Spam


Education is an important part of avoiding spam attacks. Read below for more information on spam and some of the simple techniques you can take to help protect yourself.

What is Spam?

In the Simpliest Terms...

Spam is nothing more than flooding the Internet with many copies of the same message, in an attempt to force the message on people who would not otherwise choose to receive it. The messages usually consist of commercial advertising for questionable products, or get-rich-quick schemes.

There are two main types of spam, Cancelable Usenet Spam and Email Spam.

Cancelable Usenet Spam

This is a single message aimed at people who read newsgroups but rarely or never post and give their address away.

Email Spam

The form of spam targets the individual user with direct mail messages. Email spam lists are often created by stealing Internet mailing lists, or scouring the Web for addresses. The hassle of having to sift through email everyday, just to weed out the spam mail, is not where the trouble of spam ends.

Email spam is very costly to the recipient, both directly and indirectly. Directly speaking, many people read or receive their mail while online, or while the meter is running, so to speak. In this instance the recipient is paying for the time it takes to download and delete the spam. Indirectly to the recipient, it costs money for ISP's and online services to transmit/receive spam, and these costs are transmitted to subscribers (the spam recipients) through increased service rates.

Spam Prevention

Some Simple Prevention Techniques

There are actions that you can take to help reduce the amount of spam you receive.

  • Most importantly DO NOT reply to spam messages. Auto emailing programs do not originally know is whether the address to which they are sending is valid. Once you reply to a spam, you have confirmed to the spammer that your email address is real and is actively in use.
  • Secondly, you need to use discretion when giving out your email address while visiting other sites or registering for on-line contest prizes and other promotions. Try to pretend your email address is like your home mailing address. You wouldn't normally hand out your home address to just anyone without some thought first.
  • Finally, you need to watch out for check boxes. These boxes are usually placed next to questions that ask if you would like to receive information from the website owners. By leaving the box checked, you are agreeing to receive promotional emails from the promoter and possibly other outside parties.
  • Caninet offers multiple email addresses. Keep one for family and friends. Second for using on web forms, however read above, becareful as to whom you are giving out you email address.