Somehow, a political group Jeff happens to disagree with got hold of his e-mail address, and started sending him junk mail. Then another got his address. And another. He’s not sure how he got on the lists, but he wants right-wing groups to stop sending him stuff and sharing his e-mail address with each other. How?

He writes:

Mysteriously, this hardcore liberal and absolute supporter of the banning of guns has ended up on some right wing prospect golden list. For some strange reason they think i want to vote for Michelle Bachmann, stop the evil socialist revolution (where? I’ve been waiting for it for years!) etc. When I call these companies, they offer to remove my email address (which the Heritage Foundation said they’d do, but has yet to do so). One of them claim that their agreements with the provider of their email lists forbids it being traced back (probably because it’s covering some embarrassing high-level connections).

They refuse, outright to do anything about this, and then claim that I’m being abusive to them when I use phrases like “whoring for the gun industry” to a gun rights organization, which are almost exclusively funded by same. I’m literally about at the point of filing a lawsuit just to get it to stop, and to drag the names out of them with a court order, but I don’t see why I should have to spend hundreds of dollars on something as stupid as not getting spammed, and what is sure to come nearer to November, and in a blizzard next year, junk mail. Please help!

I asked Jeff whether he thought a prankster or an enemy could have put him on these lists to mess with him. No, he says:

No, and considering my banner ads changed on certain political sites to a Republican bent, I’m guessing I got harvested through a site I visited or something. The real problem that I’m looking to have addressed is the inability to track down the source. Sure one organization might have to stop selling your name or sending you stuff, but as long as you’re on that database, a new one will pick you up every week.

Google-served ads might change based on all of the clearly right-wing e-mail he’s receiving in his Gmail account, but that’s not the real issue. The real question is how, short of ditching his e-mail address, Jeff can make the torrent stop. We know how to do that with snail mail, but does anyone out in the Hive Mind have any advice for Jeff?

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