Is there anything SE can do about email spam I received?

Question

I received the following in my inbox. I thought I'd report it for anything SE could do to address the issue.

My suspicion is "Not much;" it was sent to an email addy I don't remember providing to SE.

Received-SPF: fail (google.com: domain of [email protected] does not designate 66.151.32.248 as permitted sender) client-ip=66.151.32.248;
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Date: Tue, 04 Nov 2014 14:05:08 -0800
To: [email protected]
From: Semaphore Corporation <[email protected]>
Subject: stackoverflow (online address correction)
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

We read your posting on stackoverflow.
We just expanded our online address correction servers
and we think you'll find them useful.  Simply reply to get
your password and 100 megabytes of I/O, while supplies last.

Besides the usual ZIP+4, DPV, LACSLink and SuiteLink
databases for CASS, you can use the full complement of our
ZP4 software and data:  DirectDPV, RDI, eLot, geocoding,
batch processing, database browsing and exports, form 3553
generation, interactive forward and reverse lookups,
dozens of tools that include source, and a full API for your
own code.  You'll have complete access to our remote servers
to empower your processing like never before.

Addition after second UCE:

My contact page is at CJSHayward.com/contact and states explicitly: "Please do not send spam". If the private email is spam when someone said, "Please do not send spam", it may be SE's concern that SE was used in the process of sending the spam. I don't want to give a final answer, but it may be SE's concern if SE is used to send UCE against clearly expressed wishes.

Second UCE received:

Received-SPF: fail (google.com: domain of [email protected] does not designate 66.151.32.248 as permitted sender) client-ip=66.151.32.248;
Message-Id: <[email protected]>
Disposition-Notification-To: <[email protected]>
Date: Wed, 05 Nov 2014 10:13:09 -0800
To: [email protected]
From: Semaphore Corporation <[email protected]>
Subject: we really DID see your stackoverflow Tiger/street address
  posting
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed

we thought we might be helping, not spamming.
since you asked about tiger data
and you can do free lookups/conversions/exports on our servers,
we offered you to try it.
since se hates posting commercial plugs,
we went from your question to your profile to your web site to your 
contact email and sent you the email.
ironically, you plugged it for us! (although it won't get much 
attention on meta...)

"I read your posting on stackoverflow" is an effective pick-up line, even spammers know it. Perhaps they harvested emails elsewhere (something IT related) and used SO just for that opening line. — user259867, Nov 4, 2014 at 23:03
This question appears to be off-topic because it is about an email sent via the user's personal contact page and requests made on the user's personal web site, and is outside the scope and control of SE. — Jason C, Nov 5, 2014 at 21:40
"Delivered-To:"/"To:" now everyone (even google) knows your email... — Braiam, Nov 5, 2014 at 22:07

Community · Accepted Answer · 2017-03-20 10:30:30Z

24

Unfortunately, no. It's not coming from us, and we aren't releasing your email address in any way. That's about the extent of things we can influence.

I gotta agree with the comment: "We read your posting on stackoverflow" is so generic that we can only take it as a sign that we've "made it".

Sorry.

edited Mar 20, 2017 at 10:30

CommunityBot

1

answered Nov 4, 2014 at 23:47

Adam LearStaffMod

159k45 gold badges494 silver badges682 bronze badges

could you reread the (expanded) basenote and maybe the answers? This person found me (and how to contact me) through StackOverflow. I wonder if your legal counsel could add TOS-like warnings about spamming/harassing people using SE if they find someone through SE and use SE to look up how to contact the party. Notwithstanding that the commercial offering was "lookups/conversions/exports", the spammer needed SE to identify what was once a PR5 website.
– Christos Hayward
Nov 5, 2014 at 20:58
(And I want to be accessible through appropriate means; I do not wish to hold visitors hostage by punishing many welcome visitors for the actions of a few spammers.)
– Christos Hayward
Nov 5, 2014 at 20:58
5

@JonathanHayward I am not a lawyer, so I'm not sure what TOS-type stuff is even feasible here. My take on this is that if you make your contact info public, you should expect that people will contact you, sometimes about things you don't care about.
– Adam Lear StaffMod
Nov 5, 2014 at 20:59
From the bottom of SE's pages: "tour help blog chat data legal privacy policy work here advertising info mobile contact us feedback": Legal points to TOS: stackexchange.com/legal
– Christos Hayward
Nov 5, 2014 at 21:00
3

@JonathanHayward I know we have a TOS document.
– Adam Lear StaffMod
Nov 5, 2014 at 21:03

Add a comment |

Sue B. · Accepted Answer · 2014-11-05 19:00:34Z

8

I sent JonathanHayward the "spam", although I thought I was helping. I saw his posting about Tiger/street conversions, so I offered a big chunk of free lookups/conversions/exports on our servers. Since SE hates posting commercial plugs, I went from his question to his profile to his web site to his contact email and sent him the email. Ironically, he posted the plug for us! (Although it probably won't get much attention here on meta...)

answered Nov 5, 2014 at 19:00

Sue B.

971 bronze badge

1

Just because shouting your advertisement out loud is not okay, it doesn't mean you should be telling people privately.
– John Dvorak
Nov 5, 2014 at 19:08
12

@JanDvorak Even though I disagree with the tactics here, if somebody wants to click through to a public web site, find publicly posted contact info, and send a private email, it's none of our business, really. And it is nice to see somebody own up to it with an explanation.
– Jason C
Nov 5, 2014 at 19:11
1

@JasonC, please see the revised and expanded post about second UCE in violation of wishes expressed on the contact page.
– Christos Hayward
Nov 5, 2014 at 20:39
5

@Jon By the time I clicked through your posting, then your profile, then your home page, then your contact page, I was just quickly scanning for an email link and not paying attention to your other site content at all. I saw your big bold email address and clicked it, and literally read nothing else at your site, especially the "no spam" request (which might seem "clearly expressed" to you but I didn't notice it at all). My frame of mind was to offer a free tool you might find useful for your original problem. I apologize that it's caused you so much irritation.
– Sue B.
Nov 5, 2014 at 21:05
1

@JonathanHayward I definitely feel you, but, we've now established the contact route, and what is or is not on your personal contact page, and whether or not somebody reads and honors that info, are not topics for meta (well, good for meta.cjshayward.com, maybe). :)
– Jason C
Nov 5, 2014 at 21:36

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