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.gov

Ja Di ksw

Ja Di ksw

macrumors 65816
Original poster
Apr 9, 2003
1,314
21
So I got a few calls from someone asking me to be in a census or whatever. I was busy, heard something about a poll and hit delete. Now, however, I started getting some e-mails and they end in .gov, asking for my help with some census. Can anyone get e-mails that end in .gov? I didn't think they could, so this might be legit. Does anyone have any idea if I have to reply by some law? To be honest I've never been as busy in life as I am right now, and really don't want to spend time doing some bs survey that gives some bs result about how I feel about Bush or whatever.

Advice?
Thank you!
 
Of course anyone can get e-mails from .gov addresses. How else do expect government employees/agencies to communicate with the rest of us?

That said, I'm not aware of the Census Bureau conducting surveys via e-mail (they do usually go door-to-door or use the phone to give them the best shot at a broad cross-section of people). What do the e-mails say? I doubt very much that anyone would come after you if you ignore them.
 
Yes, you can receive emails from .gov addresses; my work email ends in the local equivalent of .gov (albeit with .nz on the end). Nobody has any problems receiving them.
 
Ja Di ksw said:
Can anyone get e-mails that end in .gov?
Click to expand...

If you're asking, can anyone send mails with something.gov in their From: address? Yes, you would need to check the headers a little more closely to make sure the mail isn't spoofed.

Can anyone outside the US government agencies get a real .gov address (that is, one that you can send mail to)? No. But .gov doesn't just mean federal any more, states on down can get them too these days.
 
Haha, apparently I worded that wrong. I mean can anyone have THEIR e-mail end in .gov? Can I, some Joe Schmoe, obtain an e-mail that ends in .gov and then e-mail others as a scam? ie, is this person legit?

The e-mail actually wants me to call her, but currently I'm away for my sister's wedding and have no way of calling, so was considering e-mailing them back.
 
Ja Di ksw said:
The e-mail actually wants me to call her, but currently I'm away for my sister's wedding and have no way of calling, so was considering e-mailing them back.
Click to expand...
Okay, that works. If you send mail to the .gov address, you will be contacting someone who works at a government agency.
 
Ja Di ksw said:
Haha, apparently I worded that wrong. I mean can anyone have THEIR e-mail end in .gov? Can I, some Joe Schmoe, obtain an e-mail that ends in .gov and then e-mail others as a scam? ie, is this person legit?

The e-mail actually wants me to call her, but currently I'm away for my sister's wedding and have no way of calling, so was considering e-mailing them back.
Click to expand...

Ironically, the US department commerence has oversite over the organization that handles allocation of .com,.gov,.mil. So no, .gov addresses are tightly controlled.
 
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