What Is Spam?
Spam is about consent, not about content.
It doesn't matter what the message is about:
porn, ads or lottery. Only if the message
is bulk and was not solicited than you can
condemn it as Spam.
When referring to emails, according to
the NCES (National Centre for Education
Statistic), "Spam refers to electronic
junk mail or junk newsgroup postings. Some
people define Spam even more generally as
any unsolicited e-mail. In addition to being
a nuisance, Spam also eats up a lot of network
bandwidth. Because the Internet is a public
network, little can be done to prevent Spam,
just as it is impossible to prevent junk
mail. However, the use of software filters
in e-mail programs can be used to remove
most Spam sent through e-mail."
Some search engines use the term to describe
websites that try to attain a high listing
rank by submitting identical or mirror pages.
In this article I am going to give you a
few tips about email Spam.
If we give a too general definition to
the word, we might end up taking for Spam
perfectly legitimate emails. Not "any"
unsolicited mail is Spam. Spam means unsolicited
bulk email.
If a message is unsolicited that doesn't
make it Spam. The same goes for bulk. A
message is Spam only if it is both unsolicited
and bulk. When you receive an unsolicited
job enquiry, you do receive an uncalled-for
email. But is that Spam? No. What about
a newsletter? That is bulk, but no Spam
if you are a subscriber.
Why Do You Get Spam?
Have you posted your email address online
in forums, chat rooms, on your website?
Than why do you marvel? Spammers gather
the addresses from the Internet; so no wonder
your own found its way onto a spammer's
list. Besides, spammers use different other
means to get what they want: viruses, Trojans,
buying from other spammers.
Spam Scams
How many times have you received an "update
your account" email from paypal, a
bank or ebay? How many times have you received
a "warning message"? Maybe it
didn't look suspicious to you as it came
from an institution you work with, but was
it really that way? This kind of emails
is referred to as "phishing scam".
There is not much you can do when this happens.
Just don't click on any links in that email,
don't give away any confidential information
such as social security number, bank account
or credit card number. There are some free
tools that can protect you against known
phishing websites. For example download
the free EarthLink toolbar and report the
scam to the Anti-Phishing Working Group.
What about the emails from different Nigerian
(or other nationalities) citizens offering
you a percentage of a vast sum of money?
Yes, you've got that right: scam. You'll
only loose your money on this one. Better
don't be curious. They will ask you to pay
a fee in advance - a so called transfer
tax, and guess what: some complications
will appear, you have to pay more and more
and end up with nothing. And don't believe
the "you won money" lottery sweepstakes
either. You'll only spend. The same goes
for the Nigerian purchase scam: they want
to buy something from you, pay by check
and they wish the goods to be sent in Lagos,
Nigeria.
A Major Don't
Don't reply to spammers... ever! Don't
send any "remove me" message.
By doing so you confirm your address is
active, you show you read bulk messages,
you prove your ISP doesn't use Spam filters.
You are the perfect candidate. You will
never be removed. On the contrary...
Spam Fighters
If Spam really bothers you and you want
to fight against it, than you have plenty
of possibilities. If you are an American,
join Cauce at: http://www.cauce.org/.
If not... check out Cauce's international
partners (example: EuroCAUCE for Italy,
Spain, Germany, Holland, France, Norway).
Associations such as to the Anti-Phishing
Working Group, the American Federal Trade
Commission (FTC) or other volunteers' organizations
are there to help protecting you against
scam or other illegal emails (children pornography
for example). Detailed information about
Spam, Spammers and ways to fight against
them you can find here: http://www.spamhaus.org/.
About the Author
Mihaela Lica is a skilled journalist and
PR consultant, founder of Pamil Visions
- http://www.pamil-visions.com/
Previously she used to work as a military
TV redactor for Pro Patria and the Military
Media Trust within the Public Relations
Directorate of the Romanian Ministry of
Defence.
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