Fight Against Spam

Chances are that you have had emails offering you drugs without a prescription, or loans, or get-rich-quick schemes—sometimes disguised to look like personal email. This "spam" accounts for more than half of all the email sent worldwide, cluttering up inboxes and distracting users from more important messages.

Spam is nothing but cyber-terrorism. It's an invasion of privacy, yours and mine.

Some say that spam is "flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it." My definition of spam, "getting email I haven't asked for."

What is spam?

Spam is unsolicited commercial email, the electronic equivalent of the paper junk mail that comes in your letterbox. Common types of spam are about:

• prescription drugs, drugs that enlarge or enhance body parts, herbal remedies, or weight loss drugs
• financial services, e.g. mortgage offers or schemes for reducing debts
• qualifications, e.g. university degrees, or professional titles available for purchase
• get-rich-quick schemes
• on-line gambling
• pirated software for incredibly low prices

Spam sometimes comes in disguise, with a subject line that reads like a personal message, e.g. "Sorry about yesterday", a business message, e.g. "Your account renewal now due", or a non-delivery message.

Avoiding Spam

• Use anti-spam software. Anti-spam software can reduce unwanted email, especially if it uses your feedback to "learn" which emails are spam.
• If you don’t know the sender, delete the email. Most spam is just a nuisance, but sometimes it can contain a virus that damages the computer when the email is opened.
• Never make a purchase from unsolicited email. By making a purchase, you are funding future spam. Your email address may also be added to lists that are sold to other spammers, so that you receive even more junk email.
• Never respond to spam or click on links in it. If you reply to spam—even to unsubscribe from the mailing list—you confirm that your email address is a valid one, encouraging more spam.
• Don’t use the "preview" mode in your email viewer. Many spammers can track when a message is viewed, even if you don’t click on the email. The preview setting effectively opens the email and lets spammers know that you receive their messages. When you check your email, try to decide whether it is spam on the basis of the subject line only.
• Use the "bcc" field if you email many people at once. The "bcc" or blind copy field hides the list of recipients from other users. If you put the addresses in the "To" field, spammers may harvest them and add them to mailing lists.
• Don’t publish your email address on websites, newsgroup lists or other online public forums. Spammers use programs that surf the internet to find addresses in such places.
• Opt out of further information or offers. When you fill out forms on websites, look for the checkbox that lets you choose whether to accept further information or offers.
• Use a few "secondary" email addresses. If you fill out web registration forms or surveys on sites from which you don’t want further information, use a secondary email address. This protects your main address from spam.
• Give your main address only to people you trust such as friends and colleagues.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) about SPAM...

Below are some links to sites that promote the fight against spam. If you're interested in joining the fight, check them out.