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One For The Money, Two For The Show

By Bob Osgoodby

  We receive such a tremendous amount of unsolicited commercial email (sp^m) in our In-Box everyday, we can certainly understand why some people become "Anti-Spam" crusaders.  Since the majority is sent with phony return addresses, it is virtually impossible to track down.  While there are ways to find out where it originated, it is usually an exercise in futility, as most come from professional spam houses who own their own servers, and aren't about to shut themselves down. Most people simply delete the clutter, or create filters with their email package to automatically get rid of a lot of it.

  Over 80% of all email sent is sp^m and the CAN-SPAM Act, signed into law by President Bush in December of last year, simply is not having any positive effect. What a waste of resources and our time!  To add insult to injury most Internet Service Providers (ISPs), in their sometimes overzealous efforts to protect us from this, attempt to filter out unsolicited email and wind up deleting valid email.

  There is no such thing as a perfect filter.  If a certain blocking technique is installed, the sp^mmers quickly find a way around it. Face it – this is their business.  They will quickly go out of business if their email is not delivered.  But, if someone sends a legitimate email that happens to trigger one of the filters of the receiving ISP, it will never be delivered. To make matters worse, neither party will ever know it wasn’t delivered, as most ISPs simply dump it into hyperspace.

  They do this in two ways.  The receiving ISP either blocks the Internet Service Provider (IP) address of the sender, or their actual email address.   If they block the email address, and let’s assume it’s yours, this means that you can’t send any email to anyone using that ISP.  This is a harsh penalty for an innocent mistake.

  Last year, AOL reported it blocked over 500 billion (Yes that’s a Billion) email messages, and regularly blocks 75-80% of all incoming mail. Additionally AOL blocked all CI Host customers' IP addresses, the numeric addresses that identify a computer user on the Internet, for almost two weeks until CiHost got a restraining order against AOL.   What were the consequences of this?   Over 200,00 people (mostly businesses) using CiHost’s Servers could not communicate with anyone using AOL.   It is reported that a class action suit for loss of business against AOL is being considered.  Is this arbitrary blocking wrong?   You bet your life, but it is a common practice used by ISPs to block sp^m.

  So what can you do to protect yourself?

  Never – and that is a very long time – use your primary email address on the web.  If you frequent chat rooms, bulletin boards or have ads for your business, do NOT use your primary email address. These places are where the sp^mmers usually find their victims.

  Before signing up with an ISP, it is a must to determine their privacy policy.  One of the MAJOR ISPs, who most diligently blocks spam, actually sells their members email addresses to sp^mmers, who then have carte blanche to send you their junk.

  Keep your primary email address private.   Get some free email addresses such as Hotmail for your travels throughout the web. Get another for the publications you wish to receive.  Don’t think that different user names from AOL will solve this problem, as if they block an email address sent to one, it is automatically blocked for all.

  If you sign up to receive a Newsletter and don't get it, or it suddenly stops arriving, one of the legitimate articles most likely triggered the Spam Filter of your Internet Service Provider. Some of the articles discuss actual offers on the web and may use some of the terms they block.   For example, if an article is discussing a known scam, it has to refer to some of the words that they might use to block the actual scam.  Once it is blocked, you may never get it again.

  You can ask your site host to reduce the level of filtering on your Email, or to never reject something sent through the email address of the publisher.  Many can do this.  If your ISP cannot or will not honor your request, the solution is simple – get one that will.

  The ideal solution is to get “One for the money, two for the show, three to get ready, and four to go”.   If you have multiple email addresses, from different vendors, you should be able to not only conduct your business and receive your valid email, but send the majority of the spam to addresses you won’t check anyway.

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  Did you know that subscribers to Bob Osgoodby's Free Ezine the "Tip of the Day" get a Free Ad for their Business at his Web Site? Great Business and Computer Tips - Monday thru Friday. Instructions on how to place your ad are in the Newsletter.  Subscribe at: http://adv-marketing.com/business/subscribe2.htm

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