Spam

What is Spam?
Spam is the electronic version of "junk mail", unsolicited e-mail that advertises a service or product.

Go to http://www.mywot.com/wiki/Cost_of_spam for an estimate of the true cost of Spam.

Can any form of Spam be distributed from my computer without my consent?
Yes, Botnets are a type of potentially unwanted programs (sometimes classified as Malware) that may be installed without your knowledge and may use your computer as a zombie computer to distribute Spam. The originator of the Botnet software can control and use them for other purposes. Botnets can be removed by running the latest anti-virus or anti-spyware software or blocked by using a firewall software.

How do Botnets enter my computer without my consent?
Botnets can be installed by Backdoors, drive-by-downloads, web exploits,  Worms, Computer Viruses and  Trojan Horses.

How to Report Spam
Spamcop maintains a guide to finding the full headers of an email address, for users of the most popular email programs. You'll need the information contained in the full email headers in order to make an accurate spam report.

Viewing the email headers, if the spam message originated from: Contacting Hotmail email: abuse@hotmail.com email: report_spam@hotmail.com, report_spam@msn.com or report_spam@live.com Google's Incident Report form Mail Abuse Feedback Form
 * Hotmail
 * Windows Live Hotmail
 * Gmail
 * Yahoo Mail
 * Where to complain about spam that uses free email accounts that are not listed above

Where to report Spam
USA FTC Spam site Alternatively, forward the email with full headers to: spam@uce.gov Report Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail
 * US Federal Trade Commission
 * US Department of Justice - mainly PHISH schemes

Europe Forbrugerombudsmanden email: dansk@spamklage.dk (or int@spamklage.dk if sender is not from Denmark.) Commission Nationale de l'Informatique et des libertés email: N/A Italian Naming Authority email: abuse@na.nic.it and CC info@nic.it Onafhankelijke Post en Telecommunicatie Autoriteit (OPTA) email: N/A (You may use the form on OPTA's website to report spam) Commissao Nacional de Proteccao de Dados Pessoais Informatizados email: cnpdpi@mail.telepac.pt Spanish Agency for Data Protection email: spacontact@agpd.es
 * Denmark
 * France
 * Italy
 * Netherlands
 * Portugal
 * Spain

Australia Australian Communications and Media Authority email: N/A
 * Australia

Asia Nippon Information Communication Association email: meiwaku@dekyo.or.jp
 * Japan

Other

If the owner of the domain name that the spam message originated from is protected by the WhoisGuard privacy service, you can report the spam directly to WhoisGuard.