SPAM-Fighting Tips

• Use a unique e-mail address
• Use multiple e-mail addresses
• "Mask" your e-mail address
• Check the website's privacy policy before you submit your address
• Beware of fraud
• Use tools to help prevent spam

For more information on these SPAM-fighting tips please visit www.getnetwise.org

Spam's effect on Business

• IDC estimates that spam represented 32% of all email sent on an average day in North America in 2003
• Anti-spam solutions have helped organizations save millions of dollars in lost email user and IT staff productivity.
• 62% say their employers use filters to block spam from their work email accounts; half of them get no spam at all in those accounts.
• Calculated on a worldwide basis, the IT cost of dealing with spam will rise from $20.5 billion in 2003, to approximately $198 billion by 2007.

History of SPAM

• The earliest documented junk e-mailing was sent in 1978 by DEC- Digital Equipment Corporation
• The word SPAM came from a "spam skit" by Monty Python's Flying Circus. In the skit, a restaurant serves a lot food with spam in it and the server repeats the word several times in describing how much spam is in the food on the menu. In the skit a group of Vikings in the corner of the restaurant start to sing a song, "spam ,spam , spam, spam, spam, lovely spam! Wonderful spam! They sang the song until they were told to shut up. So the meaning of SPAM became known as "something that keeps repeating and repeating to great annoyance."
• The first large commercial SPAM was sent in April 1994 by two lawyers. They posted a message advertising a "green card" lottery. They hired a programmer to write a script to post their ad to every single newsgroup on USENET (the world's largest online conferencing system). Quickly people identified this as SPAM and the word caught on.

Innovation of SPAM Worldwide

• Largest producers of SPAM:  United States, Russia, and China
• Number of countries affected by SPAM: too many
• Countries that have laws against SPAM (here are a few): United States, Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, United Kingdom, Australia, Brazil, Canada, India, Japan, Panama, Peru, Russia, South Korea, Yugoslavia
• Spam increases the most around the world during holidays:  for example- around Valentine's Day people are more vulnerable to click on advertisements that are related to that holiday.

SPAM in the future

Recently I have contacted employers via email and have received automated emails back from their email addresses telling me to respond to the email if I am not spam.  Companies and individuals are becoming smarter about blocking their spam emails.  This is making it harder for spammers to do their work.  Although you may not think you are receiving less spam on a daily basis, Internet servers are constantly trying to block these useless advertisments.  SPAM may never be completely gone, but more people are learning how to ignore it and therefore causing spammers to create other ways so they can reach millions of people.

Take the SPAMMER test!

This test will let you know if you are a spammer.

Click on the link below and scroll down until you see question number one.

http://www.hatchoo.com/spam/

"Porn Rules Over Drugs"

While researching the effectiveness of spam on our computers, I found that pornography is the most popular type of spam advertisement followed by pharmacy drugs, and then Rolex watches. Spam is successful because of impulse purchases, so it's easy to see why a certain 'someone' feeling awfully lonely might be interested in a 'FREE SEX' spam message.

• Pornographic spam is 280 times as effective as spam advertising drugs in garnering online user 'clicks'.
• Spam messages promoting pornography are 280 times as effective in getting recipients to click on them as messages advertising pharmacy drugs, which are the next most effective type of spam.
• The third most successful variety is spam advertising Rolex watches, 0.0075 percent of which get clicked on, according to an analysis by CipherTrust, a large manufacturer of devices that protect networks from spam and viruses.

Du du duuuu...."THE SPAM KING"

• A man known as the "spam king" has pleaded guilty to federal charges of mail fraud, wire fraud and failure to file a tax return. He faces up to 20 years in prison. Prosecutors say 28-year-old Robert Alan Soloway sent out millions and millions of junk e-mails around the world. The most serious charge he faces is one for non-electronic mail fraud.

Spamming by Text Message On the Rise - AH!

• E-mail spam is an annoyance of modern life, but now spam is creeping onto mobile phones! This year, there's more of it than ever before, which has many in the industry on high alert.
• The thing with mobile spam is that it feels more personal than e-mail spam. But it isn't just annoying; it can get expensive. Most Americans pay per text, regardless of whether it's spam or real. That means if you get a spam text, you're likely paying a few cents before you check out that too-good-to-be-true offer. And the number of spam text messages is going up.

"SPAMvertising"

You could soon be experiencing SPAM via Facebook.

• How: you will be invited to click on one of your friend's profile, and once you click on the link you will be asked to sign-in again.  This is a fake sign-in, and by doing this they get your information and send it to spammers.
• What: by posting "deceptive" wall posts, SPAMers try to get you to click on their advertisements.
• Where: on Myspace, not yet found on Facebook.
• When: going to become very popular
• Purpose: every advertisement that is opened generates money- the sole purpose of SPAMvertising.

Spam is for eating, not reading...

This amateur poet clearly shows the annoying fashion of SPAM on his computer, and how it can easily be turned into beautiful poetry. I think we've all felt this way at some point while on our computers but just didn't have the right words...

Some people enjoy eating spam, For them it is a treat.
But I prefer to leave it alone, It's something I don't want to eat.

Most people don't wish to read spam, It's intrusive and full of clutter.
Some items are so embarrassing, That I won't show them to my mother.

I don't have erectile disorder, My colon is doing just fine.
I don't need a college degree, And I haven't committed a crime.

My hair doesn't need restoring, I'm not looking for a mate.
I don't need a digital camera, Or new insurance rates.

I'm not entering any new contests, You can keep all your prizes and cash.
Goodbye dear spam, it's time to go, And wind up in the trash.

http://www.authspot.com/Poetry/Spam-is-for-Eating-and-Not-for-Reading.68663

the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 stands for: Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act.

As required by the Act, the FCC has adopted rules prohibiting the sending of unwanted commercial e-mail messages to wireless devices without prior permission, which took effect in March of 2005.  Also, The FTC adopted rules that restrict sending unwanted commercial e-mail messages to computers.

The FCC's CAN-SPAM Rules:

• Defines commercial messages as those for which the primary purpose is to advertise or promote a commercial product or service.  This does not cover "transactional or relationship" messages, or notices to facilitate a transaction you have already agreed to.  It also does not cover non-commercial messages, including messages about candidates for public office.
• The FCC ban covers messages sent to cell phones and pagers, if the message uses an internet address that includes an internet domain name (with an @ symbol).  This does not cover messages sent from a phone to another phone, or e-mail messages forwarded from your computer (the FTC rules apply here).

For a FAQ about the CAN-SPAM Act for Internet Marketers, click the link below:

Email Law: New CAN-SPAM FAQ for Internet Marketers

Help Stop Spam!

Here is a useful hint thanks to the FTC:

• If you get spam email that you think is deceptive, forward it to spam@uce.gov.  The FTC uses the spam stored in this database to pursue law enforcement actions against people who send deceptive email.
  
• Don't Stop There!  Let the FTC know if your "remove me" request is not honored.  They have an online complaint form at www.ftc.gov
• Send a copy of the spam to your ISP abuse desk, and to the sender's ISP.  Most ISP's don't want spammers on their system either.

So What Exactly is SPAM? A Brief Overview

What really is the annoying thing called SPAM?

• Spam is unsolicited e-mail (electronic junk mail) that advertises goods and services
• Most spam mass mailings are advertising pornography, get-rich-quick schemes, miracle cures, and lottery winnings

How do we get rid of SPAM?

• Spam filters have been created to block out spam, yet the spammers now include "nonprinting" characters in the subject line and email address to trick the filters into letting them pass.  I personally have a spam filter on my Yahoo account-I receive probably 200 spam emails into my JUNK folder, and about 15 per day make it into my regular email folder.  Highly annoying
  
• Here's a trick the spammers use: they will send you an e-mail asking you to join a do-not-spam list if you reply.  What it really does is send you to a list of e-mails to spam.  So, think twice!

How much SPAM is really out there in the World Wide Web?

• 70 percent of e-mails in 2004 was SPAM.  June and July of 2004-over 85 percent
• One individual spammer can send out over 80 million spam emails per day
• AOL and Microsoft claim that they block ONE BILLION SPAM MESSAGES PER DAY.

Greeting Card Spam Video

This is another YouTube video that talks about greeting card spam as well as other spam e-mails.  It's a tecchie guy who provides some good information on the origin of these e-mails, what can happen to your computer, and what it is that these spam companies are looking for.  Pretty informative video that can help people to think twice about opening e-mails from someone they don't know.

Greeting Card Spam YouTube Video

Where Spam Comes From- Funny Video

This Youtube video is a lighthearted look from College Humor on where Spam first came from.  Because we have all received e-mails from that Nigerian that wants to give us millions of dollars. Caution: Some violence and language.

Where Spam Comes From Video