printReduce E-mail Spamming
HGExperts.comHG.org
Most of us have E-mail accounts that get attacked by spammers. These tips will help you reduce the amount of spam in your email.
What is spam?
Spam is a term used on the Internet to refer to unsolicited e-mail and Usenet postings. These messages are usually intended to entice the recipient into buying a product or service of some kind or into participating in a get-rich-quick scheme. The senders (known as spammers) usually distribute their messages to thousands or even millions of people at once, and they do not ask their recipients beforehand if they want to receive such mail. Therefore, you will often hear these messages called bulk e-mail, unsolicited e-mail, or junk e-mail.
Spam is one of the biggest problems the Internet faces today. This is true for several reasons:
• Spam costs money. You may not realize that every e-mail message has a cost associated with it, but it does. Transporting data across the Internet costs money because access providers must invest in increased transmission and storage capacity as traffic increases. You can’t easily identify the cost as you can with mailing a letter, but it’s there. However, since Internet users generally don’t pay more if they transfer more data, spammers can send out millions of messages just as cheaply as they can send one. The cost is shared by everyone who uses the Internet, including you.
• If you happen to pay for your access by the hour or minute, then having to sort through all those spam messages can lead to increased time online, which translates into higher monthly bills for you.
• Spam can slow the performance of the Internet. Large volumes of spam have been known to slow down e-mail delivery for hours or even days, and it sometimes even causes some computers on the Internet to crash, further impeding the network’s performance.
• Spam is just plain rude. Conduct on the Internet is governed by an unwritten set of rules called Netiquette, and one of those rules is that it’s not acceptable to send out unsolicited mass mailings.
What can I do to stop receiving spam?
To reduce email spamming, ask your correspondents to follow those simple rules regarding your private email:
1. To never give your e-mail address to anybody. Your email account is only for friends and family;
2. To never use your email in a list of recipients. In other words, ask them to send your emails without any “cc”;
3. To never put your email address on a website. For example, they shouldn’t use the "Send this link to a friend" feature with your email;
4. They should not send birthday cards, thank you cards or any other cards from any website to your email;
5. They shouldn’t add your email in any social network, such as Facebook, MSN, etc.;
6. They shouldn’t forward jokes, news, political comments, charity or petition requests.
Here is more you can do to help reduce spam:
1. Create for yourself additional email accounts used for different purposes. For example you can create an email yourname.shopping@yourISP.com used for all your purchases. After a few years when too many spam are reaching this address, you can just delete it and create a new one;
2. You can create a special email account that you only provide to your financial institutions. If you receive any message from those institutions on another email account, you will know immediately that it is a spam or a way to trick you to give sensitive information to a criminal organization;
3. Create an additional email account to be used for all the websites asking you to register.
Furthermore, you should take into consideration this tips to help you protect your privacy:
1. Never use your real name or birth date on any website except on those you already have a commercial relation (your financial institutions, travel agents, etc.). Of course you should use your real info when making a purchase;
2. Create and use an "Internet" identity for forums, chat rooms and social networks. Don't use your real name and main email address (create an additional one just for that purpose) when posting comments.
3. Do not post your pictures online. You never know by whom they will be seen and how they could be manipulated against you in the future.
What else can be done?
You should report the spam as soon as possible to make it easier for system administrators to track down the offender, especially when the mail header has been forged. If you report the spam quickly, the spammer’s account(s) can be closed sooner, making it less likely that he or she will have time to receive e-mail responses and thereby profit from sending the spam.
If the subject of the spam is an illegal activity, such as a pyramid scheme or a phony investment offer, you can also contact the appropriate law enforcement authorities. Most any activity that is illegal when conducted via the postal service or telephone is also illegal on the Internet, and the authorities will investigate it and file charges if necessary.
Finally, if you feel that legal regulations are necessary to control spam, you can contact your state or federal legislators. Legislation to regulate or even outlaw spam has been proposed at both the state and federal levels. Whether such laws will be passed and what form they will take will be determined in large part by the opinions of those who use the Internet, so it is important for users to be heard so that this issue can be addressed in a thoughtful and evenhanded way.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: HGExperts.com
HGExperts.com - Directory of Expert Witnesses, Forensic Experts, Medical Expert Witnesses, Litigation Support, Arbitrators, Mediators and Legal Speakers
Copyright HG.org
More information about HG.org
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, it is not intended to provide legal advice as individual situations will differ and should be discussed with an expert and/or lawyer. For specific technical or legal advice on the information provided and related topics, please contact the author.
Spam is a term used on the Internet to refer to unsolicited e-mail and Usenet postings. These messages are usually intended to entice the recipient into buying a product or service of some kind or into participating in a get-rich-quick scheme. The senders (known as spammers) usually distribute their messages to thousands or even millions of people at once, and they do not ask their recipients beforehand if they want to receive such mail. Therefore, you will often hear these messages called bulk e-mail, unsolicited e-mail, or junk e-mail.
Spam is one of the biggest problems the Internet faces today. This is true for several reasons:
• Spam costs money. You may not realize that every e-mail message has a cost associated with it, but it does. Transporting data across the Internet costs money because access providers must invest in increased transmission and storage capacity as traffic increases. You can’t easily identify the cost as you can with mailing a letter, but it’s there. However, since Internet users generally don’t pay more if they transfer more data, spammers can send out millions of messages just as cheaply as they can send one. The cost is shared by everyone who uses the Internet, including you.
• If you happen to pay for your access by the hour or minute, then having to sort through all those spam messages can lead to increased time online, which translates into higher monthly bills for you.
• Spam can slow the performance of the Internet. Large volumes of spam have been known to slow down e-mail delivery for hours or even days, and it sometimes even causes some computers on the Internet to crash, further impeding the network’s performance.
• Spam is just plain rude. Conduct on the Internet is governed by an unwritten set of rules called Netiquette, and one of those rules is that it’s not acceptable to send out unsolicited mass mailings.
What can I do to stop receiving spam?
To reduce email spamming, ask your correspondents to follow those simple rules regarding your private email:
1. To never give your e-mail address to anybody. Your email account is only for friends and family;
2. To never use your email in a list of recipients. In other words, ask them to send your emails without any “cc”;
3. To never put your email address on a website. For example, they shouldn’t use the "Send this link to a friend" feature with your email;
4. They should not send birthday cards, thank you cards or any other cards from any website to your email;
5. They shouldn’t add your email in any social network, such as Facebook, MSN, etc.;
6. They shouldn’t forward jokes, news, political comments, charity or petition requests.
Here is more you can do to help reduce spam:
1. Create for yourself additional email accounts used for different purposes. For example you can create an email yourname.shopping@yourISP.com used for all your purchases. After a few years when too many spam are reaching this address, you can just delete it and create a new one;
2. You can create a special email account that you only provide to your financial institutions. If you receive any message from those institutions on another email account, you will know immediately that it is a spam or a way to trick you to give sensitive information to a criminal organization;
3. Create an additional email account to be used for all the websites asking you to register.
Furthermore, you should take into consideration this tips to help you protect your privacy:
1. Never use your real name or birth date on any website except on those you already have a commercial relation (your financial institutions, travel agents, etc.). Of course you should use your real info when making a purchase;
2. Create and use an "Internet" identity for forums, chat rooms and social networks. Don't use your real name and main email address (create an additional one just for that purpose) when posting comments.
3. Do not post your pictures online. You never know by whom they will be seen and how they could be manipulated against you in the future.
What else can be done?
You should report the spam as soon as possible to make it easier for system administrators to track down the offender, especially when the mail header has been forged. If you report the spam quickly, the spammer’s account(s) can be closed sooner, making it less likely that he or she will have time to receive e-mail responses and thereby profit from sending the spam.
If the subject of the spam is an illegal activity, such as a pyramid scheme or a phony investment offer, you can also contact the appropriate law enforcement authorities. Most any activity that is illegal when conducted via the postal service or telephone is also illegal on the Internet, and the authorities will investigate it and file charges if necessary.
Finally, if you feel that legal regulations are necessary to control spam, you can contact your state or federal legislators. Legislation to regulate or even outlaw spam has been proposed at both the state and federal levels. Whether such laws will be passed and what form they will take will be determined in large part by the opinions of those who use the Internet, so it is important for users to be heard so that this issue can be addressed in a thoughtful and evenhanded way.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: HGExperts.com
HGExperts.com - Directory of Expert Witnesses, Forensic Experts, Medical Expert Witnesses, Litigation Support, Arbitrators, Mediators and Legal Speakers
Copyright HG.org
More information about HG.org
While every effort has been made to ensure the accuracy of this publication, it is not intended to provide legal advice as individual situations will differ and should be discussed with an expert and/or lawyer. For specific technical or legal advice on the information provided and related topics, please contact the author.
