I Want To Send Spam Email To Someone
The internet is rife with spam to the extent that using email is losing its efficacy and people are losing confidence in it but there is also a growing concern over the growing incidences of computer virus through unsolicited mail. With the signing of the Can Spam bill by President Bush in December 2003, the first standard was set against bulk unsolicited email which are of commercial in nature. Approved and voted by the Senate by 97 to 0 this bill basically forbids senders of bulk unsolicited commercial emails by using dictionaries to generate the mailer and providing incorrect return addresses to hide their identities. Over and above this, these emails can not start with a subject line which deceives the recipient and must have some opt out option. The law bars senders from gathering addresses from sites and any violation is considered as a punitive criminal offence with imprisonment of up to one year.
Another point of discussion is that nowadays even greater numbers of spam is generated from other countries. Because of their country of origin, these emails are difficult to fight. Because of the global and barrier-less environment in which the internet works, these laws may sound fine but are incapable of handling the problem. Is there any thing you could do for protection? Here are the top tried and tested rules for protection against spam:
Number 1: Whatever you do, make sure that your email address is never there on the net. ‘Spam spiders’ are specialized products which hunt for email address on the net for using as a mailing list later. If the word ‘spam spider’ triggers your interest do a search for this word on the net, the results might just shock you. ‘Spambots’ and ‘spam spiders’ and similar rogues on the net is confronted ably by a site called WebPoison.org which is an open source project which just goes on sending them rubbish web pages which carry nonsense email addresses.
Number 2: Get spam blocking software. It is likely that you might want the professional series of this software but whatever you do, get the software as it could save you hours. It must be noted that the software is not capable of preventing all that is going wrong and some manual set up might be needed to block some specific types of emails.
Number 3: Take the approach of having many email addresses. Getting a free and new email address should not be a problem and each one can be used for varying communication needs and keep the other ones as back ups. Imagine giving your private mobile number to your friends and your business number to all others.
Number 4: Spam mail usually has attachments which can have viruses. But large companies use filters which sieve through spam and never allow them to reach you. Some basic rules: Never attempt to open any mail attachment where you do not know the sender.
Number 5: Did you know that email service providers are now offering ‘bulk mail’ baskets? If your current vendor can not provide you with this service, change the vendor. Upon receipt of emails from strangers just put them in the bulk pile and then let them in to your circle. Any spam blocking software would also run with the same principles but there is nothing like having a couple of extra precautions – so it is worth looking into.
Filed under: Computers & Technology