FINDINGS - PEAK 10 finds the following: 

• The U.S. Constitution is law only in the U.S., and the Internet is global. There are places your mail will reach where free speech is not a given. In general, the U.S. Constitution refers to political freedom of speech and not to commercial freedom of speech. The U.S. Constitution also DOES NOT guarantee the right to seize the private property of others in order to broadcast your speech. The Internet consists of a vast number of privately owned networks in voluntary cooperation. Free speech does not, in general, require other people to spend their money and resources to deliver or accept unsolicited electronic mail.

• The Internet has increasingly become a critical mode of global communication and now presents unprecedented opportunities for the development and growth of global commerce and an integrated worldwide economy. In order for global commerce on the Internet to reach its full potential, individuals and entities using the Internet and other online services should be prevented from engaging in activities that prevent other users and Internet service providers from having a reasonably predictable, efficient, and economical online experience.

• Solicited electronic mail can be an important mechanism through which businesses advertise and attract customers in the online environment.

• The receipt of unsolicited electronic mail may result in costs to recipients who cannot refuse to accept such mail and who incur costs for the storage of such mail, or for the time spent accessing, reviewing, and discarding such mail, or for both.

• Unsolicited electronic mail may impose significant monetary costs on Internet access services, businesses, educational and nonprofit institutions that carry and receive such mail, as there is a finite volume of mail that such providers, businesses, and institutions can handle without further investment. The sending of such mail is increasingly and negatively affecting the quality of service provided to customers of Internet access service, and shifting costs from the sender of the advertisement to the Internet access service.

• While some senders of electronic mail messages provide simple and reliable ways for recipients to reject (or 'opt-out' of) receipt of electronic mail from such senders in the future, other senders provide no such 'opt-out' mechanism, or refuse to honor the requests of recipients not to receive electronic mail from such senders in the future, or both. Best practice for ‘opt-in’ or ‘double opt-in’ functionality is the preferred method when engaging in marketing methods of advertisement and global commerce.

• Many senders of electronic mail collect or harvest electronic mail addresses of potential recipients without the knowledge of those recipients and in violation of the rules or terms of service of the database from which such addresses are collected.

• Many senders of electronic mail automatically subscribe potential recipients to additional solicitations through “pre-authorized” services without the subscriber initiating such requests.

• Because many recipients of electronic mail are unable to avoid the receipt of such mail through reasonable means, such mail may invade the privacy of recipients.

• In protecting against certain abuses on the Internet, PEAK 10 should be very careful to avoid infringing in any way upon protected rights, free speech, and privacy.

PEAK 10 DETERMINATION OF PUBLIC POLICY- On the basis of the findings listed above, PEAK 10 determines that—

• there is a substantial global interest in public protection from either solicited or unsolicited electronic mail;

• Internet service providers should not be compelled to bear the effects of either solicited or unsolicited electronic mail without possible limitations set forth by policies outlining suspensions of Internet services of the initiator of electronic mail;

• recipients of electronic mail should not be submitted to unsolicited electronic mail without approval from the recipient to receive electronic mail; and

• recipients of electronic mail, either solicited or unsolicited, have a right to decline to receive or have their children receive electronic mail.

PEAK 10 ACCEPTABLE USE POLICY (AUP) ON ELECTRONIC MAIL

REQUIREMENTS FOR TRANSMISSION OF MESSAGES- 

PROHIBITION OF TRANSMISSION OF UNSOLICITED ELECTRONIC MAIL- An initiator (and the agents or assigns of the initiator) may not send unsolicited electronic mail messages, including, without limitation, bulk advertising or informational announcements. Any initiator e-mail may be considered unsolicited if your membership addresses are not 100% opt-in/double opt-in by your e-mail list members. If your e-mail addresses came from harvesting, a purchased e-mail list, another mailing list (even with the approval of the other list owner), or were compiled by any method other than by direct subscription from your e-mail list members, they may be considered unsolicited (non-opt-in) e-mail (that is, "spam") for the purposes of the PEAK 10 Service Agreement.

PROHIBITION OF USE- Customers may not use the Peak 10 network in order to:

• send solicited or unsolicited electronic mail messages which are excessive and/or intended to harass or annoy others,

• send electronic mail messages with forged TCP/IP packet header information,

• send malicious electronic mail messages, including, without limitation, "mailbombing",

• send or receive electronic mail messages in a manner that violates the acceptable use policies of any other internet service provider, or

• use a PEAK 10 service e-mail box exclusively as a storage space for data.

INCLUSION OF RETURN ADDRESS IN ELECTRONIC MAIL- It shall be deemed an AUP Violation for any initiator (and the agents or assigns of the initiator) to initiate the transmission of a electronic mail message to any recipient unless such message contains a valid reply to: electronic mail address, conspicuously displayed, to which a recipient may send a reply to the initiator to indicate a desire not to receive any further messages and, after the expiration of a reasonable period of time as defined in Acceptable Use Policy Enforcement– Enforcement of Notification Terms, be removed from any lists contained by the initiator (and the agents or assigns of the initiator) associated with the request for removal.

PROHIBITION OF TRANSMISSION OF ELECTRONIC MAIL AFTER OBJECTION- If a recipient makes a request to an initiator (and the agents or assigns of the initiator) to be removed from any or all distribution lists under the control of such initiator (and the agents or assigns of the initiator), it shall be deemed an AUP Violation for such initiator (and the agents or assigns of the initiator) to initiate the transmission of a electronic mail message to such a recipient upon receipt of such request. After the expiration of a reasonable period of time for removal from such lists defined in Acceptable Use Policy Enforcement– Enforcement of Notification Terms. Such a request shall be deemed to terminate a pre-existing business relationship for purposes of determining whether subsequent messages are subject to terms of this policy as unsolicited electronic mail messages defined in Acceptable Use Policy Enforcement - PROHIBITION OF TRANSMISSION OF UNSOLICITED ELECTRONIC MAIL.

INCLUSION OF IDENTIFIER AND OPT-OUT/IN ON ELECTRONIC MAIL- It shall be deemed an AUP Violation for any initiator (and the agents or assigns of the initiator) to initiate the transmission of any electronic mail message to any recipient unless the message provides, in a manner that is clear and conspicuous to the recipient—

• initiators (and the agents or assigns of the initiator) shall utilize ‘opt in’ or ‘double opt in’ rules to engage recipients for distribution of electronic mailings and display in a clear and conspicuous manor any ‘pre-selected’ options to receive solicited electronic mail or electronic communications;

• upon receipt on electronic email or electronic communications the identification that the message is a solicited electronic mail message; and

• notice of the opportunity, under Acceptable Use Policy on Electronic Mail – Prohibition of Transmission of Electronic Mail after Objection, not to receive further solicited electronic mail messages from the initiator.

• ENFORCEMENT OF POLICIES BY INTERNET SERVICE PROVIDERS-

1. PROHIBITION OF TRANSMISSIONS IN VIOLATION OF POSTED POLICY- It shall be deemed an AUP Violation for any initiator (and the agents or assigns of the initiator) to initiate the transmission of a electronic mail message to any recipient in violation of a policy governing the use of the equipment of a provider of Internet access service for transmission, including SMTP Relay Service.

2. REQUIREMENTS FOR ENFORCEABILITY- The requirements under this paragraph for policy regarding electronic mail messages are as follows:

(1)  CLARITY- The policy shall explicitly provide that compliance with a rule or set of rules is a condition of use of the equipment of a provider of Internet access service to deliver electronic mail messages.

(2) PUBLICLY AVAILABILITY- The policy shall be publicly available by at least one of the following methods:

(a) WEB POSTING- The policy is clearly and conspicuously posted on a World Wide Web site of the provider of Internet access service, which has an Internet domain name that is identical to the Internet domain name of the electronic mail address to which the rule or set of rules applies.

(b) NOTIFICATION IN COMPLIANCE WITH TECHNOLOGICAL STANDARD- Such policy is made publicly available by the provider of Internet access service in accordance with a technological standard adopted and recognized by PEAK 10 by rule as a fair standard.

(3) INTERNAL OPT-OUT LIST- If the policy of a provider of Internet access service requires compensation specifically for the transmission of electronic mail messages into its system, the provider shall provide an option to its subscribers not to receive any electronic mail messages, except that such option is not required for any subscriber who has agreed to receive electronic mail messages in exchange for discounted or free Internet access service.

3. OTHER ENFORCEMENT- Nothing in this Policy shall be construed to prevent or limit, in any way, a provider of Internet access service from enforcing, pursuant to any remedy available under any other provision of Federal, State, or local criminal or civil law, a policy regarding electronic mail messages.

PROTECTION - 

• GOOD FAITH EFFORTS TO BLOCK TRANSMISSIONS- PEAK 10 shall not be held liable under any Federal, State, or local civil or criminal law, for any action it takes in good faith to block the transmission or receipt of electronic mail messages or suspensions due to non-compliance to the polices outlined in Acceptable Use Policy on Electronic Mail.

• INNOCENT RETRANSMISSION- PEAK 10 and the facilities of which are used only to handle, transmit, retransmit, or relay an electronic mail message transmitted in violation of subsections defining acceptable use shall not be liable for any harm resulting from the transmission or receipt of such message. PEAK 10 may provide consent to the transmission or retransmission of electronic mail with actual knowledge that the transmission is prohibited by subsections defined in Acceptable Use Policy on Electronic Mail with written approval from the recipient and request of the initiator (and the agents or assigns of the initiator).

GENERAL GUIDELINES FOR REPORTING SPAM 

• Forward a copy of the complete spam keeping the subject line in tact. 

• DO NOT send the original spam message as an attachment. Many abuse desks do not accept attachments and your complaint may never be received. 

• Include full headers of the message. This is the most important rule for reporting spam. It is impossible to determine the true origin of an e-mail without full header information. Without this information, the provider can take no action against the initiator. Follow these instructions to obtain header information: 
  

Netscape: Open the message. Go to VIEW, HEADERS, and click ALL. The headers are visible at the top of the message.

Outlook: Double-click on the message to open it into a separate window, click on VIEW/OPTIONS, and the headers will be visible.

Outlook Express: When viewing the message, click FILE, PROPERTIES. Click the DETAILS tab, and the headers will be visible.

Eudora: Double-click the message. Click the button that says "Blah blah." The headers will be visible.

For any other e-mail clients, consult your documentation, or company that makes the software.

• Be polite. A generic complaint void of any threats or emotion will work best. For instance, This is unsolicited, undesirable e-mail. Please take appropriate actions to stop it. The information below should be all you need. 
  --begin full headers--

• Do not send repeated messages regarding the same spam message. Once you send a complaint you will most like not see a response from the ISP. This should not be taken as a sign of inaction. When an ISP has a spammer using their service, they are usually overwhelmed with complaints. However, subsequent unsolicited e-mails should of course be reported.

HOW TO REPORT SPAM ORIGINATING FROM A PEAK 10 CONNECTION- 

If you determine that the unsolicited e-mail originated from a PEAK 10 connection, please follow the General Guidelines for Reporting Spam and send the complaint to abuse@peak10.com. Sending unsolicited e-mail from a PEAK 10 connection is a violation of PEAK 10 Terms of Service Agreement. Customers in violation of this provision of the agreement are subject to suspension or termination.

HOW TO REPORT SPAM ORIGINATING FROM OUTSIDE A PEAK 10 CONNECTION- 

Spam originating from outside a PEAK 10 network should be reported to the sender's ISP using the General Guidelines for Reporting Spam. PEAK 10 is unable to take action against spammers from other domains. Therefore it is not necessary to report unauthorized access attempts from other ISPs to the PEAK 10 Abuse Department.

More information regarding spam

For more information regarding spam and its effects on the Internet, we recommend the following sites:

"How to complaint to a spammer's provider." - http://spam.abuse.net/howtocomplain.html 
"Figuring out where Spam came from." - http://ddi.digital.net/~gandalf/spamfaq.html 
"Tells where spam is coming from." - http://samspade.org/d/ 
"Don't Spew" - http://www.faqs.org/rfcs/rfc2828.html

_______________________________________

How To Determine WHO Sent That Unsolicited Electronic Message

Below you will find examples of tracking down the origin of a spam message. By following these steps you will be able to track down where the message originated in order to file a complaint. Included are examples of tracking spam through e-mail as well as spam on Usenet.

Unsolicited Electronic E-Mail

The following is what a typical e-mail header looks like. The numbered areas contain key information for tracking down the source of the spam:

Microsoft Mail Internet Headers Version 2.0

Received: from mail-1.xyz.demon.net ([172.16.243.143]) by 
sbs2000.iiid.local with Microsoft SMTPSVC(5.0.2195.2966);
Wed, 17 Jul 2002 07:05:09 +0100 
Received: from relay-1.mail.xyz.net [192.168.242.51] by mail-1.sbs.xyz.net with smtp id 17Uhw0-000PUK-49; Wed, 17 Jul 2002 07:05:12 +0100
Received: from ns2.somemailserver.com ([192.168.124.160])
by relay-1.mail.xyz.net id aa0125684; 17 Jul 2002 6:05 GMT
Received: by SNOOPY.venture.com (PowerMTA(TM) v1.5); Wed,
17 Jul 2002 01:57:56 -0400 (envelope-from <mail1@mail.spammailer.com>)
To: cm3k2@peak10.com 
From: "Viagra Online"@relay-1.mail.demon.net
Subject: Viagra - Xenical
Content-Type: text
Date: Wed, 17 Jul 2002 01:57:56 -0400

• The IP address of where the spam originated is located on this line. Be careful to only take the information in the brackets, as other information on this line can be forged. When finding the originating IP, it is usually in the last "Received:" line in the headers of the message. You may usually disregard the "Received:" lines before that one, because they only show the path that the message took to get to your address. Once you have the IP, you can determine who owns that IP by going to http://www.arin.net/whois and using the search option. This will give you all of the information you need to file a complaint against the initiator (contact e-mail addresses, etc.)

• The "From:" field is almost always forged in a spam message, so disregard any information on this line. It will not help you in tracking down the origins of this message.

• This line will usually have your e-mail address on it since the spam came to you, but not always. If another address appears in the "TO:" field, the spam was still meant for you. Spammers will use this method to make it look as if the message came to you by accident ¡ which isn't the case.

How To Determine The Sender's ISP

Once you have determined the sender's IP address, the next step in the reporting spam is to determine to whom it should be reported. The owner of an IP address, can use the following Web sites:

• For American addresses, use ARIN (American Registry of Internet Numbers) at: http://www.arin.net/whois/index.html

• For European addresses, use RIPE at: http://www.ripe.net/cgi-bin/whois

• For Asia-Pacific addresses, use APNIC at: http://www.apnic.net/

There is also a site that will search through all of these IP Address Registries. This tool can be found at http://www.samspade.org/

A Whois look-up on any of these sites will yield a result similar to the following:

REGISTRANT:

Peak 10, Inc. (NETBLK-PEAK10-NETBLK-1) 
8910 Lenox Pointe Dr.  Suite A 
Charlotte, North Carolina 28273 
US

Netname: PEAK10-NETBLK-1 
Netblock: 66.129.64.0 - 66.129.127.255 
Maintainer: PEK

Coordinator: 
Peak 10 (ZP76-ARIN) abuse@peak10.com 
866-732-5836

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Billing Contact:

Organization: 
Peak 10, Inc. 
Peak 10 Support 
8910 Lenox Pointe Drive 
Charlotte, North Carolina 28273 
US 
Phone: 704-264-1010 
Fax..: 704-264-2010 
Email: support@peak10.com

Registrar Name....: Register.com 
Registrar Whois...: whois.register.com 
Registrar Homepage: http://www.register.com

Domain Name: PEAK-10.COM

Created on..............: Wed, Mar 15, 2000 
Expires on..............: Sat, Mar 15, 2003 
Record last updated on..: Wed, Jan 16, 2002

Administrative Contact: 
Peak 10, Inc. 
Peak 10 Support 
8910 Lenox Pointe Drive 
Charlotte, North Carolina 28273 
US Phone: 704-264-1010 
Fax: 704-264-2010 
Email: support@peak10.com

DNS Query:

     Domain System inverse mapping provided by:

     NS1.CLT.PEAK-10.COM 66.129.64.152
     NS1.JAX.PEAK-10.COM 66.129.80.152

The search provides valuable information in determining the sender's originating ISP.

Registrant: The registrant is the company or individual who has registered the IP address.

Administrative Contact, Technical Contact, Billing Contact: Here is where you will find information on where to send your complaint. Sometimes there are contact numbers and addresses for each category, while other categories there may have just one. Often there will be an Abuse address in this section.

Domain servers in listed order: This section shows the Name Servers that the Registrant is responsible.

If an abuse address is not listed, send the complaint to abuse@ the domain to which the IP address resolves(the address listed in the DNS query). It is an RFC standard that all domains have an abuse address to support complaints.