Let's Get To More Information and Reviews on Spam

In response to the growing threat from spam, new legislation was enacted in 2003. it was called: Controlling the Assault of Non Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act (CAN-SPAM act). This act created some requirements for all companies who are sending bulk commercial email, as well as those companies whose products are offered for sale in the spam emails. It also instituted penalties for violators, as well as giving the client or consumer the right and the means to request that the mailers cease the spam efforts.

The legislation (CAN-SPAM) covers "transactional or relationship messages," meaning those emails which help a web site to deal with any transaction, even those which are agreed on, or make updates to any customer whether new or exisiting. None of these may contain false or spoofed routing information.

One major provision of the law - The recipient must be fore-warned of any sexually explicit information the email may contain. This warning must be displayed in the email's subject line.

Keep yourself protected from inbox spam

Friend or Foe? Just because an email has been sent to you by a friend, do not assume that it safe for you to open any attachment that comes with it. Contact your friend and verify that they did indeed send it. Very often, spammers will attach a virus to their spam, which, if opened, will hijack your email program and mail itself out to every email address in your address book. This fraudulent email will appear to the recipients to have been sent by you. If they in turn, open this email attachment, the same malicious cycle is repeated.

Never Respond. Do not click on any banner advertising or send a reply to a spam message. Doing this lets the spammer that yours is a "real, live" address, which will only result in a deluge of even more spam. Unless you have specifically subscribed, do not click on any unsubscribe messages contained in junk mail. Most of these are only intended to fool you into confirming your address as valid. Also, do not forward any junk chain letters you may receive.

How to Report Spam Abuse

Spam is as prolific as the leaves on the trees and because there are so many kinds of it, it is a challenge to find the right site or organization to report spam to.

As the email passes through each computer, information is added to the header indicating who the mail came from, as well as where they are sending it. While this header information will seem complicated, you just need to make note of the originating ISP, which will be easy to recognize. For example, if you receive your mail through AOL and you note "yahoo" in the string of information, then you will know to report the spam to yahoo.

Report to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/edcams/spam/ - This site offers you information about the law enforcement actions that have been taken against deceptive mailers and companies and those who do not honor opt-out requests from email recipients.

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