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How
Spam Works
Spam
involves sending unsolicited e-mail to many people, and
is a very common practice today. It is not unusual for
the average person to have 30% of his or her e-mail as
spam, and there is a huge demand for new techniques to
block spam including the existing methods, such as spam
blockers, spam filters and the creation of e-mail whitelists.
The most unfortunate aspect of how spam works is that
it is quite simple. A spammer needs only collect a large
number of web addresses and an unwanted advertisement
can be sent to hundreds of people. Many spammers use software
to make their spamming easier. There are many different
kinds of spam and people who are responsible for this
annoyance.
E-mail
spam involves simply sending out an ad to hundreds of
recipients. Many people have spam blockers in place, which
bounce the unsolicited e-mail back tot he sender, or filters
which place the suspicious e-mail in a bulk folder until
the recipient has time to decide to accept or reject it.
In
addition to e-mail spam, which is the most common form
of spam, there are also forms of spam that appear on Instant
Messenger accounts, newsgroups, blogs and mobile phones.
Spammers are quite happy that there is no operating costs
involved in their schemes and that the barrier to their
entry is quite low, even given the newest filtering and
blocking systems. Even though these programs might be
effective in weeding out spam, spammers are becoming more
sophisticated and re-wording suspicious looking headings
and subject lines. In a word, spamming is as easy as sending
an e-mail, except that one has to manage exceptionally
large e-mail lists.
Since
spamming is discouraged and against the law in some places,
many spammers are desperate to avoid detection. They launch
their spam campaigns from other computers or "zombie"
computers which send the spam for them.
Once
they bypass security devices and are able to obtain sensitive
information about a PC, they can use the PC for sending
unsolicited bulk mail. Another possibility is to get a
hold of addresses and to get them to send spam. The result
of this is that a spammer might be unaware that he or
she is spamming, since another computer is controlling
his or her PC. The unwitting spammer might be placed on
blacklists, could lose internet service and denied access
to certain chat groups. This is very serious in addition
to the fact that spammer face stiff fines and even the
possibility of incarceration.
Spammers
are becoming increasingly sophisticated in avoiding filters
and blockers. The heading of an e-mail may say simply
"Hey" or lack a heading altogether. Spam filters
are not vigilant about such subject lines and allow many
of them through. Since spam filters are concerned with
blocking e-mails with certain words, some spammers intentionally
misspell words to bypass these restrictions.
Spam
is, unfortunately, all too easy, but more e-mail users
who do not want spam are setting up whitelists that allow
only certain people to e-mail them. It is impossible for
spamsters to penetrate these walls, but the added protection
may spell a lack of spontaneity for the consumer.
Spammers
are constantly coming up with news ways of grabbing email
addresses. The only effective way to stop the spam dropping
in to your inbox is with a good permission based Free
Spam Blocker.
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