HERE ARE FIVE SIMPLE THINGS YOU CAN DO TO
HELP KEEP SPAM AT BAY
- NEVER RESPOND TO SPAM
Oh sure, they say they’ll take your name off the list, but they’re lying.
What they really want to do is confirm that they’ve got a live address.
Also, if you respond, they’ll sell your address to every other spammer on
the planet meaning you’ll soon be flooded with even more spam.
- DON’T POST YOUR ADDRESS ON YOUR WEBSITE
It seems like a good idea at the time, but posting your email address on
your personal home page is just an invitation to spammers. Spammers and the
people who sell spamming as a business have software that "harvests" email
addresses from the Net. This software crawls through the Internet seeking
text strings that are -something-@-something-.-something-. When it finds
one, it catalogs it on a database of other email addresses to be used to
send spam.
- USE A SECOND EMAIL ADDRESS IN NEWSGROUPS
Newsgroups are the great email address gathering ground for spammers. If you
post to a group, you’re going to get spam -- it is just a matter of time. So
how are you supposed to participate? Use a different email address than the
one you use for talking to friends and relatives. In other words, have a
public address and a private address. You’ll just have to deal with the spam
in your public account.
- DON’T GIVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WITHOUT KNOWING HOW
IT WILL BE USED
If a website is asking for your email address, they want to use it for
something. Be sure you know what. Read the terms of use and privacy
statements of any site before telling them your address. Ask yourself some
simple questions. Are they going to share or sell my address? Do I want
emails from this website? Do I trust them? Is it worth the risk? If you
can’t answer these questions satisfactorily, if you can’t find their privacy
statement, don’t tell them your address.
- NEVER BUY ANYTHING ADVERTISED IN SPAM
The reason that people spam is because they can make money. They make money,
like all advertisers, by convincing people to buy a product. If no one buys
the things advertised in spam, companies will quit paying spammers to
advertise their products.