Spam 

This manual is designed to explain what Spam is, the dangers of it... and what to do about it.

• It is Internet slang for unsolicited commercial email (UCE) or unsolicited bulk email (UBE) ... a.k.a electronic junk mail that you did not request.

• It is usually sent by marketing organizations who want to sell their products.  Senders of unsolicited commercial email usually disguise the source of the email and include misleading information in the subject line that will grab the recipient's attention. 

• It has become the most frequent complaint among users of the Internet. And it has made it much harder to make productive use of computers.

• Sometimes it is easy to recognize Spam... especially if you did not sign up or ask for the mailing, and you did not leave your email address on a Website asking for it, Then you know that it's Spam!

• E-mail messages whose subjects are pornography, health care products, chain letters, hoaxes, and fast money gimmicks... just to name a few.

• People who send SPAM really try to make it look like you know them … they try to make their subject line and message look familiar … be careful!

• Most people who send SPAM are very tricky... they send it from a different home address, so that you cannot easily find out who they are.

How do you get Spam?

There are a number of ways you can find yourself on a spammer's email list, Some examples include...

• signing up for newsletters that sell lists of their clients' email addresses

• listing your email address on a webpage or newsgroup

• or even by choosing an email address that spammers may be able to guess

• It is currently estimated to account for half of all electronic mail traffic.  

• Recipients of Spam sometimes waste their time accessing, reviewing, and discarding Spam.

• There is the chance that wanted emails might get lost or accidentally deleted amidst the list of junk mail. 
  

• Spam violates online users privacy, slows down their productivity, and wastes their time and money.

• It leads to slower Internet connections … because it clutters the ISP (Internet Service Providers) bandwith.
  

• It invades the privacy of Internet users.

• It is usually a mass e-mail and ends up costing the ISP companies money (because they have to raise their rates to buy more space or bandwith) while saving money for the people who are sending the messages 

1. Do not display your email address in public!
2. Do not post your address on your website - spammers have software that can locate email addresses from the net.
3. Use a seperate email address for public correspondance.
4. Do not give out your email address without knowing how it will be used.  If a website is asking for your email address, read the terms of use and privacy statements first.
5. Use a spam filter. Anti-spam software can help to decrease the amount of spam you receive.
6. Never respond to spam!  If you respond, the "spammers" might sell your address to other spammers.
7. Never buy anything advertised in spam.  Spammers try to convince people to buy their products.  So, if no one buys anything advertised in spam, companies will quit paying spammers to advertise their products.

Under Pennsylvania laws approved in June 2000 and December 2002, unsolicited commercial e-mail may not use a third party's domain name without permission or include a false or misleading subject line, and must include a valid reply address and an opt-out mechanism. Sexually explicit unsolicited commercial e-mail must contain a label ("ADV-ADULT") at the beginning of the subject line. In addition, falsification of routing information in unsolicited e-mail is unlawful, as is the distribution of software designed to facilitate falsification of routing information.