What is Spam?
Spam is unsolicited email - email which you never asked for. It is also referred to as "junk" email one of the most horrendous practices on the net - SPAMMING.
Spam is defined as unsolicited bulk email (UBE). To be spam, an email must be both unsolicited and bulk, not just one or the other.
- Unsolicited means that you did not explicitly ask to receive that type of email from that particular sender.
- Bulk means that the same or nearly same email was sent to many users.
An email that is both unsolicited and bulk is spam regardless of its content. The vast majority of spam is commercial bulk email -- email that tries to sell a product or service. However, email that contains other content, such political advertisements, religious messages and/or charitable solicitations, is also spam if it is bulk and unsolicited. As anti-spammers have been saying for years, "It's not about content; it's about consent."
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How did spammers get hold of your email address?
There are several ways you can get on a spammers list:
- You provide your email address on shoddy sites.
- You sign for newsletters on sites that have no privacy policies.
- You put your email address on a web page.
- A spyware is installed on your system.
- Subscribing to one or more of the Great deals kind of email/website offers.
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Spam Resources
Tired of spam and want to join the fight against it. This list of useful web sites will help you understand what constitutes spam and what can and is being done to stop.
The Mission of Junkbusters... is to free the world from junk communications. Spam web site fighting spam on the web.
Spamcop.net
Report spam to help Internet providers cut spam off at the source.
http://www.spamcop.net
Spamhaus
Spamhaus tracks the Internet's Spammers, Spam Gangs and Spam Services, provides dependable realtime anti-spam protection for Internet networks, and works with Law Enforcement to identify and pursue spammers worldwide.
http://www.spamhaus.org
EmailAbuse.org
EmailAbuse.org is dedicated to informing users of this potential abuse and providing them with the tools to avoid becoming a victim and to fight back at Email Abusers!
http://www.emailabuse.org
CAUCE
The Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email is an ad hoc, all volunteer organization, created by Netizens to advocate for a legislative solution to the problem of "spam".
http://www.cauce.org
LinkScan
Where to Complain About Frauds and Scams on the Internet - SPAM.
[Bet you would have received an email from the wife/son/daughter of that Nigerian (or a small African nation) dictator/king who was killed in a coup, wanting to share the embezzled 5 million (or whatever) figure with you!]
http://www.elsop.com/wrc/complain.htm
Fight Spam on the Internet!
Have been actively engaged in fighting spam for years. One of the best anti-spam sites on the net - Help fight spam to keep the Internet useful for everyone.
http://lax.us.spam.abuse.net
SpamCon Foundation
The SpamCon Foundation protects email as a viable communication and commerce medium by supporting measures to reduce the amount of unsolicited email that crosses private networks, while ensuring that valid email reaches its destination.
http://law.spamcon.org
Spam Laws
Laws on Spam in United States, the European Union and other countries.
http://www.spamlaws.com
Spam Links
The anti-spam portal: everything you didn't want to have to know about spam. Whether you are entirely new to the struggle against spam, or are a seasoned professional system administrator, we direct you to the best resources available to counter spam.
http://spamlinks.net
How to get rid of spam - Spam Filters
A Spam Filter is a program or script that can be set up at a server, local network or individual computer, and helps in removing spam emails that you receive. These programs filter spam emails and send them to separate folder or delete them altogether depending on how you configure them. The spam filters are based on smart algorithms that form the meat of the program and help sorting the emails. Spam filters also have provisions for you to change and customize the filters. This is an important feature because spammers keep changing the way they spam and the format of the emails.
All-in-One SECRETMAKER Freeware spam filter is a freeware designed to keep email accounts free of spam, remove irritating pop-up and banner interruptions and protect privacy and avoid profiling. All-in-One SECRETMAKER combines 8 powerful tools in 1 freeware software package. The Spam Fighter Pro which is a multilevel anti-spam filter solution for stopping junk emails, Worm Hunter protecting you from spreading email viruses to your friends, a Pop-Up Killer, a Banner Blocker, a Cookie Eraser (prevents profiling through cookies saved by Microsoft Explorer), a Privacy Protector, History Cleaners and a Garbage Cleaner that removes left over garbage from the hard drive.
The SpamBouncer is a spam filter. It analyzes incoming email and separates spam from legitimate messages, adding a header to email that tells you whether the email appears to be spam or not. You can use that header to sort your incoming email into different folders, or to delete the spam entirely. The SpamBouncer can also block spam on your server, delete certain types of spam entirely, and send a challenge to senders of blocked email to allow them to bypass the filters.
