I Get No Spam, And Cannot See What All The Fuss Is About!
July 8, 2008
When you talk to friends and work colleagues about email, the internet and spam some may brag they get no spam - suggesting they have some wonder solution to the entire process. OR they are somehow immune to spam? If you are getting a lot of spam email yourself, you will, for sure be interested to know more.
You may begin to feel something of a fool by having spam yourself - just what are you doing wrong, and what is your friend doing right? Let us look at your friends flippant dismissal of a serious international problem a little closer so we can decide for ourselves what the truth really is.
Is he bragging?
In many cases the claim of little or no spam is all talk and brag, and the person is getting the same as anyone else, perhaps even more so.
Does this guy have a computer at all, or internet access? how much mail does he get - 2 week, or 500 a day? does he use email at all or even know what it is?
Have you seen his email flow, and thus be able to see it for yourself?
What type and quantity of email does he have?
Users who only send email between close friends and business contacts may have no real exposure to spam.
You attract spam by passing on your email address to outside parties who, in various forms allow you to do certain things (download, view, access) or/and send you information as a result (software, eBooks, newsletters.)
Typical actions like those below will exposure you to spam, if you are passing on your email address regularly (one a week, or several times a day) you increase the risk proportionate to the number of events per week where you pass on your email. Typical examples include;
subscribing to ezines and email newsletters
eBooks
chat rooms
discussion groups
free trials
online games
online gambling
dating and friendship
web site registration to give you access to pages or information
downloads of software, music, pictures etc which ask for email address first
registering free or trial software, even which you later uninstall or delete
passing on messages received by email to your address book contacts esp those sent using TO and CC where ALL email addresses are then seen by the recipient.
These events do not all carry the same risk - many firms and web sites are highly ethical in their collection and use of your email address, others less so. The spam risk factors can vary from little risk when you register with an established and ethical organisation to a high risk posting where one posting brings you THOUSANDS of spam mail from one simple action.
What volumes of email does he have?
Your friend may only get a few emails a week, so if this is from close contacts chances are he will genuinely be getting no spam as he has no real risk of getting known to spammers.
However, his own close contacts could be attacked by spammers and their address boxes emailed using software on their PC installed by spammers - in this case your friend without any action on his part is now a spam target, by reason of being in the address book of one or more friends or close contacts.
We advise passing on this page to people in YOUR ADDRESS book so they can review the various tips on this issue. To be safe send all messages BCC (blind carbon copy) - using this you can email the same message to several people but none knows the other email addresses.
Maurice Clarke is founding owner of http://www.internet-online-privacy.com a free and independent source of information about all aspects of online fraud and personal privacy issues. The site contains articles and web links highlighting the leading privacy issues and suggested preventions and solutions for both personal and business web surfers.
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