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Thursday, April 27, 2000
Q: I keep getting e-mail that I don't want. How do I make it stop?
Have a question for David Radin? Contact him at his Web site
A: The geek term for unwanted e-mail is spam. Spam clogs your inbox with junk and wastes your precious time. At its worse, spam can be degrading to some group or even fraudulent. Many mailers of spam falsely identify themselves; so if you reply, you actually perpetuate the spam.
There are several ways to avoid spam before it starts. The problem is that once you start to get spam, it is difficult to make it stop. That's because of the way spammers collect names.
Spammers commonly harvest newsgroups and the World Wide Web using special software that recognizes e-mail addresses and drops them into a database. Harvesting produces lots of names for the mailer, the vast majority of which are poorly chosen, and who simply get annoyed by the solicitation. These lists are often used multiple times and even sold to other spammers. So what started as a single unsolicited e-mail can multiply into dozens or hundreds of unwanted messages.
Some spammers will continue to mail to you as long as their servers can run. Others allow you to "opt out," that is to be removed from the list. Unfortunately, when the mailer comes from somebody you don't know, you can't tell whether the remove option is genuine, or whether the sender is tricking you into telling him there is actually somebody on the receiving end -- thereby helping him spam you some more.
Some spam recipients inadvertently amplify their problems -- and create problems for their friends and associates -- by sending e-mail to large recipient lists, one or more of whom can copy the recipient list into their e-mail databases.
A more acceptable mailing method is called "opt-in," in which the recipient asks to be sent the mail -- theoretically because they're interested in the topic. In many cases, you actively subscribe to the mail list by submitting a form. In other cases, you're put on the list when you purchase something on the net or ask for information. If you end up on a bona fide opt-in list, you can normally remove yourself by following directions on the mailer or sending an unsubscribe message.
Here are a couple of tips to thwart spam:
Obtain a second e-mail address. Use only this e-mail address when you post messages to newsgroups. When your e-mail address is harvested, the spam will go into only this secondary account instead of clogging up your primary account.
Similarly, if you post an e-mail address on your Web site, post only this secondary e-mail address.
Do not reply to spam -- not even when the spam tells you how to unsubscribe. In many cases, instead of unsubscribing, you're actually confirming your e-mail address so the spammer can step up his efforts. This does not apply to lists to which you've actually subscribed.
Don't place your e-mail address into databases of people who don't want junk mail. Most are hoaxes. Spammers harvest addresses from these databases.
If it quacks like a duck:
Many spammers try to convince you that their message is not spam by using phrases such as "This is not spam," "You were sent this message because your address is in our subscriber database," or "If you have received this message in error and would like to be removed from future mailings ..."
Some spammers try to convince you that you asked for the message: "You received this copy as a subscriber to our opt-in e-mail list. If you no longer wish to receive solicitations simply unsubscribe by clicking here: (followed by some URL)."
Some spammers even go so far as to try to convince you that they are staying within some governmental guidelines: "This message is sent in compliance with the new e-mail bill section 301. Per Section 301, Paragraph (a)(2)(C) of S. 1618, further transmissions to you by the sender of this e-mail may be stopped at no cost to you."
It's often difficult to determine what's real with spam. But no matter what the sender says in the message, it's still spam!
Dealing with the glut:
Since you can't always avoid spam, make it easier to handle. Turn on the junk mail filter in your e-mail software. Then, whenever a spam makes its way through your filter (which will happen from time to time), add that sender to the junk mail senders list. The next time you receive a message from that address, it will be automatically filtered with your other junk mail.
If you get so much spam that your account becomes unusable, even with your junk mail filter, consider the solution of last resort -- changing e-mail addresses.
Then follow the procedure for not letting the spam start.
David Radin is host of the nationally syndicated radio show Internet Insider, a local version of which is aired on KDKA AM 1020 at noon Saturdays.
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