| ||
| ||
|
Spam Blocker Information | |
| Powered by Dreamhost.com - Carbon Neutral, Green Web Hosting. |
|
Winning the War On Spam
For years I didn't worry much about spam. But lately it's got out of control. Over half of my email is now spam, and it was growing by the week - until I took action. This article shows you some strategies for winning the war on spam. ------------------------------------------------ How Do They Get Your Address? ------------------------------------------------ In the old days, spammers got their addresses mainly from Newsgroups - if you didn't post to Newsgroups, you were reasonably safe. But they're now using a much more efficient method to build their lists - email harvesters. Email harvesters are robots that roam the Internet collecting email addresses from web pages. Examples are EmailSiphon, Cherry Picker, Web Weasel, Web Bandit and Email Wolf, to name just a few. How can you protect yourself from email harvesters? By 'munging' (mung = 'mash until no good') or cloaking your email address. There are many ways of munging your address - the easiest technique is to use ASCII code for the punctuation in your email address (instead of symbols). For the colon after mailto use : and for the @ symbol use @ and for the period use . . With this method, your email address would become: mailto:yourname@yourdomain.com but it will display as: mailto:yourname@yourdomain.com Your email address will appear exactly as it did before, and it will still be 'clickable', but email harvesters will ignore it and move on. There are also JavaScript's that you can insert into your web page that will make your email address visible to humans but invisible to harvesting programs. Here's one that works very well: http://pointlessprocess.com/JavaScripts/anti-spam.htm ----------------------------- How To Fight Spam ----------------------------- The most important thing is never, ever, reply to spam. Most spam contains an innocent-looking 'remove me' email address. Do not use it. Here's why: Spammers typically buy a CD containing a million or so email addresses, but they have no idea how many of those addresses are active. So before beginning their marketing campaign in earnest, they send out a 'test message' to the entire list. The test message contains an email address for removing yourself. When you reply to that address, it confirms to the spammer that your address is active and therefore worth spamming. Worse still, the spammer may be distilling from that CD a list of confirmed active addresses that he will then sell to another spammer. The key to dealing with spam is to report it to a 3rd party: (1) the affiliate program that the spammer is advertising, (2) the spammer's web host, or (3) the ISP the spammer used to connect to the Internet. When you report spam to a 3rd party, remember to be polite - they didn't send the spam and they're probably just as anti-spam as you are. (1) Reporting to Affiliate Programs Many spammers are affiliates advertising someone else's products or services. So look for a website address that contains an affiliate link, something like this: www.affiliateprogramdomain/841526 Then just send an email to the affiliate program (abuse@affiliateprogramdomain.com), informing them that you are receiving spam from one of their affiliates. Most affiliate programs have zero tolerance for spamming and will remove an affiliate spammer without warning. Now, affiliate spammers don't want you to see their affiliate link, so many of them send their email as HTML. All you see in the message are the words 'Click Here and Order Now'. But in your browser just click on 'View Source Code' and search for the letters 'http'. That will take you to the spammer's affiliate link. (2) Reporting to Web Hosts If the spam doesn't contain an affiliate link, it's likely that it is coming from the owner of the domain name. In that case you'll have to report it to the spammer's web host or their ISP. To make a report to the spammer's web host just go to Whois, the directory of registered domain names: http://www.netsol.com/cgi-bin/whois/whois Type in the spammer's domain (the website address that appears in the spam) together with the extension (.com, .org, .net etc). The host for that domain will usually be listed as the Technical Contact in the Whois record and there will be an email address for contacting them. (3) Reporting to ISPs To report a spammer to his Internet Service Provider, you'll have to look at the spam's 'extended headers'. Extended headers show the servers that the message passed through in order to get to you. The instructions for viewing extended headers will vary depending on what email client you are using. => In Pegasus Mail, open the offending message and then right-click and choose 'Show raw message data'. => In Eudora Light, click on 'Tools' in the top menu bar, and then 'Options', and then select the checkbox option that says 'Show all headers (even the ugly ones)' and click OK. => In Outlook Express, open the offending message, select 'Properties' from the File menu and then click the 'Details' tab. Reading and understanding extended headers is quite a detailed subject. Here's an excellent free tutorial on how to decipher extended headers: http://www.doughnut.demon.co.uk/SpamTracking101.html As an alternative to these reporting techniques, you could use a web-based spam reporting service such as SpamCop (www.spamcop.net). SpamCop deciphers the spam's message headers and traces the mail back to its source. Wishing you every success in the fight against spam! ------------------------------------------------------------
MORE RESOURCES: » |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Im Guilty Until Proven Innocent No doubt about it."Spam" (unsolicited commercial email) threatens to paralyze and ultimately destroy the email system as it currently exists on the Internet. Is Email Dying? 2004 was really a year when the whole subject of email and spam has been at the forefront of the minds of internet marketers.The anti Spam legislation has had more than the desired effect. Eight Quick Tips For Stopping SPAM If you are buried in SPAM then you're not alone. It's been suggested that as much as 50% to 75% of the e-mail traffic on any given day is SPAM. Blackhole or Fail - Which One Is Better For Your Mail Server? Very often SPAMMERS take advantage of catch-all email setup on webservers. Every email no matter what the recipients email address is will be caught by the default email account. How Can I Stop Getting Spam? Are you getting too much spam? We all are, but if you're a webmaster the word spam takes on a whole new meaning.It's not uncommon for the luckiest of email users to receive a dozen or so spam messages each day, while those of us who aren't so fortunate receive hundreds. The Great Spam Scam: Five Strategies To Stop Brand and Revenue Robbery Marketers usually think of anti-spam tactics as 'how to prevent' readers from perceiving their e-communications as spam. There is another, more sinister, consequence that may affect you. SPAM: A Nutrious Food or a Waste of Time? Unless the filters on your computer are really good, you're getting at least an occasional SPAM message in your email Inbox. For most of us, we spend more time sorting through and deleting the SPAM than we care to. Spam eMails Are Not Just Annoying - They Are A Main Distributor Of Viruses Why is someone from India, Africa, or elsewhere writing you for information about your bank account with shady promises of depositing thousands of dollars within? (Many, many people have fallen for this real scam.) It's costing us ALL money - more on this in a bit. How Spammers Fool Spam Blacklists - And How to Stop Them Effectively stopping spam over the long-term requires much more than blocking individual IP addresses and creating rules based on keywords that spammers typically use. The increasing sophistication of spam tools coupled with the increasing number of spammers in the wild has created a hyper-evolution in the variety and volume of spam. Quickly Eliminate 100% of Your Junk Email Why do so many people think I need to take Viagra? I guess it's for the same reason others believe I want to re-finance my home, invest in a new stock and sell my business.Like you, I routinely receive more junk emails than legitimate ones. Lockspam Free 3.0 Released! 6 August, 2004: Polesoft Inc., home of Professional anti spam software, announced today that Lockspam Free 3. How You Can Avoid The New Dangers Of Spam Until recently, spam has been an annoyance, a definite load on your email system and network, a waste of productive time and money, but we are about to find that the cost could get much higher.Spam blockers are now becoming a necessity rather than an optional email utility, the reason is that spam is becoming much more dangerous. How Spammers Fool Bayesian Filters - And How to Stop Them Effectively stopping spam over the long-term requires much more than blocking individual IP addresses and creating rules based on keywords that spammers typically use. The increasing sophistication of spam tools coupled with the increasing number of spammers in the wild has created a hyper-evolution in the variety and volume of spam. FTC Botches Fight on SPAM, Microsoft Takes Over the Battle While the Federal Trade Commission is busy fighting over definitions of "What is SPAM;" Microsoft and Bill Gates are taking it to the enemy. Today Microsoft announced another case and legal action, which is being taken against a spammer who is in Germany. A Practical Approach to Eliminate Spam Spam is out of control! I guess that would be the understatement of the year. Like any other annoying fact of life, you let it drive you crazy or you deal with it. Spammer Stole My Email Address? Do you get bounced, or rejected emails sent by someone else, with YOUR email address in the From line? Does it mean your computer was hacked, or a spammer has stolen your email address? Relax.. Spam: The Tasteless Internet Meat of Criminals Spam. You've all heard of the crazy pink meat in a can, but what's it got to do with the Internet? Well, it's also the namesake for a major problem in the World Wide Web-unsolicited junk email. How Spammers Fool Whitelists - And How to Stop Them Effectively stopping spam over the long-term requires much more than blocking individual IP addresses and creating rules based on keywords that spammers typically use. The increasing sophistication of spam tools coupled with the increasing number of spammers in the wild has created a hyper-evolution in the variety and volume of spam. Managing Spam in 2005 In 1998, nearly 10% of all email traffic on the internet was SPAM. By 2003 that number had climbed to 50%, and the problem had gotten so bad that Congress passed the CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act)The specific requirements and penalties of that law, (which took effect in 2004) have done little to stem the tide of junk email we all receive. Email Chain Letters - Harmless Fun or Not? I'm sure I'm not the only person on the planet that remembers getting the occasional chain letter in school..
|
|
home | site map | Keywords.info This site is best viewed with Firefox. |
| © 2008 |