What is Spam, and how do I stop it?

• What Spam is
• How spammers get your e-mail address
• BCPL efforts to stop spam
• How you can stop spam
  • Keep your e-mail address out of the hands of spammers
  • Use a throwaway e-mail address
  • Complain to the abuse or postmaster address of the originating domain
  • Set up your own spam filter
  • Change your e-mail address
• CAN-SPAM Act
• What not to do
  • Never reply to spam
  • Do not retaliate
• Why are e-mails addressed to someone else coming to me?
• Links

1. Keep your e-mail address out of the hands of spammers.
   Put simply: If the spammers don't know your address they can't send you spam. The best way to avoid getting spam is to not give out your e-mail address. Once a few spammers get hold of your address, you'll get a steadily increasing amount of spam. Spammers trade and sell lists of addresses, so it doesn't take long for your address to become known to a large number of spammers.

   • If you buy merchandise from an online store, you'll probably be required to enter your e-mail address as part of the ordering process. Reputable online merchants won't share your e-mail address with other online merchants without your permission, but not all online merchants are reputable. Look carefully for a checkbox or button that lets you specify that you don't want the merchant to give your address to anyone else. If there is no such option, search the merchant's web site for a published privacy policy. If you aren't satisfied that your e-mail privacy will be respected, either don't buy from that company, or use a "throw-away" address as described below.
   • Don't put your e-mail address on a webpage - If you have your own webpage, don't put your address on it either in plain text or as a mailto: link. Instead consider creating a small graphic that displays your address (but don't make it a link). Disguise your address something like this: "jdoe at bcpl dot net" instead of "jdoe@bcpl.net". Or, utilize one of the free javascripts that will disguise your address (for an example see http://www.joemaller.com/js-mailer.shtml ).
   • If you participate in a Web-based forum of any kind that displays your e-mail address, contact the person in charge of the forum and ask if your address can be hidden. If not, stay away from that forum.
     
     
2. Use a throwaway e-mail address
   Set up a "throw-away" e-mail account with one of the free Web-based e-mail services like Hotmail, Netscape, or Yahoo, and use that address in newsgroups and mailing lists. When the amount of spam you receive at that address gets out of control, discontinue the account and get a new one.
   
   
3. Complain to the abuse or postmaster addresses of the originating domain
   Almost all ISPs now have abuse addresses specifically for this purpose. If you identify the origin as erols.com, for example, address your complaint to "abuse@erols.com".

   Unfortunately, this isn't as straightforward as it might seem. The address on the "From:" line of spam is almost never where the spam really originated. Spammers almost always use a fake address on the "From:" line. If you receive spam that shows "jdoe@erols.com" on the "From:" line, and if you complain to "abuse@erols.com", there is an almost 100% probability that you have complained to the wrong place. Figuring out the true origin of spam can be a hassle, but it is essential in order to know where to complain.

   To determine the true origin you have to examine the "Received:" lines in the full message header. Most mail programs don't normally show you the full header. You have to turn on full header display, usually in the configuration or in one of the menus. For specific instructions on how to view full headers in many different e-mail programs please go to:

   http://www.wurd.com/cl_email_faq_spamfight.php

   Even with the full header in front of you, it can still be pretty tough for the layman to determine the origin of the e-mail. This is because most mass mail software adds one or more bogus "Received" lines and other information to throw you off track. Even if you are able to figure out which "Received:" lines are legitimate, you then need to do some research (typically a "whois" lookup in the ARIN database at www.arin.net) to figure out where to send your complaint. This is time-consuming, so we don't recommend it unless you are very serious about taking action against spammers.

4. Set up your own spam filter
   Although filtering at the server level isn't practical, filtering within your own mail program may be a viable alternative because it is completely within your control. All current versions of the most popular PC and Macintosh based mail programs (Outlook Express, Netscape, Eudora, Apple Mail, Entourage, etc.) have filtering capability. Consult the written or online Help documentation for your specific mail program.

   One approach is to set up your filters to accept mail only from addresses you consider "friendly", i.e. from e-mail addresses that are known to you (this is sometimes called a white list) . This will certainly stop spam, but unfortunately it also has the potential to stop legitimate e-mail as well. We don't consider it a good solution, but many people do it.

   A less stringent but more labor-intensive approach is to create filters that will block e-mail containing specific words. For example, if your primary concern is spam with pornographic content, then set up a filter to block e-mail containing words you consider to be objectionable. A "forbidden words list" intended to block normal non-pornographic spam (commercial ads, for example) is less straightforward because the words in such e-mail are not any different from the words you might find in legitimate e-mail.

   There are many types of commercially available anti-spam software. Newer versions of anti-virus software (such as Mcafee or Norton) may contain anti-spam as part of security software package. You can obtain this software online or at most computer stores.

   Please note that WebMail, used by many BCPL.NET customers and BCPL staff, does not have filtering capability. In order to filter you will have to use an e-mail program installed on your own computer.

5. Change your e-mail address
   There is only one sure way to eliminate spam (at least for a while). Change your BCPL.NET username (the part of your address in front of the "@"). Then, protect the new address as described above. If you want to do that, decide what you want your new username to be (plus a second choice in case your first choice is already taken), then contact the BCPL.NET Accounts Desk at 410-887-4172 or . Give it careful thought first, though. If you change your username, you will have to change it in your BCPL.NET login window, and in your e-mail program. You will also have to notify everyone from whom you want to receive e-mail of your new address, and you'll have to resubscribe to any e-mail mailing lists you're on.

   In the final analysis, your best line of defense is the Delete function in your mail program. I know it's annoying to receive spam, but it takes only a moment to delete it. For most users this remains the most effective way to deal with spam.