Spam

What is Spam?

Go to http://www.mywot.com/en/online-threats/spam for a full description of what is spam.
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, viruses and Trojan horses.

Reporting Spam

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:

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

Where to report Spam

USA

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

Europe

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

Australia

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

Asia

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

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.