How To Protect Yourself From SPAM
By Bob Boyles, Principal
Smarter Distribution

Everyone that uses e-mail dislikes spam. But like junk snail mail or road side signs you might as well learn to adapt because it’s here to stay in one form or another. You might think you’ve got the problem licked since the newer version email programs allow you to filter out spamers once the message has been received. Spamers have gotten around that process by using randomly generated email names and IP addresses. Heard all those warning about securing your web servers and wireless access points. The spamers look for these unprotected computers and use their IP address to generate the junk email. This defeats the fancy filtering programs. The real trick is to avoid having your name out in the public to begin with. There are some simple rules you can follow to keep yourself from being over whelmed.

First, use your main e-mail identity with business. This will keep your main e-mail account focused on your inner circle. Using your business email address for personal tasks can easily lead to time killing spam on the job.

Second, set up an e-mail account with Yahoo.com or Hotmail.com and use that address when submit your information to commercial web sites. This applies double when you use your email address with in a Usenet group or some other on-line chat rooms. Spamers use programs known as “spiders” to scour these parts of the web for e-mail addresses.

Third, avoid having your personal email address listed on a public portion of a Web site. Take the Smarter Distribution web site as an example. Recently I had a potential customer call me and was upset that my email address on the web page was not active. (On the About page the email address is a graphic file and can not be clicked on the forward an email.) Those same spider programs mentioned earlier can strip your email address from a web page but cannot read the email address out of a graphic file. The only spammer that is going to get my email address are the ones willing to type it into their database by hand. And trust me on this that is not going to happen. The response rates for email advertising is so low that it must be a mass-produced.

Fourth, don’t waste your time un-subscribing from non-reputable firms. Laws in many states explicitly state that people receiving unsolicited e-mail should be given the opportunity to remove them selves from mailing list. But these same laws do not state what should be done with that un-subscribing information. Indeed when you un-subscribe some of the address vendors register that address as one that really works and just add your address to more lists. Most spamers will forward un-subscription information to a dead end just so they don’t have to deal with it. There are several databases where you can register your address so as not to receive Spam but none of the spamers use these databases so they are pretty worthless so far.

Fifth, read the privacy policy of the companies where you submit your e-mail information. Many sites exist on the web that promise wonderful benefits are just for the purpose of gathering addresses.

There are several programs on the market today that monitor the email you receive and will send a message back to the sender asking he or she to manually respond. The idea here is that spammers are totally automated so only the people willing to put up with the inconvenience are the humans that are really trying to get in touch with you. I find these programs intrusive and prefer to battle spam through conventional methods for now.

A word about spammers, these folks are low on the morality totem pole. They lie cheat and steal for a living. Want some examples? Customer paid a spammer for 100,000 unique email deliveries. The spammer running low on email addresses needed to make the 100,000 total so he sent 10,000 emails to one person!

There are a number of web sites that offer information about email laws and spammers. Here are a few, in no particular order.
http://www.junkbusters.com/
http://www.spamlaws.com/
http://spam.abuse.net/
http://www.mindworkshop.com/alchemy/nospam.html

Spam may be a reality of our lives in the 21st century that we cannot avoid. But using these simple ideas can help you survive the on down pour. Got any better ideas? Send us an e-mail let me know what you think.

Bob Boyles started his strategic consulting business in 2001 and focuses on the change that technology is forcing in the supply chain and how independent distributors can not only respond to that change but also maximize their return on investment. Bob spent a significant amount of time as an Installation Consultant for several of the big name software companies in the distribution market. Working with hundreds of distributors across the country on installing, upgrading and utilizing their software. Bob also worked as Corporate Systems Manager for one of the largest electrical wholesalers in the country as that company moved from a completely manual operation to an on-line real-time system.

Bob graduated from Appalachian State University (BS - 1981) and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro Graduate School of Business (MBA - 1985).