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If you don’t own a computer or send e-mail, you can stop reading here. But for the other 126 million people who use the Internet regularly to communicate, listen up – you don’t have to take e-mail spam sitting down!
If you dread opening your online inbox every morning because it’s choked with e-mail you didn’t ask for and don’t want, take heart. There are ways to protect the sanctity of your e-mail address and minimize the offers you get to enhance body parts you don’t have and sign up for weight-loss plans that never give you the real skinny. (Those are just some of the less toxic messages sent regularly to mail boxes without the recipients’ permission.)
How do they get your address anyway?
If you enter a contest, subscribe to an e-newsletter or even register a product online, you may, innocently enough, sign yourself up to receive unrelated announcements and advertisements. By giving your permission to receive this mail, you are “opting in,” code words that give bulk mailers the right to solicit you. Unscrupulous spammers also use sophisticated software tracking systems for Web crawling and e-mail “harvesting” of addresses that can yield a gold mine for marketers. Unfortunately, once your e-mail address makes it way onto a marketing list, there’s a good chance it’s going to be shared, sold or traded – often to shady e-mail marketers.
There is some positive news, though. Many states have already passed laws to deter spammers from inundating inboxes, and the U.S. Senate recently approved the first federal antispam legislation. The Senate bill requires bulk e-mailers to include a valid return address, declare that the message is advertising, and enable recipients to opt out of receiving further messages.
In reality, no one expects the legislation to totally eliminate spam, however. Because enough people open e-mail advertisements, it’s still worth the while of marketers to keep those ads coming. In fact, a recent study from the Pew Internet & American Life Project revealed that seven percent of e-mail users – more than 8 million Americans – have ordered a product or service from an unsolicited message. But new laws will probably go a long way to putting a dent in the 15 billion messages a day now attributed to spam.
You can take action
In addition to antispam legislation, many ISPs now offer spam filters to help weed out the junk mail you receive. AOL’s latest version, 9.0, for example, comes with robust tools that automatically quarantine spam, and let users block unwanted mail and report spam with one click. Software providers are also improving spam protection in their programs. Microsoft’s Outlook 2003 has rigorous spam blocking features, and Yahoo!’s premium service now offers an effective spam filter.
While these actions are all helpful in the fight against spam, there are also some steps you can take personally to help reduce unwanted mail:
- Make it harder for people who want to capture your e-mail address.
Computer pros suggest signing up for a free e-mail account that you use solely for marketing offers. Free accounts are available at Yahoo!, Hotmail, Netscape and others. Be sure to empty it regularly, though, because it will get overloaded with spam. And save your regular e-mail address for important e-mail messages and Web sites you trust.
- Stick with the good ol’ U.S.A.
You’ve probably noticed by now that a lot of spam comes from countries outside the U.S. You can set up a filter in your e-mail program to automatically move mail from a certain country into a specific folder. Then you simply hit the delete key and they’re gone.
- Forego the contests!
Not surprisingly, the goal of online sweepstakes and other free offers is usually to obtain marketing information, including your e-mail address. Realize that the odds of winning on the Internet are infinitesimal, and stick to the lottery if you must.
- Use your out.
Recent legislation requires marketers to offer you the opportunity of opting out of their messages. Take advantage of it as soon as you begin getting spam to minimize the chance that your address will be sold or traded.
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