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Spam is a term used on the Internet to refer to
unsolicited e-mail and Usenet postings. These messages are usually intended
to entice the recipient into buying a product or service of some kind or
into participating in a get-rich-quick scheme. The senders (known as
spammers) usually distribute their messages to thousands or even millions
of people at once, and they do not ask their recipients beforehand if they
want to receive such mail. Therefore, you will often hear these messages
called bulk e-mail, unsolicited e-mail, or junk e-mail.
Will
I receive spam messages? If so, how many will I get?
You
very likely will, sooner or later. How soon this will happen and how many
messages you'll get depends on how easy it is for spammers to get your
e-mail address. They can do this in several ways: They can scan Usenet
postings, they can copy addresses off World Wide Web pages, they can search
chat rooms, and they can gather addresses from mailing lists. They usually
don't do any of this by hand; there are numerous programs that will quickly
search thousands of messages, chat rooms, and Web sites and collect
addresses from them. So, depending on how many spammers get your address,
you may only get spammed once every few weeks, or you may get dozens of
messages a day.
So
is spam a big problem on the Internet?
Yes,
it's one of the biggest problems the Internet faces today. This is true for
several reasons.
- Spam costs money. You may
not realize that every e-mail message has a cost associated with it,
but it does. Transporting data across the Internet costs money because
access providers must invest in increased transmission and storage
capacity as traffic increases. You can't easily identify the cost as
you can with mailing a letter, but it's
there. However, since Internet users generally don't
pay more if they transfer more data, spammers can send out millions of
messages just as cheaply as they can send one. The cost is shared by
everyone who uses the Internet, including you.
- Spam can slow the
performance of the Internet. Large volumes of spam have been known to
slow down e-mail delivery for hours or even days, and it sometimes
even causes some computers on the Internet to crash, further impeding
the network's performance.
- Spam is just plain rude.
Conduct on the Internet is governed by an unwritten set of rules
called Netiquette, and one of those rules is that it's not acceptable
to send out unsolicited mass mailings.
Who
sends out these messages?
Spam
comes from several sources. Sometimes a single Internet user will collect a
few hundred addresses and send out messages to them. In other instances, a
business may do it to promote a product or service it is selling. However,
the majority of spam comes from companies whose sole business is to send
out millions of messages a day for paying customers.
But
I don't want to get these spam messages.
That's
just it; spammers generally don't care whether you want to receive their
messages or not. In fact, they know that most people don't. However, as
stated above, it costs no more to send a million messages than it costs to
send one, so there is no financial reason for spammers to target only those
who want to receive their messages. They only need to receive enough
positive responses (sales) to cover their costs of operations, so they have
an incentive to send as many messages as possible.
So
what if I e-mail them and tell them I don't want to get their messages?
Will they stop sending them?
Usually
this is easier said than done. Since spammers know that most folks don't
want to get their messages, they will often forge the e-mail header, making
it difficult (but not impossible) to determine where the message really
came from. Often the only way to contact the sender is through a telephone
number (sometimes a "900" number) or a post office box.
Some spam messages will instruct recipients to send an e-mail message if
they don't want to receive future mailings. Beware of this tactic, however,
since it is often used as a means of finding out who actually reads the
spam, resulting in more, not fewer, messages in the future.
So
what can I do to stop spam?
First
and foremost, don't buy anything from spammers. The only reason they send
out all these messages is because it's profitable. If people don't buy
anything from them, they'll eventually go out of business.
There's
another reason not to send money to spammers: You have no way of knowing if
you'll get anything in return. Think about it. If these people go through
so much trouble to hide their identity, can they be trusted to conduct
business in an honest manner? You don't give out your credit card number to
someone who calls you up on the phone, and you should be just as wary of
someone who contacts you via e-mail.
Waiting
for spammers to go out of business may be a long-term solution, but I want
to stop getting all these messages now. What else can I do?
There
are several things you can do. First, realize that spam is just as much of
a headache for those who administer Internet sites as it is for those who
receive it, often more so. So if you can determine whom to complain to, you
can often get the spammer's account closed. Finding the true origin of the
spam can be made more difficult when the mail header is forged, but if you
learn how to read these headers, you can usually figure out where the
message came from. Just remember that you should try to report the spam as
soon as you receive it, since time is of the essence for two reasons.
First, reporting the spam as soon as possible makes it easier for system
administrators to track down the offender, especially when the mail header
has been forged. Second, if you report the spam quickly, the spammer's
account(s) can be closed sooner, making it less likely that he or she will
have time to receive e-mail responses and thereby profit from sending the
spam.
If
the subject of the spam is an illegal activity, such as a pyramid scheme or
a phony investment offer, you can also contact the appropriate law
enforcement authorities. Most any activity that is illegal when conducted
via the postal service or telephone is also illegal on the Internet, and
the authorities will investigate it and file charges if necessary.
Finally,
if you feel that legal regulations are necessary to control spam, you can
contact your state or federal legislators. Legislation to regulate or even
outlaw spam has been proposed at both the state and federal levels. Whether
such laws will be passed and what form they will take will be determined in
large part by the opinions of those who use the Internet, so it is
important for users to be heard so that this issue can be addressed in a
thoughtful and evenhanded way.
How
can I get more information about spam?
Detailed
information about spam and how to deal with it is readily available on the
Internet. Keep in mind that opinions on this issue vary greatly. Some folks
even like spam.
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