Canada's National Amateur Radio Society
"We're ALL about
Amateur Radio!"
<Tous ensembles pour la radioamateur!>
Any licensed Canadian amateur radio operator can have an e-mail address of the form callsign@rac.ca.
No e-mail is sent from the RAC technical support
team, or using an
address in the form
.
Such malicious e-mail is masquerading as official RAC e-mail to entice
you to open it. It is NOT genuine and should never be opened as it
probably contains a virus.
Spam is a serious problem. It affects all of us.
The RAC alias server does NOT increase the amount of spam you receive.
Here are some answers to the most common complaints.
Q - I am receiving a lot of spam lately, addressed to my callsign@rac.ca address. Is RAC selling the address list to spammers?
A - NO ! The address list is confidential and no one has access to it.
Unfortunately, if your e-mail address is published anywhere on the internet, it is easy for spammers to find it and build it into an address list. They then usually fake a "from:" address, and either use, or sell the list - the information is NOT provided by RAC.
Learn more about the war against spam at
 | Death
to Spam! - http://www.mindworkshop.com/alchemy/nospam.html |
Q - I have received spam from someone using my callsign address, or from xxx@server.rac.ca. How do they get into the RAC server?
A - Mail like that does not come from the RAC server. They are using fake addresses to make it look like we are sponsoring them. Actually except for a few minor exceptions, nothing but a legitimate Canadian callsign will be accepted by our server.
Q -
I just received an e-mail with a "To:" address - not
to me -
but to
How
does this work and could this method not be blocked at rac.ca?
A - The "To:" field that you see in the header of an email message is really only for display purposes. There is a separate hidden field called the "Envelope Recipient". It's kind of like sending a letter via Canada Post. Your letter may have the recipient's address on it, but that's not the one that is used for delivery. The address on the envelope is where the mail gets sent.
If someone sends an email message addressed to
on the envelope, but only
puts "lisa" in the visible "To:" field, the
message will make it through. Because "lisa" does not look
like a valid email address, the RAC server appends its own domain to
the field, hence the "To:
"
field.
So, basically what is happening here is that you got some spam and the spammer hid the real recipients of the message by putting "lisa" in the "To:" header. The RAC server did its job by trying to fix the message and send it on its way.
Q - If the RAC server
has nothing to do with the spam, how come I see the header
on many of my spam messages?
A - In most cases, your callsign@rac.ca address is much more likely to be published on someone's web site than your regular e-mail address. Just do a Google search for your callsign and see!
It follows that spammers are more likely to add your address to their mailing lists. When they send spam to a callsign@rac.ca address, of course it is sent to us, and our server forwards all your incoming mail to you.
Q - OK then, why does RAC not simply block the spam ?
A - Spam can be
rejected based on the source, or on the content. For
many years, we have argued that the RAC e-mail forwarding system should not
make judgments about what source or what content should be blocked. It
is YOUR e-mail, and we felt that only you could make that kind of
decision. Programs like iHateSpam can be installed on your own
computer as a last defence.
When the forwarding system was first set up, spam was almost
non-existent, and our policy worked well. With time, however, spam has
become a major headache for Internet Service Providers. The RAC
e-mail server has been black-listed by an increasing number for not doing any blocking. This has
been time-consuming to sort out and has resulted in delays to your e-mail.
Regretfully therefore, and knowing that our only realistic alternative was to
completely discontinue the RAC e-mail forwarding service, we tried applying a light
universal filtering to all mail incoming to addresses on the RAC server,
effective June 15/04. On February 19, 2008 a further change was made and
the level of filtering was increased to what we hope will be a more
acceptable level following a general increase in unsolicited and bulk
e-mail traffic on the internet. There will still be some spam getting
through and we recommend that individual users maintain their own spam
blocking software. The RAC e-mail forwarding system is entirely
automatic. Registration for the service is done directly by the user through
our server with no human contact during registration or forwarding of your
e-mail. The spam blocker software we use is Spam Assassin (details at http://www.spamassassin.org/),
which has an excellent reputation among web site operators compared with some
other heavy-handed systems that have been known for many "false
positives", including black-listing benign users.
It is unlikely, but possible, that a desired piece of e-mail may be
blocked by the filter and would not be forwarded to your real e-mail
address. If you do not want to face even that remote possibility, you
may wish to discontinue use of the RAC e-mail forwarding service.
In the long run, the only solution may be to close down the
callsign@rac.ca aliasing
system - a last resort, I am sure you would agree.
Q - Is spam a problem for other communities as well?
A- Yes it most certainly is. Click here for a page summarizing the problems that they are experiencing at the linux web site.
Learn more about the war against spam at
| Death
to Spam! - http://www.mindworkshop.com/alchemy/nospam.html |
Other questions about my callsign@rac.ca address
Q - How do I set up, my own callsign@rac.ca e-mail address?
A - Please go to the alias website at http://aliases.rac.ca.
Q - I have changed my e-mail address. How do I get my callsign address working again?
A - If you change your e-mail address, you can change your alias at http://aliases.rac.ca.
Q - What do you mean by alias?
A - An alias is just an alternate e-mail address. Mail sent to your alias is directed to our server. The server looks you up in the database and forwards the e-mail message to your real address. No one ever sees the mail, nor is any copy kept.
Q - Where can I find instructions for operating the alias system?
A - Instructions for managing your alias can be found on the alias website at http://aliases.rac.ca.
Q - I am tired of talking to a machine. How can I reach someone who can help me?
A - If all else fails,
please send a message to
,
and we will see what can be done to help with your problem.
Q - I think I did something wrong, and fouled up the system and now nothing works. What do I do to get it going again?
A - If all else fails,
please send a message to
,
and we will see what can be done to help with your problem.
Q - I no longer want to use a callsign@rac.ca address. How do I remove my address from the system?
A - Go to the alias website at http://aliases.rac.ca where you can delete your alias from the system.