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What is a Spam Blocker ?
When you open your inbox, very often
you come across a few dozen mails mostly advertising their
products and services. These unsolicited emails are called
‘spam’. They are nothing but junk mails that is not only a
nuisance but adds on to problems like using up a lot of network
bandwidth. As we all know that the Internet is a public network
and hence little or almost nothing can be done to stop spam
completely. However, today, to save the users from this problem,
service providers are giving an option of spam filters kin the
e-mail programs that can be used to remove almost all the spam
sent via e-mails.
It is actually one way to make people forcibly receive and view
mails which they would not have done otherwise. They are sent in
huge quantities and generally used by commercial advertisers for
‘how to–get-rich-quick schemes’, finance options for mortgages
and other loans, adult or pornographic websites and drugs like
Viagra. The advertiser or sender, in most of the cases, does not
pay any money; the cost is borne by the poor and unsuspecting
receivers or the carriers.
Spam is also termed as UCE or Unsolicited Commercial Emails.
However, it must be noted that not all spam is used for
commercial purposes. While some spam can be illicit and against
the law, others may be an attempt to share the opinions and
views on controversial subject matters like politics and
religion.
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The various
categories of spam mails, besides commercial purposes are
• An attempt to share political opinions
• Sharing of religious opinions
• Appeals for charity or similar causes
• An attempt to spread malicious computer virus
• Chain letters
• Some financial scams
The whole topic of spam mail is highly controversial and can be
defined in a various ways. In most of the cases, the spam e-mail
lists are formed by using the different email addresses found on
the chat rooms, blogs and discussion and message boards, IRC and
web pages.
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Spam
continues to grow each and every day – some statistics
The growth of email spam is rising each and every day. Way back
in the year 1978, a spam email message was sent to about 600
users. Large scale spam was first reported in 1994, when it was
sent to 6000 newsgroups, i.e. almost one million people!
Year Spam received per day
2005 30 billion (till June)
2006 55 billion (till June)
2006 85 billion (till June)
2007 90 billion (till February)
(Statistics courtesy –wikipedia)
What is a spam blocker ?
A software specially designed to block or limit the amount of
spam emails going to the users’ mailbox can be defined as spam.
With the immense growth of spam each and every day, the spam
blockers or filters are becoming more sophisticated and using
the most advanced text analysis and tracking systems to combat
this nuisance. Basically, all spam blockers are capable to
scanning the incomings emails and either branding them as spam
or letting them hit the users’ mailbox or even sending them to
the trash directly. So, the junk and unsolicited mails are
stopped by the filter once it reaches the mail server. With the
advent of technology, a new set of spam filters have been
designed which even works in the reverse way; i.e. scanning all
the outgoing mails too. The whole purpose of this software is to
refrain or at least limit the amount of spam being sent from the
Internet Service Providers and other network administrators.
Majority of the good spam filters offer a protection rate of 98
percent. This essentially means that only two mails out of every
100 will get past the spam filter. They also offer almost 0
percent ‘false positive rate’ – a term given to a wrong decision
taken by the spam blocker when it trashes a legitimate and
unsolicited mail. However, if such an error occurs, the filter
offers the option of retrieving it till 45 days since its
receipt.
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How will I
prevent email spam ?
One of the primary things that you should do to stop this
nuisance is be extremely careful with your email address.
Though, it nearly impossible to keep your email address away
from the spammers, this step can at least limit the amount of
spam in your mail box. If you are filling up a form online, be
careful about posting your address. If it is not a ‘mandatory’
field or you are not familiar with the website, refrain from
giving it out.
If you have a website of your own, do not advertise your email
address on the site. If you want to get in touch with the
potential customers, use a web form. This will ensure that
spammers will not be able to pick your address from the website.
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Don’t ever respond to any spam
messages. This will certify that your email address is active
and will make life easier for the spammers. They will continue
to send mails or even sell your address to other spammers.
However, if it is some message from well known companies like
eBay and Amazon, you need not fear. Responding to their mails
and requesting them to remove your details from their database
will serve the purpose.
Most of these spam mails are an
attempt to sell various products and services. Never ever get
tempted by these commercials and offer to buy them. Most
spammers operate anonymously and use stolen details. Spam is a
crime and buying their goods would be encouraging this criminal
attempt. Finally, invest in a good spam filter or spam blocker.
A good software will make your life much easier and tension
free; Microsoft Outlook offers a good spam filter to its users.
Not all is spam
However, not all unsolicited messages can be referred to as
spam. There can be some genuine propositions regarding to some
charity or some invitation sent to a recipient or a newsletter;
it might also be some messages from system administrators or
some misdirected mails; they might be unsolicited but definitely
cannot be termed as spam.
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Article Contributed By: Sukanaya
Banerjee
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