Computer Basics

Email is Still King

Others may disagree but it's my opinion...and that of many others...that email is still the king of all Internet applications. Web pages, instant messaging, podcasting and other forms of communication all have their place. But email, allowing individuals and companies to communicate rapidly and exchange information, forms the backbone for reaching out and touching others.

Unfortunately along with the good parts of email come the bad. Spam...unwanted, unsolicited emails from advertisers and others...invades our email boxes and clogs Internet connections at times. Spam sometimes also carries with it the threat of unseen viruses, trojans, adware and more. Phishing exercises...the ploy to get you to reveal your personal information...is regularly carried out through email. 

The Law

The “Can Spam” bill was signed into law in December 2003. In a nutshell the bill made it a crime to falsify return email addresses to disguise the senders identity, prohibits the use of misleading subject lines and requires that both companies and individuals who send bulk emails provide an opt-out mechanism.

As far as it was able to go the “Can Spam” bill provided some protection for users. Unfortunately, it can only extend so far. Since passage of the bill there has been a shift in where spam originates. The majority of unwanted emails now originates from outside of U.S. borders. The Internet is “Open Borders” at work and no single country's laws are going to control this problem.

It is therefore each individual users responsibility to protect themselves from the online email spam purveyors. Below are 4 simple steps you can use now at no or very little cost to stop spam and protect yourself...

Protect Yourself Now

Rule 1 – Never open attachments in emails from someone you don't know! Ever!! In fact if you receive email from someone you don't know...delete it! Getting you to open an email and an attachment is the quickest way to have your PC infested with viruses and trojans and have your personal information compromised. You end up doing 99% of the work for the criminals and they end up going to the bank with your money! Pay attention here...do not open emails or attachments from someone you don't know...Ever!!

Rule 2 – Never leave your email address on the 'Net. This means forums, bulletin boards, chat rooms, social networking sites, your profile...any place that any other person or “Bot” can access it. Spam purveyors spend huge amounts of money developing “spiders” that search web pages, forums, chat rooms and other places harvesting email addresses. Why? So they can send those addresses Spam! So what do you do? See Rule 3...

Rule 3 – Use thow-away email addresses. If you need to subscribe to newsletters, provide an email address to use a forum or chat room use a throw away email address. There are plenty of portal type sites that offer free email. Use them for your online activities and protect your personal email. Look at it this way. You only give your cell phone number to those closest to you, right? And everyone else gets a generic number. This is much the same practice. For business owners...same thing applies to your web pages...don't leave your email in plain site. Use email forms or applications like jSGard to encrypt your email address so it can't be harvested.

Rule 4 – Get spam block software. There are several different vendors of spam blocking software like Cloudmark, MailWasher, Qurb and others. Some do a better job than others. Some have differing purposes...read the websites of the software vendors to find what will work best for your needs.

While we've discussed a lot in these short paragraphs we've barely scratched the surface on protecting yourself while online. Be sure and come back often to find more tips to protect yourself, your personal information and those around you.