Antispam Protection
by: Ashley Gibbs
Antispam email accounts
Spam has evolved through the proliferation of e-mail accounts and Internet worldwide. Since mailing e-mails is free and easy, sending spam in the form of unsolicited e- mails to multiple recipients advertising a service or product is on the rise. However, spamming is recognized as a hindrance and annoyance by many and so finding ways to eliminate spam altogether, or at least block it, is a main effort of many. Yet, fighting spam is difficult because spammers have created their own computer world of host computers and methods for spamming e-mail accounts. So, if you want to fight spam you have to be diligent and creative.
One of the first things you should do if you have not already is to set up filters on your computer. These filters will block certain e-mail addresses from entering your inbox and will help you eliminate spam. However, if you block all e-mail addresses from a certain web site then you will also be eliminating any legitimate e-mails that might originate from that web site. However, because of the issue of spam web sites are dividing into two groups, more or less, those that support spam and those that do not. So, if you are receiving spam from a web site and you block that address you will likely be blocking just spam.
You can fight spam by writing to the web site, from a different e-mail address of course, and informing them that they are supporting spammers. If the company is real and fighting spam they will likely thank you for writing and want additional information in order to eliminate the spam from their web site. However, if the web site is a spam supporter then you will likely not receive a response and simply become a victim of their spamming again. So, be careful how you inform these companies they are supporting spam.
They might take any number of actions depending on the type of site they are. If it is a real site then they will likely welcome the information and may ask you to provide additional information in order for them to properly deal with the situation. If it is a spam friendly site you are writing to then they will either ignore your e-mail or simply add your e-mail address to their spam list. Also, sometimes the web site you are writing to is simply being exploited by the spammer and has no idea what is going on. Inform them they are being exploited and need to reconfigure their e-mail server in order to block spammers from using their e-mail as a host.
Another tip is to never respond to spam e-mail. By doing this you will simply be confirming that your e-mail address exists and you will begin receiving more e-mail. So, block the e-mail address rather than replying to it asking to be removed.
Finally, take care when visiting web sites that promise to remove your address from spam sites. More often than not these web sites are owned by spammers and they simply steal your e-mail address and send you more spam! The only way to get rid of spam is to fight it daily and even write to your congressional representative to bring the problem of spam into the political light.
About The Author
Ashley Gibbs is the owner and operator of Lib Antispam Inc which is an excellent place to find antispam links, resources and articles. For more information go to:
http://www.libantispam.com/.
