crippling the machine for hours, or even days.

Additionally, a large spam remailing compromises the privacy and security of all of the other messages being sent through the remailer, creating a serious threat to those who have an honest need for the remailer's service.

If you are being spammed from a remailer, you can request that your address be blocked from receiving anonymous mail by sending a note to the remailer operator. The address to send complaints to is always clearly identified in the headers of remailed messages. Alternately, you can send your block request to remailer-operators@c2.org. Block requests sent to this address are forwarded to almost all remailer operators.

Keep in mind that you probably aren't the only one responding to the spammed message - a typical spam generates dozens of block requests, and each must be handled manually, in most cases by a single person. Also note that it is literally impossible for the remailer operator to tell you who originated a particular peice of mail.

Finally, if you know the email address of someone who is spamming the net via the remailer network, send a note to the remailer operator (or to the address above) and let us know. That user can then be blocked from originating ANY mail via the remailer.

This page contributed by: The nCognito Anonymous Remailer
Send comments and questions to ncognito@rigel.infonex.com.