From The Naked PC issue #5.06...

Fighting Spam - Part 2

by Dan Butler
March 14, 2002

Spam is an ongoing battle. The administrators and users I speak with tell me that spam has been particularly high recently. Last issue you learned how to hide your real email address when posting to bulletin boards and newsgroups. You also learned a few simple rules to follow to help minimize the spam you receive. This issue I'll answer some questions that came up and show you just how spammers get your address--it's not what you may think.

First, several people took me to task for saying you couldn't use your normal mail reader to check mail at Yahoo! and Hotmail. Both of those services do give you POP (Post Office Protocol) access to your mail. Others do not. All I was saying is that a Web-based free email may not give you direct access to your mail. If that is important to you be sure to check for that feature when you sign up.

Some AOL users asked about email filtering. I'm not sure the AOL client allows you to filter the mail and I don't know an easy way around that. You can block specific addresses or only allow addresses to come through that you approve. Alas, these are cumbersome techniques. If someone knows of a general AOL email filter please let me know.

So how do spammers get your email address? One way from one last issue--clicking the "remove me" links in the spam. The rule is don't respond to an email unless you know the person sending the email is on the up and up. This would be newsletters you've subscribed to, stores you shop with, etc.

An overlooked source of names used by smaller time spammers? The chain letters everyone forwards. Notice how many people leave all the addresses visible when they forward. A potential spammer receiving the email has a nice source of known good addresses. I once wrote a little program to count the visible addresses in an email. The record? 500 addresses mentioned in a single email.

Do you have friends who like to forward these chain letters? Teach them how to use the BCC (Blind Carbon Copy) feature of their mail reader. If you are the one forwarding, strip out all the previous addresses from the message and address the new message to yourself. Put everyone you are forwarding to in the BCC field. At the very least you'll make the mail easier to read for everyone who receives it.

[Jim did a series on email basics that covered use of BCC: http://www.TheNakedPC.com/t/506/tr.cgi?dan1 -- Ed.]

The next source of spam is Internet newcomers. They buy CD-ROMs of email addresses looking to make a quick dollar. The addresses are usually collected by "scraping" the net for visible addresses. They usually don't know what they are doing is wrong and will send the email from their ISP account. The ISP educates them quickly or they lose the account. Either is usually sufficient to motivate these people to search for better ways to market their products.

So what do you do? Remember the simple rules from last time. Don't reply to spam--not now, not ever. Use an alias or an alias- generating service and keep your real address private.

Sounds easy, right? Remember how the forwarded messages work. Your friends who forward everything under the sun may have included your address to *many* people around the world. There is not much you can do about it.

Next issue you'll learn about why the spam in your mailbox is not addressed to you.

You can reach Dan Butler at:
mailto:danbutler@TheNakedPC.com

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