Melissa
Fleming
SLMMCD
521
Spam
Activity
The Only Spam I
Like Comes Out of a Can!
What is spam?
y
According
to the website http://spam.abuse.net/ spam is the flooding of the Internet
with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on
people who would not otherwise choose to receive it. Most spam is commercial
advertising, often for uncertain products, get-rich-quick schemes, or legal
services. Spam costs the sender very little to send -- most of the costs are
paid for by the recipient or the carriers rather than by the sender.
y
There
are two main types of spam, and they have different effects on Internet users.
Cancelable Usenet spam is a single message sent to 20 or more Usenet
newsgroups. Usenet spam is aimed at
"lurkers", people who read newsgroups but rarely or never post and
give their address away. Usenet spam robs users of the utility of the
newsgroups by overwhelming them with a barrage of advertising or other
irrelevant posts. Furthermore, Usenet spam subverts the ability of system
administrators and owners to manage the topics they accept on their systems.
y
Email
spam targets individual users with direct mail messages. Email spam lists are
often created by scanning Usenet postings, stealing Internet mailing lists, or
searching the Web for addresses. Email spam typically cost users money
out-of-pocket to receive. Many people - anyone with measured phone service -
read or receive their mail while the meter is running, so to speak. Spam costs
them additional money. On top of that, it costs money for ISPs and online
services to transmit spam, and these costs are transmitted directly to
subscribers.
Why is spam a
problem?
y
According
to Congressional findings from a new law that is trying to be passed in
Congress as of November 25, 2003 electronic mail has become a world wide
phenomenon since it is easy to reproduce in mass quantities. The low cost factor and global market reach
make it easy for people to send out millions & millions of e-mail all at
once.
y
Spam,
which bog down the internet, making it slower to retrieve information. With the explosion of the Internet over the
last decade the spam that is being sent over the internet is basically clogging
the information superhighway.
y
The
time is takes to filter through your junk e-mail
y
Some
see unsolicited spam as an invasion of privacy.
If children are allowed an e-mail address, they may receive and open up
an e-mail that may have unsuitable information to children. .
y
Unsolicited
spam e-mail accounts for over 50% of the e-mail that is sent out everyday. Just imagine how much faster the internet
would be without all that spam e-mail bogging it down.
y
Important
e-mail messages can become lost in the shuffle of filtering unwanted
e-mail. The time it takes to filter
through spam wastes time and energy that could be used for more important jobs
that need to be accomplished.
y
It
could possible be illegal, and most of it is garbage.
y
Thieves
thrive off of spam e-mail. Never ever
respond to an e-mail that looks shady.
How can I prevent
spam?
y
What
experts will tell you right off; DO NOT to break the law when it comes to
seeking revenge on spammers. There are alternatives you can take to help
with the spam eliminating process, but they take time and patience.
y
Whenever
you receive spam messages, never ever hit unsubscribe to the message and send
it back. This will only confirm to the
person you are responding to that this is a valid e-mail account, and they in
turn can sell your name to someone else, which will just result in more spam!
y
For
those that use e-mail quite often, have two separate
accounts. For one account have that be
you main account where friends, family, important messages, or collogues can
reach you. Never give out or post this
e-mail account to anyone who could use it to sell to others. Have your second e-mail account for if you
want to sign up for newsletters, post information, or other various projects
that might require your e-mail account.
y
Check
you e-mail provider to see how they filter against spam. For example, hotmail has a junk mail section
were all unsolicited e-mail is sent, and after 7 days deleted. For e-mails that you want to keep receiving,
you have an option of putting them in the safe contact list so they are sent
straight to your inbox. For all others,
just click and delete.
y
There
are many spam filters that are available today to help with the filtering
process. Just type in “spam filtering”
in a search engine, and check out all the results. Find the one that is best for you.
y
Check out this site, http://spam.abuse.net/bits/makeadifference.shtml, to see if there is anything you can do
to help prevent spam.
What can the government do?
y
According
to the website www.spamlaws.com since 2002 in the state of Maryland, it is illegal to
send a commercial e-mail message
that uses a third party's domain name without permission; that contains false
or missing routing information;
or with a false or misleading subject
line. The law applies if a message is sent from within Maryland; if the sender
knows that the recipient is a Maryland resident; or if the registrant of the
domain name contained in the recipient's address will confirm upon request that
the recipient is a Maryland resident.
For anyone who violates this subtitle, they are subjected to a fine
between the amount’s of $500 - $1000 for fees & damages.
y
Recently
Congress has put forth a Bill (the CAN-SPAM act) that would require
unsolicited commercial e-mail messages to be labeled and to include opt-out
instructions and the sender’s physical address.
The law would prohibit the use of deceptive subject lines and false
headers in such messages. It would
pre-empt state laws that require labels on unsolicited commercial e-mail or
prohibit such messages entirely, but would not affect provisions that merely
address falsity and deception. This all
ties into the “Do-Not-Call” registry and Congress would like the FTC to
establish a “Do-Not-Email” registry to track those who will still break the
law. The House first approved the Bill
in late November 2003, with the Senate making only a few minor changes, and it
will be brought back up again to the House in early December 2003 for further
consideration.
y
There
are many other pieces of Federal, State, and Local Legislation & cases that
are being looked at now pertaining to spam.
Check out the following site http://www.tigerden.com/junkmail/laws.html to see if your state has any pending
cases against spammers.
For more information concerning state or
federal laws in your area check out these following websites! =)
http://techlawadvisor.com/spam/
http://www.ncsl.org/programs/lis/legislation/spamlaws02.htm