Spam is not simply unsolicited email: it also fulfills the following criteria:
o The header information is false (if you reply to it, your reply will bounce)
o The subject line is misleading
o It does not contain a valid means of opting out of further emails
o It does not provide a valid physical address
Since spam is illegal, senders of spam have figured out how to prevent their real origins from being revealed. They are even capable of using other people’s computers (unbeknownst to them) to send out emails. Sometimes they send out emails that appear to come from an address (such as Grace Church) which never sent them. This is called spoofing and it is extremely difficult to trace the actual sender and make it stop.
The most important rule of spam: NEVER REPLY TO A SPAM
This tells them that they have sent it to a valid address, and that you read your email and so THEY WILL SEND YOU MORE.
So what do you do? Does reporting it to your Internet Service Provider help?
We like to believe there are solutions to these problems, that justice prevails, that some great internet policeman will set matters to rights. However, as it has been the case since King David penned the psalms, the wicked appear to prevail. Your best defense (as in the cases of other annoying emails) is to hit the delete key.
Some automatic spam detection devices block emails that you want (such as Grace Notes, or other occasional email announcements). This has particularly been a problem with AOL, which “places the delete button right next to the report spam button. If you are not careful and hit the spam button when all you intended to do was delete an e-mail you have already read, you have given AOL a reason to block all e-mails coming from that source” (http://ccmag.gospelcom.net/0306/0306specialfeature.pdf). At various times Grace Church has been unable to send email to AOL users, and to RCN users.
One bit of progress: some emails do provide an “unsubscribe” option and there is now a service that lets you check whether it is safe to use it. Go to http://www.lashback.com/register/UnsubsafeLookup.aspx and enter the IP return address in the box, before you click on their unsubscribe button.
Safe surfing!
Robin Morris
Parish Administrator