SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS FOR REPORTING
'PORN SPAM' E-MAIL

These instructions are intended for e-mail, not for pop-ups.

For authorities to determine whether e-mail may be promoting a web site that is violating Internet obscenity laws, the Internet address of that web site is usually needed. The Internet address can be extracted from the e-mail promoting that web site. Our instructions explain how to do this while avoiding seeing pornographic images.   If you need an explanation of the words Internet address and links, Click here.

It is usually necessary to open spam e-mail to find the Internet address needed to send a complaint. Of course, opening any spam can activate a computer virus. Anti-virus software will reduce, but not eliminate, that risk. Opening spam e-mail will or may bring you more spam, but this can be prevented. If you open porn spam e-mail, you may confront visual pornography within the email itself. The next three paragraphs deal with the latter issues.

Caution for all: If porn spam e-mail is opened, or if you encounter porn spam pop-ups, never click any links to the web sites they are promoting. For many individuals, that first "innocent glimpse" is the first step to sexual addiction.

Will I be exposed to pornography?

If you open porn spam e-mail, you may see pornographic language and explicit visual pornography in the e-mail itself. E-mail systems that provide the option to block images (disabling embedded images) allow you to block images contained in an e-mail before you open it. If you don't use that blocking option, you would be exposed to any pornographic images in the e-mail. They would remain on your screen if you were to pursue our instructions guiding the viewer in extracting a web sites Internet address from e-mail.

Please note that blocking images from being displayed in e-mail will not prevent pornographic images from showing in the web site being promoted by that e-mail. (Your browser provides a different function to use for blocking images on websites. For instructions on how to do this using Microsoft Internet Explorer, click here.)

E-mail, pop-ups, and web sites may be pornographic, but purposely not sound pornographic. This is a common trick of pornographers.

If I open a porn spam e-mail and want to make a complaint, what do I do next?

These instructions are intended for e-mail, not for pop-ups. The instructions are intended to guide you in extracting the Internet address of a pornographic web site promoted by e-mail, without going to that web site. These instructions begin where an email has been opened that promotes a pornographic site.

When the Internet address is found, don't click on it. That would bring you or lead you to the site. If your email system permits you to disable all links, this would prevent you from unintentionally going to the web site.

How you get that Internet address depends on the format of the e-mail. E-mail generally comes in two formats: plain text and HTML.

If the porn spam is in plain text, your job is easy. The web address -- "http://(something or other)" -- will be in plain sight. Copy this web address and provide it in the "At This Internet Address" box on the ObscenityCrimes Complaint Form. In some e-mail programs (e.g., Microsoft Outlook), web addresses in plain-text e-mails are highlighted. That means they're live links. Don't click on them; they would bring you or lead you to a site with pornographic images.

E-mail in HTML format is simply e-mail composed as a Web page. That means that the Internet address is hidden in the underlying code, so to find it, you have to do a little hunting. Here are three methods to track down web addresses:

1. (Intended for e-mail, not for pop-ups) In some e-mail programs (e.g., Microsoft Outlook Express), you can "mouse-over" the live link (but don't click—that would bring you or lead you to a pornographic site ) and read the address in the lower left hand corner of the screen. Jot it down and type it in the "At This Internet Address" box on the ObscenityCrimes Complaint Form. :



2. If your mouse has left and right buttons, you can view the HTML source code through the "View Source Code" function. Here's how: (Intended for e-mail; not for pop-ups):

1. To lessen the chance of seeing pornography, you need to "restore down" the e-mail as much as you can, while keeping a little bit of the message part of the e-mail open. "Restore down" is the middle box of the three tiny boxes in the upper right-hand corner of your screen.



2. ( Warning: Don't click on the links in the e-mail— that would bring you or lead you to the Web site linked in the e-mail, which will be pornographic. ) Place your cursor over any part of the message section of e-mail— except for hyperlinks —then "right-click."



3. A small menu will appear, and "View Source Code" (or something like it) will be one of those choices. "Left-click" on "View Source Code."



4. A NotePad (plain-text) window will appear. This page is the underlying HTML code for that message.



5. *Look for the <a href=" "> tags. Inside the quote marks is the web address for that link. Copy it and paste it in the "At This Internet Address" box on the ObscenityCrimes Complaint Form. The best way to look for this is to use your word processor's search function (On many computers, this may be done by hitting Ctrl-F and then typing in href= and hitting Enter.)




3. (Intended for e-mail; not for pop-ups) If you use Microsoft's Outlook e-mail program (the full version), you can print out the hidden links in an e-mail. ( Don't click on any links—that would bring you or lead you to a site with pornographic images ) Go to "File," then choose "Print." You're looking for a check off box marked, "Print table of links." In the Windows 98 version of MS Outlook, that box is on the front of the dialogue box; in the Windows 2000 version, that box is under the "Options" tab. Check that box, then print the e-mail. At the end of the printed e-mail, there will be a table of links. At least one of them will be an "http://(something or other)". Type in that web address in the "At This Internet Address" box on the ObscenityCrimes Complaint Form.

Click here to go to the Obscenity Complaint Form