What Is Spam?
Spam is about consent, not about content. It doesn't
matter what the message is about: porn, ads or lottery.
Only if the message is bulk and was not solicited than
you can condemn it as Spam.
When referring to emails, according to the NCES (National
Centre for Education Statistic), Spam refers to
electronic junk mail or junk newsgroup postings. Some
people define Spam even more generally as any unsolicited
e-mail. In addition to being a nuisance, Spam also eats
up a lot of network bandwidth. Because the Internet
is a public network, little can be done to prevent Spam,
just as it is impossible to prevent junk mail. However,
the use of software filters in e-mail programs can be
used to remove most Spam sent through e-mail.
Some search engines use the term to describe websites
that try to attain a high listing rank by submitting
identical or mirror pages. In this article I am going
to give you a few tips about email Spam.
If we give a too general definition to the word, we
might end up taking for Spam perfectly legitimate emails.
Not any unsolicited mail is Spam. Spam means
unsolicited bulk email.
If a message is unsolicited that doesn't make it Spam.
The same goes for bulk. A message is Spam only if it
is both unsolicited and bulk. When you receive an unsolicited
job enquiry, you do receive an uncalled-for email. But
is that Spam? No. What about a newsletter? That is bulk,
but no Spam if you are a subscriber.
Why Do You Get Spam?
Have you posted your email address online in forums,
chat rooms, on your website? Than why do you marvel?
Spammers gather the addresses from the Internet; so
no wonder your own found its way onto a spammer's list.
Besides, spammers use different other means to get what
they want: viruses, Trojans, buying from other spammers.
Spam Scams
How many times have you received an update your
account email from paypal, a bank or ebay? How
many times have you received a warning message
? Maybe it didn't look suspicious to you as it came
from an institution you work with, but was it really
that way? This kind of emails is referred to as
phishing scam . There is not much you can do when this
happens. Just don't click on any links in that email,
don't give away any confidential information such as
social security number, bank account or credit card
number. There are some free tools that can protect you
against known phishing websites. For example download
the free EarthLink toolbar and report the scam to the
Anti-Phishing Working Group.
What about the emails from different Nigerian (or other
nationalities) citizens offering you a percentage of
a vast sum of money? Yes, you've got that right: scam.
You'll only loose your money on this one. Better don't
be curious. They will ask you to pay a fee in advance
a so called transfer tax, and guess what: some complications
will appear, you have to pay more and more and end up
with nothing. And don't believe the you won money
lottery sweepstakes either. You'll only spend. The same
goes for the Nigerian purchase scam: they want to buy
something from you, pay by check and they wish the goods
to be sent in Lagos, Nigeria.
A Major Don't
Don't reply to spammers ever! Don't send any
remove me message. By doing so you confirm your
address is active, you show you read bulk messages,
you prove your ISP doesn't use Spam filters. You are
the perfect candidate. You will never be removed.
On the contrary.
Spam Fighters
If Spam really bothers you and you want to fight against
it, than you have plenty of possibilities. If you are
an American, join Cauce at: http://www.cauce.org/.
If not check out Cauce s international partners
(example: EuroCAUCE for Italy, Spain, Germany, Holland,
France, Norway).
Associations such as to the Anti-Phishing Working Group,
the American Federal Trade Commission (FTC) or other
volunteers organizations are there to help protecting
you against scam or other illegal emails (children pornography
for example). Detailed information about Spam, Spammers
and ways to fight against them you can find here: http://www.spamhaus.org/.
About
the Author
Mihaela Lica is a skilled journalist and PR consultant,
founder of Pamil Visions http://www.pamil-visions.com/
Previously she used to work as a military TV redactor
for Pro Patria and the Military Media Trust within the
Public Relations Directorate of the Romanian Ministry
of Defence. |
