Number 234 - October 2002

Experiment in SPAM Control
By Douglas Agee, SWIPCC Member
When I was a kid in elementary school, I had Spam sandwiches several times a week. My mother, bless her heart, loved the stuff and insisted it was good for me. And although the Spam sandwiches were preferable to some of the others she packed, they nevertheless contained a lot of fat. Over the years, of course, medical researchers have discovered that too much fat contributes to atherosclerosis, a disease in which the arteries become constricted and the blood flow impaired. Curiously, modern day Internet "SPAM," otherwise known as unsolicited commercial e-mail (UCE) seems to have a similar effect on today's Internet communication "arteries". Alas, cleaning out these "arteries" is proving as difficult as cleaning out the arteries in our bodies.               Like most of you, I'm continuously inundated with SPAM and spend a lot of time deleting unsolicited messages. In searching for ways to deal with this problem, I came across Spaminator, a SPAM-filtering tool available through my Internet Service Provider (Earthlink). The Spaminator uses a proprietary filtering technology developed by Brightmail, Inc. to intercept suspected SPAM messages before they reach your Inbox. Spaminator places these suspect messages in a personal SPAM storage area and holds them for ten days, allowing you to access and selectively delete or download them at your leisure.     To assess the effectiveness of the Spaminator, I conducted a little experiment. For a ten-day period, I kept tabs of the total number of UCE messages received, noting how many were filtered and how many passed through to my Inbox. To my disappointment, the Spaminator filtered only about 48 percent of the UCEs, allowing 52 percent to slip through. I checked the SPAM storage area to see if the Spaminator inadvertently filtered any non-SPAM messages, and fortunately it didn't. But I'm not particularly elated about the mediocre filtering efficiency.     How can you avoid SPAM? Unfortunately, the only sure way is to stop using your Internet e-mail.	But short of that, you can minimize SPAM by following a few simple rules:     * Never reply to UCE messages. If you reply, or ask to be removed from UCE lists, you'll just verify that your address is valid.     * Don't flash your name and e-mail address around on the Internet - that is, don't participate in surveys or contests, and don't provide your e-mail address unless required to access an Internet site. Read privacy statements carefully - many sites share your e-mail address with third parties.     * Minimize on-line inquiries and purchases. If you purchase books on-line, don't be surprised to receive unsolicited ads for books. Or, if you make inquiries at some of the on-line medical sites, don't be surprised to find unsolicited health or fitness-related e-mail messages in your Inbox.     If you get really energized and want to learn more about SPAM and how you can help to eliminate it check out the Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial E-mail (CAUCE) at www.cauce.org. The website explains why SPAM poses a danger to Internet commerce and describes current legislation designed to counter the problem. CAUCE also provides links to other websites where you can wallow in SPAM-related issues to your heart's content. And, along the way, if you happen to come across any SPAM filters you'd like to have checked out, please let me know!     Doug Agee has been a member of the Southwest International Personal Computer Club (SWIPCC) for several years and has led SWIPCC's Photo editing Special Interest Group for the last 2 years. He is an avid photographer who has made the transition from the conventional to digital darkroom. He has a BS degree in mechanical/aerospace engineering and is presently employed as a Research Engineer. He can be reached at grisha11@earthlink.net.     This article was reprinted from the April, 2002, issue of Throughput, the Journal of the SouthWest International Personal Computer Club.     Copyright 2002 by the SouthWest International Personal Computer Club(SWIPCC). All rights reserved. Permission to reprint this article is granted to other non-profit computer user groups for non-commercial use, provided credit is given to the author, SWIPCC THROUGHPUT, and one copy of the publication containing the reprinted article is sent to SWIPCC's Newsletter Editor. SWIPCC Editor P.O. Box 371236 El Paso, Texas 79937-1236 Voice: (915) 593-8416 e-mail: editor@swipcc.org
Number 234 - October 2002