October
27, 2003
Grade
4 Teacher
McDaniel
College
SLM:
521-MC
Instructor: Charles Phillips
·
What
is spam?
Spam is any unwanted, unsolicited, junk e-mail sent
to you from an unknown sender.
Originally got its name from a skit from British Monty Python
comedians. In the skit, a character was
served Spam (spiced ham), which they DID NOT order, and then continued to be
served more and more piled on top.
·
Why
is it a problem to everyday email use?
1.
Costs
almost nothing to senders and ends up costing us money because internet service
providers (ISP’s) have to increase their services prices due to extra e-mail
handling.
2.
Many
of the messages are inappropriate and can easily appear in children’s e-mail
boxes.
3.
Spammers
are notorious for their dishonesty in all aspects of their “business”.
4.
Spam
has become out of control. There is so
much out there and it’s getting worse every day.
·
How
do I prevent spam?
1.
Use
a decoy e-mail address when registering at websites that you are unfamiliar
with.
2.
Set
up filters on your email to discard spam.
3.
Install
filtering software.
4.
Never
reply to it (even to complain!).
5.
Don’t
try to “unsubscribe” – This is generally a dishonest technique they use to
confirm your address.
6.
Never
buy products from spammers – This only encourages them!
7.
Delete,
report, and get political!
·
Government
Help:
The government is working on a National Do-Not-Spam
Registry. This will be extremely
difficult to enforce for several reasons.
Spammers mask identities, use anonymous resenders, and cross
international boarders. Even if the
government can track down the spammers, they have very limited assets and can’t
be sued for much. As a result, spam is
one of the biggest problems that the FTC has ever faced. Many are hoping that improved technology
will eventually be the solution to wiping out unwanted e-mail.