About Email Spam

 

Spam is basically the abuse of messaging systems, usually electronic ones, to send messages in bulk to everyone, whether they need it or not. Electronic messaging systems include digital delivery systems and broadcast media. The most popular form of computer spam is email spam. I think we have all received at least a few dozen messages that really did not have anything to do with our contacts list or preferences. For example, I keep receiving advertisements regarding different web design products. However, since the purpose of spam is to increase sales for people who send it, you might receive ads on anything from Viagra to cars. Spammers, people who send spam, will advertise anything that can be sold online and sometimes even offline.

Aside email spam; there are plenty of other forms: instant messaging spam, mobile phone text message spam, Internet forum spam, blog spam, search engine spam, newsgroup spam, etc. As you can see, spammers are very ingenious when it comes to spreading their junk messages. To counter this, most email clients have anti-spam systems in place, online email websites have strict anti-spam policies, forums and blogs have very active moderators, mobile phone operators have means of detecting text message spam, and so on. However, it looks like spammers are spamming from everywhere. Recently, legal action is beginning to show results and websites that use spam to promote their products are being shut down and their operators fined and even jailed. There are even some strong anti-spam acts, like the CAN-SPAM Act, which are used to prosecute spammers.

As for protection go to this page to read about an AVG Internet Security package that has an excellent anti-spam feature that blocks spammers and scammers.

Email spam and Emailing lists

Since email spam is the most popular form of spam, let’s see how it works and what we can do to prevent it. Email spam means sending unsolicited email messages to an indiscriminate set of recipients. The messages usually contain commercial content and attempt to convince the reader to buy different products. 80 to 85% of the total number of emails received in the world is spam. However, in order to send email spam, one must have a list of available email accounts. How does one get them? Simple! By email address harvesting or by simply buying email lists from harvesters.

Spammers pay good money for email lists; so many otherwise credible companies are tempted to sell their subscribers’ emails. This is how our email addresses become flooded with junk messages. To counter this, you should be very careful where you give your email. Large companies strongly disagree with spamming and any related technique so you can be sure they will not sell your address under any circumstance. More obscure websites will surely sell them to the highest bidder, so be careful! Also, be very careful never to leave your email address on any social networking website. The email address harvesters search for any email address (i.e.gowthamdgp007@gmail.com) (this email address is non existent - I hope - there is no deva with a google address, so please do not send him/her any messages) and add it to the list. You can leave your email in the following form: gowthamdgp007[at]gmail[dot]com. This fools the harvesters and protects your address.

What to do with spam

Wondering what to do with all the spam messages? Well, the answer is simple. Since spammers make money from people who fall for it and buy the advertised products or services, delete them at once! If everyone deletes spam on sight, the spammers will be out of a job soon. Besides, would you buy something from a company that is violating the law to sell its products? Remember, people that use spam to sell are outlaws!