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"Email Spam"
By
Mike Geronimo Lanier
Webmaster
Email spam is when you get unsolicited commercial email sent to you. It is a form of electronic junk-mail. It is usually people or companies trying
to get you to buy something you don't need. Just like late night TV infomercials or junk-mail you get from the post office. The more you give out your email address, the more likely you will get put onto
someone's mailing list. These mailing lists get sold and distributed around the world. The post office charges a nominal fee to have all of that junk-mail delivered every week. Since electronic mail
doesn't cost anything, it is more wide-spread then junk-mail from the post office. Some spammers offer opt-out links in the body of their emails promising to take you off their list. These often do not
work and in most cases add you to even more mailing lists.
Industry leaders recognize the problems consumers and business professionals face regarding spam. Legislation, new technology and procedures to
handle this issue are still under hot debate. There are a lot of companies that are selling solutions for your PC. None of these solutions work completely. The Internet Service Providers that provide you
with your email accounts are attempting to offer solutions for their customers and combat the problem behind the scenes.
Check with your Internet Service Provider about the spam blocker options that are currently available. Some of these solutions are better then
others. Some block email servers that are suspected of sending spam. The problem with this is that there can be a legitimate person or business that uses the same email service. This would mean that you
will never get the email they send to you and never know about it. Another method of controlling spam is to have you authenticate every sender. This adds a lot of work for you to approve senders. If most
of your important email is from a select group of people, the overhead in identifying senders may prove to be worthwhile.
One of the best solutions I have noticed thus far is when an ISP automatically responds to a suspected spammer for confirmation before completing
the delivery of the email. An image with a code is generated that has to be typed in manually via a website in order for the email to be delivered to you. Spammers are not going to take the time to do
this for millions of emails. The key is automation. If the process can be automated, spammers will find a way to work around the system. By making the process a manual one, spammers are thwarted.
A technique that business owners and professionals can use is to have several email accounts. I usually setup multiple email accounts for my
clients. This allows you to have an email address that you use just for mailing lists, another one just for clients, and another one for personal use. There is no limit to how many you can have. We then
integrate this approach with an email client that allows you to setup filters and check multiple email accounts automatically. What happens is that all of your junk email goes into a separate folder from
all of your important email. You can then browse the junk email at your leisure for offers that may be relevant. You don't have to worry about sifting through hundreds of emails each week looking for
those that are important to you.
Be sensitive to who you give your email address to. If there is not a compelling reason to have XYZ company email you, don't voluntarily give your
email address on a registration card, rebate offer or coupon. Most companies have privacy policies where they promise not to sell your email address to a third party. All it takes is one company to sell
or giveaway your email addresses to open the flood gates.
Don't become a small time spammer yourself. Sending out that funny joke or chain letter to everyone in your address book is a form of spam. Make
sure the people you forward messages onto welcome receiving them. Here are a couple of links on the subject of spam.
Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email
Federal Trade Commission
If you have any specific questions, feel free to email the Webmaster - Mike Geronimo Lanier at webmaster@etigerteam.com
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