Beat the Spammers
How Spam Works
Spammers use software to send emails to thousands of addresses they aquire from CDs (sold to them by companies that sell the email addresses of thier customers) from harvester programs that scan the net looking for "_______@____.com" phrase, or from programs that generate millions of possible email addresses.
Why It Exists
Spam is the cheapest form of advertizing that exists, and turns a profit even if a small % of people buy the products advertized.
Spam Prevention
Dummy Accounts
You can get free accounts from yahoo and hotmail, and use those when you sign up for services online. A neat trick is to create a dummy account for every online service you subscribe to, using the service name as the username, like "EBAY101@yahoo.com". Then, if any Spam arrives at that email account,
you know that the service sold your address and you have grounds to lodge a complaint.
Disposable Accounts
Some companies, both paid and free, will give you a disposable account that will forward a set number of messages to your primary account (such as the "welcome to our service" email that you WANT to see), then self-destruct. Spam Gourmet is one company that gives free dummy accounts.
Beat the Harvesters
Remember, the harvesters are programs, not people. When you put your email address on bullitin boards, include text that a human would know to remove, like "maryREMOVETHISTEXTmagdaline@yahoo.com". The harvester will send "mary REMOVETHISTEXTmagdaline@yahoo.com" to the spammer software, and since this address, as written, does not exist, the messages he or she tries to send to you will bounce back to the spammer.
Use Encoders
If you need to link your address to a web page, you can use an encoder to beat the harvester. One service that will generate code to mask your email address from the harvesters is
Willmaster.com
Don't Click That Link
The last thing you want to do is click one of the "remove me from your list" link that comes with many spam messages. Not only will the spammer refuse to honor your request, if he or she using a generator or harvester program, your response simply tells the spammer that your email address is real, so he or she can send more spam (and may even sell your address to other spammers).
Report It
There are several anti-spam organizations that can help those overwhelmed or those who feel threatened by Spam. Here are the links to some recomended by Smart Computing Magazine:
FTC Website
Network Abuse Website
You can also complain to your ISP.
Spam Laws
Keep up with anti-spam laws and get involved at:
SpamCon.org
SpamLaws.com