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Spam Inc.

In 2002, spam is not just a scourge, it's big business. Our investigator reveals who's behind the assault on your in-box and why stemming the tide won't be easy.

Daniel Tynan

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Spam Tips: The Seven Signs Of Spam

It's easy to spot spam, but hard to automate a system to deal with it. Our suggestions may help you deal with some of the more common tricks spammers use--but for other tricks, there is no good solution.

Phony subject line: Random characters can fool filtering software. Other spam just tries to fool you--"re: your order" is especially modish. Partial solution: Don't filter on exact subject line text; pick a few keywords instead.

Dictionary spam: If a message's "To:" field is crowded with e-mail addresses containing names similar to yours, you've got dictionary spam, where spammers send messages to every address that looks like yours at several different e-mail domains. Solution: Add a couple of extraneous alphanumeric characters, hyphens, or underscores (like dant_47@hotmail.com instead of just dant@hotmail.com) to the normal e-mail address you use. For more details, see " Spam Begone."

Spurious content: If an e-mail says you can get rich working from home while enlarging your breasts, it's spam. Solution: You could create new filters for spam topics as they emerge, or just use spam filtering tools.

Bogus unsubscribe links: Legitimate marketers honor unsubscribe requests. Spammers (at worst) use them to verify your address and send more spam. Partial solution: only unsubscribe from sales mail that comes from companies you know and trust, and forward the rest to the FTC at uce@ftc.gov.

Secret scripts: Some HTML spam contains JavaScript that launches your browser and loads a page, often with ads from porn sites. Partial solution: If you use Eudora or Pegasus Mail, you can disable your e-mail reader's ability to view HTML e-mail messages. Outlook and Outlook Express users, however, can't disable that feature.

Fake return address: Most bulk e-mailers can generate random false return addresses--sometimes even using your own e-mail address. Solution: Filter e-mail that appears to have been sent from your address into a "from myself" folder, and then manually delete all the ones that you didn't actually send.

Forged headers: Spammers falsify routing headers--the breadcrumb trail left by mail servers as e-mail passes through--to hide their location. Solution: Sorry, there isn't one.

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