About Email Spam

If you have an e-mail address, you more than likely have come across e-mail spam. Spam is an unlawful form of advertisement that can do more than fill your e-mail inbox. It is important to learn the laws regarding spam, the penalty for spamming, how to identify it, how to avoid it and the dangers associated. This will help to make your Internet experience a more pleasant one and end spam once and for all.

Identification

E-mail spam is defined as promotional material e-mailed to recipients without permission. Spam can easily be identified without opening the message by looking at the e-mail address and subject. If you do not know the sender, then there is a good chance the message is spam. Spam mail often has subjects that sound like a sales pitch, such as "40% Off." Some spam senders try to trick the recipient into opening the e-mail by putting 'RE:' before the subject message to make the recipient think that the message is part of an ongoing correspondence.

History

E-mail spam has been around as long as e-mail accounts have been invented. On Jan. 1, 2004 the Federal Trade Commission enacted the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act). This act requires all e-mails to be forthcoming in their intentions (no trickery in the subject lines, for example), the from and to e-mail addresses must be real and correct, each e-mail must have a way for readers to get themselves off the mailing list and the e-mail must say that it is an ad and list the sender's real physical postal address.

Spammers are also not allowed to harvest e-mail addresses by finding them on the Web. This means that a person has to give his address to the spammer on purpose for the spammer to legally use it.

Significance

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 made it much harder for spammers to send their e-mails to unwilling participants. The penalties for disregarding the law is fines of up to $11,000.

Prevention/Solution

Though these laws have been in place for years, there are those that continue to spam e-mail boxes. To prevent spam an Internet user should implement spam filters for all of his mail. Most e-mail services come with a junk filter; it just has to be switched on.

For junk mail that still finds their way into an e-mail box, they can be reported to the FTC, which maintains a database where consumers can submit complaints online. Users also can forward spam to the FTC's e-mail at [e-mail].

Warning

Some spam e-mail can contain viruses that are dangerous to your computer. Other spam can contain phishing scams that are designed to gather your personal information for the use of identity theft. Do not open suspicious e-mails for these reasons and report them to the FTC.

Resources

• The CAN-SPAM Act
• FTC Database