Login

IDEaS Computers: Integrated Design, Equipment and Solutions

Stop In or Call Us Today (507) 376-5917

TechDish: Brought to you by IDEaS Computers

Episode 10: Protect Your Email Address from SPAM

Episode Air Date: April 24, 2009

SPAM - No, Not THAT kind of SPAM

No, not that kind of SPAM

Episode Summary

Today we're talking about the non-delicacy form of SPAM—the kind you hate to get in your email inbox. Where does it come from? How can I prevent it? What is SPAM, really? We're answering those questions and more, on today's episode of TechDish.

Differenciating SPAM vs. Email Marketing

Here's where we need to stop and define our terms clearly. SPAM is an often misused term; there are some people who think "any email I don't want to read" is SPAM. This of course, would include emails from your annoying coworkers, an ex-girlfriend you never want to hear from again, and your aunt's seemingly endless supply of prayer chains and religious "inspirations". Now, those types of email, while definitely unwanted, are not SPAM—at least not in the strict sense of the term.

According to the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003, a "commercial electronic mail message" is "any electronic mail message the primary purpose of which is the commercial advertisement or promotion of a commercial product or service (including content on an Internet website operated for a commercial purpose)." (source). Senders who do send messages that fall into this definition must adhere to the following compliances:

  • Unsubscribe Compliance
    A visible and operable unsubscription method must be present in all email, opt-out and unsubscribe request must be honored within 10 days, and the company cannot contact you further, unless it is related directly to compliance purposes.
  • Content Compliance
    The "From" line must be accurate, subject lines must be contextually relevant to the message content and not deceptive, company's physical address must be present, and all adult content must be labeled as such
  • Sending Behavior Compliance
    This gets more "techy" (as Chad likes to say), but the email cannot be sent through an open relay, to a harvested email address, and it cannot contain a false header

So Why Do We Get SPAM?

Among us internet activists, we tend to refer to the CAN-SPAM Act as the YOU-CAN-SPAM Act, mainly because it is largely unenforced, and does not require emailers to get permission before sending marketing messages; rendering all that time spent in government offices drafting this bill practically useless. So, this leaves us these two principles to take into the rest of today's discussion:

  1. You must first receive SPAM to make SPAM SPAM

    If my permission is not required for a company to send me SPAM "marketing messages", and those SPAM "marketing messages" turn out to not be in compliance with the CAN-SPAM Act, they cannot be legally defined as SPAM until they hit my inbox.

  2. No SPAM-sending Spammer Cares that it's Illegal

    Since this law has been largely unenforced by the FTC, Spammers continue to send SPAM without abandon. While FTC reports claim that the amount of SPAM, I and others beg to differ.

How Can I Stop SPAM?

Stop SPAM Before It Starts

Ahh, finally we get to the grit of today's episode! Read the following tips and see how you can drastically reduce the amount of SPAM in your inbox.

#1.) Don't list an "unprotected" email address any website

Email Scraping is very commonplace—if your email address is sitting on any website (eg. MySpace/Facebook profiles, your personal or business website), there is a very good chance you will start picking up SPAM sooner or later. TechDish recommends implementing a javascript that helps to prevent email scraping, a very good one can be found here, courtesy of Dan Benjamin at Hivelogic. Need help implementing this on your website? Contact the IDEaS Computers Website Team for some details and assistance.

#2.) Unsubscribe from CAN-SPAM compliant mailings

Any reputable company is going to be CAN-SPAM compliant, and offer you at least one way of unsubscribing from their mailing list. Take action and do it! In most cases, you can unsubscribe from a mailing list in seconds, and you'll never see email from that company again. HINT: look to the footer of the email for an Unsubscribe link, or method.

#3.) Use the SPAM filter sparingly

You've seen the button in your email platform: "Mark This as SPAM" (or something to that effect). When you click this button, you are simply creating a filter that your email server runs on all new messages to block unwanted mail. Mail marked as SPAM will usually end up in a "SPAM" or "junk" mail folder—so it can still be recovered if you want it. This is a great tool to filter out mail that does not offer an unsubscribe option, but use it sparingly—and only on messages that are truly SPAM. Use it too much, and you risk serious bottlenecking and loss of performance of your mail server.

#4.) NEVER click on the offer in a SPAM message

Avoid clicking on any links or offers in a SPAM message at all costs, unless you are prepared to end up like the Deliberately SPAMmed Housewife. Remember, the email content from a non-CAN-SPAM-compliant spammer is not coming from a reputable company. It's fair to deduce that they have nothing that you are interested in anyways. Besides, the Prince of Nigeria is supposedly a Prince, for crying out loud. What legitimate Prince actually needs your money?


TechDish Hot Tip

TechDish Hot Tip: Bonus!

In honor of our 10th Episode we're bringing you 2 Hot Tips today. Enjoy!

Opt Out When Signing Up for a Service

Whether you're shopping, social networking, chatting—whatever—and you're asked to create an account, a CAN-SPAM compliant company will give you the option to say "yes" or "no" to receiving emails from them, and their "partners". Un-check these options and you're free and clear.

Use a Throwaway Email Address

Just can't get the hang of opting out and unsubscribing? Create a Free email address that you don't ever intend to use. Then, use this email address whenever you are signing up for a service. You'll get SPAMmed, but your primary email address will remain safe.

Not sure how? Get a 100% FREE GMail account by clicking here.


Listener Submissions

Got a computer question that's been bugging you? Can't quite get something figured out? Submit your questions to TechDish and let our Über Tech answer them for you on a future TechDish Episode!

Click the link below to submit your TechDish question via our convenient submission form.

Click Here to Submit your TechDish Question

Email TechDish Your Question

Questions can be emailed to techdish@ideascomputers.com. Please provide the following information:

  • First and Last Name
  • City and State
  • Contact Email address
  • Your TechDish Question