The Metropolitan Online - January 2005

Like many students, a good portion of my time on the computer is spent checking email. Returning messages from students as part of the class group project, checking for updates from my instructor, pestering the editor of The Metropolitan to confirm when the story deadline is, and staying in contact with friends scattered across the U.S.—email is a vital part of my daily communication with the world. And, like everyone else with an email address, I spend a large portion of my time wading through countless volumes of spam, scams, chain letters, and other annoyances.

Just about everyone with access to the Internet or email knows what spam is—and it’s NOT the “delectable” spiced-ham treat made right here in good old Minnesota. It’s the unwanted email advertising for products or services such as cheap prescription drugs, mortgage rates, and a host of other unsavory things. On any given day, I receive an average of 50 emails for a variety of products and services that I have no intention of ever needing or using. Emails with attention grabbing titles such as “Your mortgage rate is confirmed” and “Free Xbox!!!” junk up my inboxes on a daily basis. And the honest, ugly truth is there’s really no way to stop it.

Sure, legislation was recently passed to outlaw spam emails, and force email marketers to allow the public to remove the email owners’ addresses from future mailings or marketing lists. The CAN-SPAM act, enacted by Congress last year, was touted as a major step to regulating e-mail marketing and stemming the flood of spam—complete with “opt-out,” list-removal requirements, and harsh penalties for problem offenders. The unfortunate reality is that reputable marketers that use email are few and far between, and those that do receive an “unsubscribe” request generally don’t honor them. However, most spam emails are sent en masse by programs which spoof—or disguise—the email address of the sender. In plain language, this means that the email you received from johnny@yahoo.hk for “All Natural Enhancement” probably didn’t come from “Johnny” at all.

So, how do you deal with spam? The simplest—and most effective—way to deal with spam is to delete it. Clicking on the “Remove Me” links will work with the reputable marketers; but in most cases, it’s simply a deceptive means to validate that your email address is still active. Recent enforcement of the CAN-SPAM act, and the prosecution of some of the most notorious spammers, have shown that spammers have and will collect the addresses from those that request removal, and assemble lists of addresses to be sold to other marketers. So, while you may be removing yourself from “Johnny’s” list, he (or she) is adding you to another, where you’ll be dealing with another deluge of emails regarding mortgage refinancing, or herbal weight-loss remedies.

Another form of junk email is the chain letter. These are feel-good emails, forwarded by a caring friend to brighten your day. Sometimes they contain the survey, “Let’s find out how much you know about your friends! Fill in your information, respond to the person that sent this to you and forward it on to your friends…” stuff and nonsense. The people that originate these emails are up to no good, trying to overwhelm servers with worthless traffic. Known in technical circles as a “denial of service” attack, the general idea of those behind these emails is to create enough internet traffic to overwhelm mail servers, so that regular internet traffic suffers as a result.

Whether the unwanted emails you receive are warm and fuzzy or cheap and sleazy, you may be able to reduce, if not completely avoid, unwanted email. Most email programs contain a spam filter. By typing specific words into the filter, you can avoid receiving emails that contain those exact words. Enabling a spam filter increases the chance that you will accidentally filter valid mail, but the benefit of filtering emails with pornographic terminology or specific drug names may outweigh the costs.

Got a tech problem? A tech question? Computer issues? An open gas station near you with Diet Mountain Dew? Email me at metropolitan_webguy@comcast.net.

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