SPAM: The New Electronic Junk Mail
October 28, 2008 by Antivirus Ware.comIt arrives in your mailbox along with your subscription to Newsweek, your utility bill and a letter from Aunt Susan; unwanted and unsolicited and in your box nonetheless. We all recognize it; those unnecessary flyers that waste paper and kill trees needlessly. If you’re like me, chances are you throw it into the recycle bin the moment you remove it from the box; possibly with a murmur about how you wish they’d stop putting those things in with your mail.
On the Internet, there’s a different kind of junk mail, known as SPAM. This electronic junk mail can be about anything under the sun with one common factor defining it: unwanted information. The outbreak of SPAM became such a nuisance that in 2003 the Federal Trade Commission created the Can Spam Act of 2003 making it illegal to send the same unsolicited message electronically to a large group of people.
This act reduced some SPAM but wasn’t a cure all. Subsequently, many online businesses and Internet service providers made conditions for their services and sites that also prevent SPAM of any type, not just for commercial users. How can you decrease the amount of SPAM you still receive? First, make sure you have proper computer protection software on your computer that will filter spam email for you. Often times Anti-Virus software will have SPAM protection with many packages. Second, make sure that your e-mail account settings allow suspected or known SPAM to go directly to your trash folder or to a SPAM folder that automatically deletes. Third, and equally as important, exercise your right to report SPAM by flagging or identifying it to your e-mail provider, who will take action.
