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Stop spam! |
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Spam
is the common term referring to unsolicited
commercial e-mail, or junk e-mail. Spam can be
very annoying and time consuming, clogging
your e-mail inbox with sales pitches, job
offers and marketing schemes. Spam can also
be obscene, often advertising adult products
or containing pornography. Many Internet
users have lost money or compromised their
privacy by responding to malicious spam.
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Spam is
a problem with most Internet users
because it works. Spammers are
trying to make money by advertising
products at almost no cost. Believe
it or not, most spammers are very
successful at generating revenue and
have become very wealthy in a short
period of time.
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Note: You can learn
more about spam by visiting
the US Federal Trade
Commission's website using
the following link:
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Why is there spam in your e-mail
inbox? |
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Spammers buy lists of
e-mail addresses from list brokers. List brokers
collect e-mail addresses by "harvesting" them from
the Internet. Your e-mail address can be harvested in
a variety of places.
When you have five times as much spam as you do
e-mail it’s time to take back control of your inbox.
Learn how spam works and how to use tools to block
spam with our free online class.
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Learn how to
take back your inbox |
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The following list provides information
around some of the most common methods your
e-mail address can be collected:
Threats to your e-mail address and privacy
violations
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Chat rooms make e-mail harvesting
easy. Information like your e-mail
address is available for anyone to
collect when you are messaging in public
chat rooms.
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Posting in newsgroups or forums may
expose your e-mail address.
Harvesters use software to automatically
scour and record postings for e-mail
addresses.
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E-mail addresses posted to web pages
receive spam. It does not matter
where the addresses are posted on the
site. If the address has the "@" sign,
it will be harvested.
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Responding to spam means you are
asking for more. Once you have
responded to one spam e-mail, the
spammers will add your address to every
list. Your address will even be sold to
other spammers.
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You forwarded an e-mail chain letter.
Have you ever noticed that chain letters
contain a long list of e-mail addresses
of other Internet users? e-mail
harvesters receive chain letters also,
and your address may be in the list.
| Note: e-mail harvesters
use the latest technologies and are
constantly developing new ways to
build their lists and increase
revenue. |
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How can you prevent spam? |
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The most
effective way for Internet users to
reduce spam is to stop making it
profitable for spammers to send
e-mail. Unfortunately, that may never
happen. There are, however, specific
steps that you can take to reduce
the amount of spam in your inbox and
protect your privacy. |
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Options you have to reduce spam
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Never respond to unsolicited e-mail.
If you respond to, or do business with a
spammer, your e-mail address will be sold
to other spammers. Responding to spam
also tells the spammer that they have a
valid e-mail address and you (their
potential customer) are checking it.
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Do not attempt to unsubscribe from
the spammers mailing list. Spammers
are required by law to delete your e-mail
address from their list if you request
to be removed. However, even if the
spammer obeys the letter of the law they
will immediately add your e-mail address
to every other list they maintain.
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Protect your e-mail address. Do
not give your e-mail address to websites
or companies without understanding and
agreeing with their privacy policies. If
you cannot find a stated policy, be safe
and do not provide your address.
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Consider using multiple e-mail
addresses. Use one e-mail address for
personal correspondence, another e-mail
address for business and an anonymous
e-mail address for everything else. Use
the anonymous e-mail address for logging
into chat rooms, registering downloaded
software and posting on websites,
newsgroups and forums.
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Use a unique e-mail address. Your
choice of e-mail addresses may affect the
amount of spam you receive. Spammers use
"dictionary attacks" to sort through
possible name combinations at large ISPs
or e-mail services, hoping to find a
valid address. Thus, a common name such
as jdoe may get more spam than a more
unique name like jd51x02oe.
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Use an e-mail filter. Check your
e-mail account to see if it provides a
tool to filter out potential spam or a
way to channel spam into a bulk e-mail
folder. You can also set up rules for
persistent spam that automatically
deletes them when they are received.
Report spam to your Internet Service
Provider
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You can let the ISP
know about the spam
problem on their
system and help them
to stop it in the
future. Make sure to
include a copy of
the spam, along with
the full e-mail
header. At the top
of the message,
state that you're
complaining about
being spammed.
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You can report spam
to most ISP's by
sending the spam to
one of the following
addresses using your
ISP address:
abuse@yourispname.com
or postmaster@yourispname.com. |
Report spam to the Federal Trade
Commission
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Send
a copy of unwanted or deceptive
messages to the following e-mail
address:
spam@uce.gov |
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Note:
the FTC uses the
unsolicited e-mails
stored in this database
to pursue law
enforcement actions
against people who send
deceptive spam e-mail. |
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HP Security partners |
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