Fighting Spam the Right Way

Spam today has made many internet users rethink about the usability of emails as a mode of communication so even the spread of computer virus is a matter of great concern. With the signing of the Can Spam bill by President Bush in December 2003, the first standard was set against bulk unsolicited email which are of commercial in nature.

The bill was naturally approved and voted by the Senate by a vote 97 to 0 and in essence stops a sender from sending unsolicited bulk commercial emails using tools like dictionaries for generating such mailers and hiding their identities via false return addresses. More over, these emails can not carry a subject line which is deceptive and must have an opt out provision. The law prevents the sender from accessing addresses from websites and any violation of the law can entail imprisonment up to one year.

Another point of discussion is that nowadays even greater numbers of spam is generated from other countries. These emails are harder to fight, because they come from outside our country’s laws and regulations. The Internet is not bound by any country blockades so controlling this problem becomes more difficult thought the laws seem to be good. So what is the solution? Here are 5 most effective spam protecting rules:

Number 1: Avoid displaying your email address on the net at all cost. There are products called ’spam spider’ which is used for scanning the internet for collecting e main addresses to build a mailing list. If you are one of those who wish to go deeper about the subject of ’spam spider’ do a search with those words on the net - the results would leave you awe-struck. There is an interesting counter attack site called WebPoison.org which is an open source project which fights ’spambots’ and ’spam spiders’ effectively because it simply sends them false web pages containing rubbish email addresses.

Number 2: Get yourself a software which blocks spam. Chances are that you might decide to go in for the professional version but whatever you do getting the software is a must since it would help you save plenty of time. The software is not foolproof, but they really do help although you will usually have to carry out some manual set up to block certain types of email.

Number 3: You could have several email addresses. There are several free email address you could choose from through which you could receive newsletters and have another address as a back up. This is somewhat like your friends have your private cell number but all the rest of your contacts have your official number.

Number 4: The most frequently encountered problem with spam is that they have attachments and these contain dangerous viruses. Corporations often have filters that don’t let such things pass to you. Next, look for mail filter service providers.

Number 5: These days email services can be had with the facility of ‘bulk mail’ baskets. In case your existing service provider does not support this concept, try to switch to another vendor. All you have to do is to collect such mails and put then in a bulk email pile and ‘choose’ to let them dwell in your circle. Any spam blocking software would also run with the same principles but there is nothing like having a couple of extra precautions - so it is worth looking into.

Written by Amanda Gamdana on May 31st, 2009 with no comments.
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