Breaking (email) Chains

See, spam is annoying, but easy to delete and/or block once you have learnt by trial and error that you can't possibly win 1000$ every third day in the same lottery and that you had better learn to live with certain endowments, sized as they are, rather than try enhancing it artificially. In fact. with my strict filtering options I don't receive any spam... nothing whatsoever. That also means that all the jokes that one of my friends sends with any mention of 'Viagra' in it doesn't get through. I bear with that, especially since all the mail from my evangelist uncle from the US gets filtered too (you just need to filter out any mail with "feel", "void" and "soul" in the same sentence; it takes care of the Scientology mails too).

Spam is one thing, unsolicited forwards from dear ones is quite another. You cannot relegate them to the spam folder lest you miss one of their occasional personalised mails. However, you can't bear having to deal with the flood of well meaning, uplifting messages and warnings about what cellphone and cellophane tape can do to your virility. Neither can you afford to tell them, however mildly, that unlike them, you actually do have sufficient reading material, and don't need the daily doses of borrowed wisdom.

I think I have managed to find a solution that I'd like to share.

Now, you'd all have noticed by now that these forwards tend to be long... you can trace a long chain. In fact, you'd probably be able to ferret out 300 odd email addresses in any one of these forwards, a gold mine for all the spammers out there. That's besides the point though. What you need to look for is something that resembles this, preferably way up in the chain:

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Confidentiality Notice

This communication and the information it contains:-
(a) Is intended for the person(s) or organisation(s) named above and for no other person(s) or organisation(s).
(b) May be confidential, legally privileged and protected in law. Unauthorised use, copying or disclosure of any of it may be unlawful. If you have received this communication in error, please contact us immediately by email at PostMaster@somecompany.usuallyAnITservicesCompany.com.

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Now what you need to do forward the mail to postmaster at the indicated email address with a note saying something that involves hints like "improper use of corporate mail", "unsolicited", "nuisance" and such like. Before you bite your lip, digest this. This chap, way up in the chain that got to you, is someone you don't know, don't care about and loathe a little for being one of the original culprits perpetrating this bane. There is going to be no blow back possibly, on the near-dear one who forwarded it to you, way down the chain. After all, a little chat with the Postmaster of one's corporate mail servers never hurt anyone.

Spread the word. Send this to as many people as you can. The more people doing this, the merrier. Go ahead. Break those chains!