From: utzoo!decvax!yale-com!brunix!gh Newsgroups: net.followup Title: Re: Re: How To Stop Junk Mail - Another Idea Article-I.D.: brunix.1255 Posted: Tue Jan 18 09:55:28 1983 Received: Fri Jan 21 01:22:24 1983 References: stolaf.762,dvlcn.95 Since mailing lists are often copied, identifying and plugging the source of the leak doesn't help -- there are already lots of copies out there continuing to replicate, often mutating with the help of computers and sloppy keying. Some examples: (1) I once used the phoney middle initial trick, and became Graeme I. Hirst to one magazine I subscribed to. After a while Raeme I. Hirst also started receiving mail. Recently Graeme I. Hirst received an ad for subscriptions to the original magazine; apparently they had sold my name to a mailing list company and then bought it back in a list of people with the right interests to be potential subscribers. (2) On one list I put myself down as "G Hirst, Vice-Pres, Pro-Lix Text Systems". After receiving some mail with that address, I found that I had become "G Vice Pres", ("Dear Mr Pres", the letters would start). A smart program that kew about titles apparently fixed that, and I became simply "G" ("Dear G"). (3) I once ordered a CRT by mail, and since UPS can't use our Department's PO box address, gave the slightly simplified address "Brown Computer Science, 151 Thayer Street, Providence". Some time later, I received from a stationery company a felt-tip pen imprinted "Compliments of Brown Computer Science, 151 Thayer Street", with the suggestion that it looked so nice that I should buy a few gross more. Graeme Hirst (A prolix text system in his own right) Dept Computer Science, Brown University ...!{decvax, vax135}!brunix!gh