Dealing with spam. Call it "junk
e-mail" if you like.
Spam is the bane of the Internet. Definitions of what
really constitutes "spam" vary somewhat, but generally, it boils down to
mass distribution of unsolicited e-mail. Some spammers send literally millions
of e-mail messages a day. In 1997, AOL offered an estimate that 1/3 of
its daily volume of 30 million messages was unsolicited junk e-mail.
Spammers can engage in this activity because the
incremental cost of sending one more message is essentially zero. The recipients
bear the cost of the message, in the form of added costs to ISPs who have
to ensure that the systems they operate have sufficient capacity to handle
the load — including the spam — before it is downloaded by the recipient.
And who do ISPs recover their costs from? Their clients — that's you and
me. Not the sender.
The recipient also has to spend time (sometimes,
hours) trying to figure out what is spam in his in-box, and what he really
needs to read. In a corporate setting, there is a real cost for this activity
in lost productivity.
Anyone who receives e-mail nowadays needs all the
help he or she can get in avoiding spam, and in dealing with what does
come in. The links below will take you to pages that will provide some
of the information you need to know. Many of them provide information that
illuminates the issues involved so that you can direct your anti-spam efforts
more productively.
"CAUCE is an ad hoc, all volunteer organization,
created by Netizens to advocate for a legislative solution to the problem
of UCE (aka 'spam')." Some comments on why spam is a "bad thing" and what
the recipient can do to avoid spam. (1/03)
This site is dedicated to fighting spam
on the Internet. Lots of resources, as well as links to current news stories
on the topic. They have a list of the "good" ISP's; unfortunately, the
information is a bit dated. (1/03)
"...some advertisers have gone too far,
clogging people's email boxes and Usenet newsgroups with large, repetitive,
and unsolicited messages. Here are a list of sites devoted to stopping
junk e-mail, which is also known as spam." (1/03)
A detailed list of ways in which spammers
harvest e-mail addresses. Knowing this, you can take appropriate precautions
to avoid exposing your e-mail address to spam. Lots of links to other spam
info. (9/03)
"Spammers try to hide by playing all
kinds of tricks to their domain names. You can still find them, however."
Here's how to penetrate the disguises. (1/03)
Did an e-mail message you sent come
back because the recipient's ISP was black-holed? Or did your ISP get black-holed?
Here's some information that may help you deal with that. Or see that some
spammer gets black-holed. There's information here
about MAPS and what it does. (1/03)
"...dedicated to finding a way to stop
the proliferation of junk email on the internet in such a way as to not
set dangerous legal precendents. The current focus of this site is on technical
solutions to the problem." Self help tutorials and other good stuff. (1/03)
"Spammers often forge the headers of
their email in an attempt to avoid losing their accounts and to evade email
filters. These notes may help you track the source of spam." Provides some
insight into the meanings and implications of the various items you'll
see in the extended headers of any e-mail message.
(1/03)
Want a free receive-only e-mail account
where you can make up the userID on the fly for those situations where
you need a valid e-mail address for a few hours that you don't mind providing
to a potential spammer? This site may be what you need. But private it
isn't. (9/03)
"MailWasher is a powerful email checker
with effective spam elimination. Discover the safe way to stop unwanted
viruses and e-mails before they get to your computer." Ad-supported, (i.e.,
freeware) unless you make a donation; a donation of $20 or more gets you
access to technical support. (1/03)
"A freeware network query tool." Software
that automates much of the analysis involved in trying to identify the
source of spam and other internet traffic. Very effective. (9/03)
"One of the most popular e-mail filtering
tools around, Spam Buster includes filters for more than 15,000 known spammers."
Now available as freeware. There are links on this page to other spam-blocking
software products. (1/03)
Build a poison pill for spammers' web
bots that harvest "mailto:" addresses. Uses a CGI script. Can't use CGI
on your host server? Check out HostedScripts.com.
(9/03)