What is
SPAM - Really?
Brought to you by: Bisnar & Chase LLP
Tired of those annoying SPAM emails that you keep getting that
you don't know how you got on the list and can't figure out how
to get off? So am I, so I offer here some information regarding
SPAM that I felt would be helpful to you.
John Bisnar - Managing Partner
The term "Spam"
refers to unsolicited email such as "the same article, or essentially the same article, posted an unacceptably high number of times to one or more newsgroups" or an email sent unsolicited. One important fact is that CONTENT IS IRRELEVANT. It is not used to refer to advertisements or postings with objectionable content.Spam is flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it. Most Spam is commercial advertising, often for dubious products, or get-rich-quick schemes. Spam costs the sender very little to send -- most of the costs are paid for by the recipient or the carriers rather than by the sender.There are two main types of Spam, with different effects on Internet users. Cancellable Usenet Spam is a single message sent to 20 or more. Usenet Spam is aimed at people who read newsgroups but rarely post and give their address away. This Spam robs users of the utility of the newsgroups by overwhelming them with advertising or other irrelevant posts.
The most frequent and annoying type of Spam is Email Spam. Email Spam targets individual users with direct mail messages. Email Spam lists are often created by stealing Internet mailing lists, or searching the Web for addresses. This Spam typically costs users money out-of-pocket to receive. Many people - anyone with measured phone service - read or receive their mail while the meter is running, so to speak. Spam costs them additional money. On top of that, it costs money for ISPs and online services to transmit Spam, and these costs are transmitted directly to subscribers.
One particularly nasty variant of Email Spam is sending Spam to mailing lists (public or private email discussion forums.) Because many mailing lists limit activity to their subscribers, spammers will use automated tools to subscribe to as many mailing lists as possible, so that they can grab the lists of addresses, or use the mailing list as a direct target for their attacks.
It's So Cheap!
E-mail Spam is unique in that the receiver pays so much more for it than the sender does. For example, AOL has reported that they were receiving 1.8 million Spams from Cyber Promotions per day. Finally, they got a court injunction to stop it. Assuming that it takes a person only 10 seconds to identify and discard a message, that's 5,000 hours per day spent deleting their Spam. By contrast, the Spammer probably has a high-speed connection that would cost about $100 a day. No other kind of advertising costs the advertiser so little (0.000046 dollars per person per day) and the recipient so much.Spam, Spam, and more Spam
Most Spam ask you to send a response with REMOVE in the subject line or the text, leading you to question why you should have to labor to get off a list you never asked to join. At the moment, most of us only get a few Spam per day. But imagine if only 1/10 of 1% of the users on the Internet decided to send out Spam at a moderate rate of 100,000 per day - a rate easily achievable with a dial-up account and a PC. Everyone would then be receiving 100 Spam every day, which means writing 100 REMOVE letters.It's All Garbage Anyway
Spam messages, almost without exception advertise worthless junk. Miracle cures, Spam software, get rich quick schemes, dial-a-porn, are all common. All those things too cheap to be worth advertising in any medium where they'd actually have to pay for the ads are publicized here. Also, since the cost is so low, there is no point in targeting your ads, since for the same low price you can send the ads to everyone.It Might Be Illegal
Some kinds of Spam are illegal, especially with pornography. Mere possession of such material can be enough to put the recipient in jail. In the United States, child pornography is highly illegal and yet there have been Spam for child porn.How To Protect Yourself
Never use your primary email address on the web to join mailing lists, download files or place online orders.Have several aliases on web based email servers. Hotmail and Yahoo accounts are free and easily changed. You can have several email addresses and use a program such as Eudora or Outlook to manage all your accounts. Once you notice an address being overwhelmed with Spam, just delete it.Once Spammers get a hold of your e-mail address, they can use HTML e-mail messages to acquire additional addresses from you. HTML e-mail looks different from plain-text e-mail in that it can be formatted with different type sizes and live Web links right in the body of the message. They can also contain hidden scripts that send the list of addresses in your address book to the composers of the messages. It's easy to disable HTML e-mail messages: simply go into your e-mail program's preferences dialog and deselect the preference to view mail as HTML.
Install a Firewall and Anti-Virus Software
Like your Social Security Number, a computer's IP address tells others where and how to find the computer online. This identifier is composed of four numbers separated by periods (for example, 123.123.23.2). Every Web site and electronic device connected to the Internet must possess a unique IP address; that is, no two devices can have the same IP address at the same time. If spammers or hackers manager to get your IP address, they can assault your PC with viruses or even hack directly into it to steal your personal data. To protect yourself you should install a firewall on your computer.A firewall is a program that blocks unauthorized access to a network. If a Spammer tries to "hack" your computer the firewall will stop him. Some sophisticated programs will back trace the attack and even send the source a message telling them they've been traced. Most commercial Anti-virus programs (Norton or MacAfee) are fairly cheap and the newer ones contain a firewall program.
Always use a minimum of the default security on browsers.
The Security level of your browser may allow web pages to steal information about you. Changing the security level of your browser is easy to do. In Internet Explorer go to Tools… Internet Options… and click the security tab across the top. To open the security options with Netscape click the padlock icon, and then select Navigator.What if?
If you are getting Spam Email the first rule is to never reply. The Spammers will then realize they "have a live one" and chances are you will see many more Spam. If the quantity of messages are tolerable simply delete them, don't even hesitate. If you don't know what it is or who it's from, delete it (In windows useNever try and out Spam the Spammer with insulting letters, mail-bombs, or other techniques. Why stoop to the level of the Spammer? There are sites like SpamCop that you can report the Spammer to. I don't know if this really does anything but make you feel better, until the next day when the Spam returns. My advice is to change your address and move on.
Helpful Links:
"This Newsletter is my way of sharing information that I believe may be helpful to keep you and your family out of harm's way or may be otherwise helpful, empowering or entertaining. If you have important information, or an empowering or funny story that you would like to share with my readers, please email it to me.
-- John Bisnar, Senior Partner Bisnar & Chase
(Personal Mission: To create an enlightened world by empowering us all.")
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