What is spam? [Top]With the massive amount of information and speed the Internet is able to handle, communication has been revolutionized with email and other
online communication systems. Users are able to send messages across the globe in seconds, and to many people at once. Recently, however, some
computer users have abused the technology that drives these communications by sending out thousands and thousands of emails with little or no
purpose other than to increase traffic or decrease bandwidth (how fast or how much data can be transported).
A rough definition of spam is any unsolicited email sent against the interest and knowledge of the recipient, usually with no intention of a
response other than to visit a website or sell a product. These emails are usually sent out in large numbers to many recipients. However, it is
important to differentiate between unsolicited email which can be labeled as spam and solicited email. Solicited email my have the same goals as
unsolicited email, but you may receive a solicited email that the sender has deemed to be in your interest, or related to a previous interest.
Spam email, however, is usually sent without any knowledge or consideration of the recipients interests, and is sent out only with the desired
result in mind.
| How is spamming accomplished? [Top]In order for spammers to send out an unsolicited email to a large number of recipients, they must first collect a list of emails. Many spammers have developed tools or changed preexisting software to automate a computer to collect email addresses, usually off of the web. Typically, these programs will search a web page, downloading any email address it finds into a file which can then be used as a mailing list for spam. Once emails have been collected, spammers can then use mass mailing programs to send out their unsolicited message to thousands of recipients.
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Sometimes spammers will take steps in order to ensure that they are not caught sending out unsolicited emails. They may use a token email account that they have registered for the specific purpose of spamming, or even use someone else's existing email account, so that any resistance to the spam email will be transferred to that innocent party.
| How do spammers acquire email addresses? [Top]The main source of emails for spammers comes from the web. Using email collector programs, spammers can search the web for any email addresses, whether on a personal web page, a business site, or other directory of public domain information. Some spammers write programs to collect emails from newsgroups, where each distinct user is identified with his/her email address. Some email marketers may obtain a list of emails buy purchasing it from another firm which requests email addresses and other information when you sign up for their product/service online. Unfortunately, there is little to nothing that can be done about this collection of email addresses because the information is mostly obtained legally and is in the public domain.
| Are newsgroups vulnerable to spammers? [Top]Users of newsgroups online are identified as unique users by their name and email, which appear at the top any usenet message they send. Unfortunately, spammers have recently figured out methods for extracting these email addresses. Considering the popularity of newsgroups is, this could dramatically increase the prevalence of spam. However, a few methods have been devised to prevent spammers from collecting these emails. Some users choose to put an "anti-spam" string in the "From:" field of their message. For example, j_smith@mailserver.com may publish his email on a newsgroup as j_smithNOSPAM@mailserver.com. This "corrupts" the email that spammers collect with their programs, making it unusable unless the spammer takes the time necessary to remove all of the anti-spam strings. However, if a user tries to contact the poster of the message without removing the spam string, the message will not be sent to the correct address.
There are other tactics to fight off spam on newsgroups that are not as problematic. One way of publishing your email address correctly on usenet is to only put your email address in the "Reply-To:" field. Since it is much harder for spammers to harvest emails from further into the message, the chances that your email address will be collected for a spam list are greatly reduced. Also, it is possible to surf newsgroups anonymously, without posting messages or publishing your email address. Often referred to as "lurking", this is looked poorly upon in some online communities, but ensures that your email address doesn't fall into the wrong hands.
| What can I do to block incoming spam email? [Top]Although it may be difficult to prevent your email address from getting into the hands of spammers, keeping from receiving spam email is a little easier. Many developers of email software programs (such as Outlook Express, Eudora, etc.) and online mail services like Hotmail and Yahoo! have already developed tools within their software to help filter out a great deal of spam mail by recognizing certain characteristics of spam emails. These tools are very useful because you will never even see these unsolicited messages.
If these filtering tools aren't enough to get rid of unwanted spam email, there are also a few steps you can take to rid your inbox of spam. If there are common addresses or servers that spam email is coming to you from, most mail servers will allow you to block certain addresses or domains from sending email to you. Although this might block some of the email you'd like to receive, it cuts off the spam email at the source. You may also want to contact your system administrator to see if your current service has any other ways of guarding against incoming spam. Of course, no matter how many precautions are taken to get rid of incoming spam, unsolicited emails may still be able to get through. Learn to recognize unwanted email and delete it when you see it.
| How can the proper authorities find spammers? [Top]Computer authorities and network administrators are constantly trying to fight spam in any way possible, including trying to catch spammers and deal with the threat they pose. Every digital transaction leaves some sort of record, usually in the form of an IP address, which can be used to track down the location of a spam email. Systems administrators can check logs of these addresses and find out exactly where the offending email came from, and deal with it either by blocking that IP address (or a set of IP addresses if the spammer is using more than one) or take more serious action if necessary.
| What can I do to keep spammers from getting my email address? [Top]Since spammers do not usually get your email address directly from you, but rather indirectly via the web or other service, there is no truly direct way to keep a spammer from getting your email address. However, there are many steps you can take to make it difficult for a spammer to find your email address on the web:
Don't publish your email on the web: The only way to keep your email address truly private is to not publish it on the web in any form. This is usually not a very feasible option because many of us would like people who want to access our email address for legitimate reasons find it.
Be conservative with who you give your information to: Many websites and online services these days will ask you for your email address when you register or visit their site. If you do sign up with any of these services, make sure that they have a privacy statement that will ensure that your email address is not given out to anyone that you don't want it to be given out to.
DO NOT reply to spam emails: Although it may sometimes be tempting to reply out of anger or frustration to an unsolicited email attacking the sender, it can sometimes lead to more serious problems. First, your email address may be sent to other spammers using the same email account, causing your email address to appear on more lists, and give you more spam mail. Also, if the account name that the spammer is using is actually someone else's (this is easy to do), you may be sending an unsuspecting computer user an unnecessary email.
| Is Addresses.com safe from spammers? [Top]Given the nature of our services at Addresses.com, we realize that the sensitive information we provide could easily be exploited by spammers if not handled properly. With this in mind, we have designed our email database and directory to make it as difficult as possible to obtain any more than a few emails in a given time period. Our search engine is made to only give out email addresses when specific identification is entered. Any attempts to obtain large quantities of addresses from our site are met with full resistance, resulting in restriction and/or prohibition from our site at our discretion. For more information on the privacy and safety of information in our directory, please read the Terms of Use page.
At Addresses.com, we hold the privacy of our information in the highest regard, and are constantly changing and updating our services to combat the threat of spammers.
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