Would this be a legal binding contract??

[plasmatic]

What is the name of your state? Wisconsin

I'm sick of getting my inbox flooded with spam, as I'm sure most of you are too. For all those so called opt in bulk emailers would I be able to send them a contract they have to agree to since they always claim I/we agree to theirs? Also if I am able to track down the so called company who has been giving out my email address would it be possible for me to send them and the others who continue to spam me the contract I have below making them agree to it?

Dear Company name,


I demand that you, COMPANY NAME HERE stop sending me email advertisements within ten days, or as of April 1st, 2005. I also do not give you permission to share, sell, or rent my email address with anyone including your affiliates starting now.

Below is a contract I have set forth that is non negotiable, and any breech of this contract will result in legal action. I advise you to save and print this email document for your records because this is a legal binding contract. The only thing in this contract that may change at some point and time will be my payment address.

Here are the terms and conditions of this non negotiable legal binding contract:

1. You COMPANY NAME HERE, agree that by sending me email advertisements at the email address [email protected] after April 1st, 2005 that you will pay me, JOHN DOE $2,000 dollars in U.S. currency for each email advertisement you send me. This must be paid in full every week that you have sent me an email advertisement.

2. You, COMPANY NAME HERE, agree to never sell, rent, or share the email address [email protected] starting now. If this is broken you, COMPANY NAME HERE agree to pay me, JOHN DOE a one time sum of $50,000 dollars in U.S. currency. This one time fee must be paid in full within five days if you are found to have broken this part of the contract.

3. You COMPANY NAME HERE agree to mail me, JOHN DOE payments every Monday for the total of the email advertisements you have sent to [email protected], to this postal address:
Include your name and postal addy here.

4. I will only accept cashier checks, or money orders from your bank as payment with a verified letter from your bank stating that your account has the funds to cover this amount.

In the event that my mailing address is changed you will be notified via email and postal mail of any changes.

5. This contract will expire on May 21st, 2070, or when I JOHN DOE depart from this world.

6. If you COMPANY NAME HERE fail to meet any and all conditions of this contract, legal action will be taken, and if you are found to be in violation of any terms of this contract you COMPANY NAME HERE agree to pay any and all of my ( JOHN DOE ) legal expenses. In addition to the outcome of any legal dispute you, COMPANY NAME HERE fully agree to pay any and all travel expenses I may acquire due to travel of any legal dispute, if it may arise.

Again I urge you to save and print this legal binding contract in a safe place. Also remember that this is a non negotiable contract, and it must be upheld on your end or legal action will be taken.

If you have any questions as to the terms of this contract you may send your questions to me via my postal address, or you may contact me via phone at this number 555-555-5555. This is the same address that is stated in term 3 of this legal binding non negotiable contract.


Regards,
JOHN DOE

 

[jpritchett81]

That contract won't fly....but you can contact the fcc about the company spamming you if it's that bad.

www.fcc.gov

 

[w98]

Just because you send a contract to someone doesn't mean they accept it. There needs to be a signature or some form of confirmation that they agree to your terms.

Typically, I just check the mail headers, get the IP address of the origination host, check www.arin.net for who owns/leases the IP, and forward the message to their abuse department asking that the customer's access be restricted due to potential trojan activity or due to improper use of Internet services. This usually works, and I commonly get a human response who is sympathetic to my needs.

 

[plasmatic]

Thanks for the responses,

I knew it was a long shot, but I've gotten mixed opinions from others I asked about this, so I thought I would ask here as well. The few companies I've tested it on quit sending me spam within a day, so I was starting to think it was totally legit. I'll probably keep using it though just because it has helped to curb the spam I get in my inbox.

I seem to spend more and more time each year reporting spammers to the ftc, spamcop, and their internet providers. Sometimes it works, and other times it's like talking to a brick wall.

Now I do have some questions though:

Is there any legal way I can get them to stop sharing my email addy with other spammers/bulk email companies?

Is the terms of use that they post on their websites and advertisement emails legally binding? ( You know.... that I've given them permission to share my email address and accept being spammed to death by them and their affiliates.) I can't see how this could be legal since this I've come up with apparently isn't.

 

[w98]

If their business policy and practice is to share your details with marketing partners, there's not much you can do but ask them to stop and to provide you with the names, addresses and phone numbers of each of those partners asking for the same. You can also report the message through sites like SpamCop who will then tell other ISP's that any message from a certain IP address should be treated as spam. These are called "black hole" lists.

Honestly bro, you're bailing water off the titatnic with a teaspoon. Get a hosting provider with SpamAssassin that can block messages on the server side before you ever download them. Train your SpamAssassin tool as to what *you* feel is spam or not, and let it do the work for you. I have about a 99% efficiency rate running SpamAssassin and I get hundreds of spam messages every day - maybe one or two get through.

But keep sending your 'contract' to them, use my trick of contacting arin.net for 'whois' information about the IP addresses... remember that many millions of Windows-based computers are compromised with trojans and viruses that simply exist to send bulk mail to other people so the original sender thinks they can never be caught - contacting ISP's asking them to restrict or disable user accounts that are set up as mail proxies or mail relays is usually VERY effective given the media coverage lately.

Remember though that by replying to their messages, you're also confirming that your Email address is legit, which they usually keep on a separate list to sell at a higher premium to other spammers since they now have proof that you read messages at that address.