At IU, what should I do about threatening or harassing email?

A message is typically defined as harassing if the recipient has asked the sender to cease contact. Sending harassing email using any university information technology resource is a violation of Indiana University policy.

If you feel that your safety or property is at risk, do not respond to the threatening message, but instead contact your local law enforcement agency immediately. If you are a student or faculty or staff member at one of the IU campuses, contact your campus police. After you've contacted law enforcement, forward the message with full headers to the University Information Policy Office (UIPO) at  it-incident@iu.edu .

If you receive an email message from someone you do not want to contact you but you don't feel threatened, you should first write to that person, politely asking that you not be contacted again. Save the original message as well as your reply. If the person contacts you again, forward all messages (the first unwanted message, your request to cease contact, and any following unwanted messages) to UIPO at  it-incident@iu.edu . Be sure to include the full headers in everything you forward.

For instructions on displaying and sending full headers, see:

• In Microsoft Outlook, how do I display and send the full headers of an email message?
• In Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail, or Entourage, how do I display and send the full headers of an email message?
• In Mac OS X Mail, how do I display and send the full headers of an email message?
• In IU Webmail, how do I display and send the full headers of an email message?
• In Imail, how do I display and send the full headers of an email message?
• In Umail, how do I display and send the full headers of an email message?
• In Eudora, how do I display and send the full headers of an email message?

UIPO staff will investigate the complaint and verify the source of the message, and then pass the incident to the proper disciplinary department (e.g., Dean of Students, Human Resources, the police department), depending on the location and status of the harasser.

If you are receiving annoying email messages but you do not feel the need to involve law enforcement, UITS offers a filtering service; see At IU, how can I filter spam? Alternatively, you can write your own mail filter to screen out messages with a known pattern (e.g., from a particular sender or with a particular subject line); for more information, see the document below for your mail program:

• Using Outlook 2003 and 2007, how can I control junk email?
• In Microsoft Outlook 2000 or 2002, how do I set up rules to handle incoming mail?
• In Mac OS X Mail, how do I set up incoming mail filters?

Other desktop-based email readers, such as Thunderbird and Outlook Express, also have filter functions that you can use to screen out unwanted email.

If you've received threatening email or feel you might, IU also offers many resources to help people at risk for harassment:

Comments/Questions/Corrections