Good morning
Happy New Year to everyone.
Not sure where to ask this question so I put it here.
Our head is receiving really nasty emails from a user purporting to be a parent but the username is not a name that we know.
He / she is using a live.com address. Is there a way of tracing this user, or raising an issue with MS?
I'm afraid the simple answer to both of those is 'no' - the Data Protection Act prevents MS from giving out any details. The only thing you can do, unless it is something illegal they have said/done (in which case it should go to the police), is reply and ask them to put it in the form of a letter, or to come in to the school.
I was afraid that might be the case.
The user is making statements that are probably libellous and defamatory. I don't think the police would be interested.
We've tried asking for details and tried to strike up a dialogue but to no avail. Trying to trace the user is a bit of a last resort.
You could get the IP address the email was sent from out of the email headers and then compare it to other databases you have?
If you run an email server you could scan against all emails you've received on that and see if someone else has used an ip?
There's nothing on record to be able to easily search against to be honest. Thanks for the idea though.
Even if you managed to get an IP and match it to another IP, doesnt prove much.
Reply to the email once asking the parent to come forward, after that block it.
Try adding them as a friend on msn?
Doesn't prove much but can give you a rough idea.
Might sound a bit daft but have you tried searching using the persons email address on facebook?
Reply to it with a nice dose of Netsky attached.
Originally Posted by danIT
Nice ideas, thanks
I like it, but no, unfortunately
I had this problem once and replied saying I had requested their IP address from Microsoft and would track their home address from that. They would then receive a letter in the post in a few weeks time. It was a complete lie but received an apology and promise of no more communication within hours.
Wouldn't work - the headers contain the IP address of the sending client. In live.com's case, this will 99% of the time be the live.com servers - as it is web based.
Even if you get an IP address that isn't a live.com server, you can't use it to get anything, as they are somewhat dynamic on most home connections, and no ISP would hand it out without a court order.
Best advice is to reply saying that further communications will be ignored, and blocking that address.
If the contents are defamatory / libellous then take it to the police. They will be interested and it could even constitute harassment. It would require warrants to get the details from Live.com but they can be traced and served with notices. Speak with your LA legal team and if they don't have a policy then suggest that you are the guinea pigs for it.
Actually, webmail often does contain the IP of the original sender. This could be useful in so much as the mail may have been sent from within your school?
Hotmail for example puts in "X-originating-IP" - doesn't appear google do the same with gmail tho
Assuming you have a VLE that keeps decent logs (moodle does) you could also compare originating IPs and see if you get lucky - it's not proof, but may give you more of an idea.
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