I. BACKGROUND

The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing Act) establishes requirements for those who send commercial email, spells out penalties for spammers and companies whose products are advertised in spam if they violate the law, and gives consumers the right to ask emailers to stop spamming them.

The law, which became effective January 1, 2004, covers email whose primary purpose is advertising or promoting a commercial product or service, including content on a Web site.

A "transactional or relationship message" – email that facilitates an agreed-upon transaction or updates a customer in an existing business relationship – may not contain false or misleading routing information, but otherwise is exempt from most provisions of the CAN-SPAM Act.

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is authorized to enforce the CAN-SPAM Act. CAN-SPAM also gives the U.S. Department of Justice the authority to enforce its criminal sanctions.

Other federal and state agencies can enforce the law against organizations under their jurisdiction, and companies that provide Internet access may sue violators, as well.

II. WHAT THE LAW REQUIRES

A. It bans false or misleading header information. Your email’s "From," "To," and routing information – including the originating domain name and email address – must be accurate and identify the person who initiated the email.

B. It prohibits deceptive subject lines. The subject line cannot mislead the recipient about the contents or subject matter of the message.

C. It requires that your email give recipients an opt-out method. You must provide a return email address or another Internet-based response mechanism that allows a recipient to ask you not to send future email messages to that email address, and you must honor the requests. You may create a "menu" of choices to allow a recipient to opt out of certain types of messages, but you must include the option to end any commercial messages from the sender.

Any opt-out mechanism you offer must be able to process opt-out requests for at least 30 days after you send your commercial email. When you receive an opt-out request, the law gives you 10 business days to stop sending email to the requestor’s email address. You cannot help another entity send email to that address, or have another entity send email on your behalf to that address. Finally, it’s illegal for you to sell or transfer the email addresses of people who choose not to receive your email, even in the form of a mailing list, unless you transfer the addresses so another entity can comply with the law.

D. It requires that commercial email be identified as an advertisement and include the sender’s valid physical postal address. Your message must contain clear and conspicuous notice that the message is an advertisement or solicitation and that the recipient can opt out of receiving more commercial email from you. It also must include your valid physical postal address.

III. PENALTIES

Each violation of the above provisions is subject to fines of up to $11,000. Deceptive commercial email also is subject to laws banning false or misleading advertising.

Additional fines are provided for commercial emailers who not only violate the rules described above, but that also:

A. "Harvest" email addresses from Web sites or Web services that have published a notice prohibiting the transfer of email addresses for the purpose of sending email generate email addresses using a "dictionary attack" – combining names, letters, or numbers into multiple permutations

B. Use scripts or other automated ways to register for multiple email or user accounts to send commercial email

C. Relay emails through a computer or network without permission – for example, by taking advantage of open relays or open proxies without authorization.

The law allows the U.S. Department of Justice to seek criminal penalties, including imprisonment, for commercial emailers who do – or conspire to:

A. Use another computer without authorization and send commercial email from or through it

B. Use a computer to relay or retransmit multiple commercial email messages to deceive or mislead recipients or an Internet access service about the origin of the message

C. Falsify header information in multiple email messages and initiate the transmission of such messages

D. Register for multiple email accounts or domain names using information that falsifies the identity of the actual registrant

E. Falsely represent themselves as owners of multiple Internet Protocol addresses that are used to send commercial email messages.

Glen Littlejohn, Esq. http://www.mortgagemarketingtsunami.com

Death by spam is now possible with a new device by Microsoft. The device when implanted in the user’s skull allows downloading of email directly into the brain.

Niles Bookbinder, 37, an assistant working for Jon Hanson, author of Good Debt, Bad Debt was accidentally spammed to death Tuesday morning using a beta version of a new email device called, “MS Mind.” A Microsoft spokesperson said, “We don’t have all of the bugs worked out yet, but this is the first death we know of.” Mr. Bookbinder had unwittingly “unchecked” the spam filter in the MS Mind control panel. Without the spam filter, apparently Niles unleashed the entire world of spam into his "medulla interface" and was literally spammed to death. It’s likely the last words Mr. Bookbinder heard were, “You’ve got mail!”

Wireless Medulla Interface providers are popping up everywhere. Dr. Jack Kevorkian sees the new Wireless "G" Medulla cards as a real advance for him. With these systems, euthanasia supporters predict quick, painless death by simply bypassing the filters and downloading thousands of spam emails quickly. Kevorkian said, “I have been looking forward to killing patients by email.” Kevorkian expects his prices to be competitive with AOL.

While it is not a victimless crime, it would be a crime without a knowable perpetrator. You would have no way of knowing whether your "loved one” was finished off by the breast enlargement, Viagra softabs starting at $2.99, or $ave $$$ now refinance emails.

A PETA spokesperson, Ima Chihuahua, said she found the idea disturbing because it could lead to so-called Spam Collars that would be used to kill pets as they aged, or "convenience" killings, such as when a young couple could not find a kennel on their way to Vegas or they simply change their minds about having a pet.

PETA may be right. It has long been rumored that KFC has been testing the effectiveness of spamming chickens to death versus simply whacking off their heads. In earlier tests, chickens were forced to watch Gili and Ishtar until they simply cut off their own heads, but this experiment was discontinued because of the cruelty to experimenters.

Spamicide, accidental or not, will undoubtedly set off a bitter debate in America as Anti-Spammers and Right-to-Spam groups rally to raise money and jockey for political clout.

George W. Bush seemed bewildered at this morning’s briefing. He looked to his press secretary and said, "Are we Right-to-Spam or Anti-Spammers?" Elsewhere, Jesse Jackson, finding it difficult to be Right-to-Spam said, "It should be the choice of the spammee. Spamicide should be legal, available, and rare."

NEXT WEEK: Partial Spam Deletion. Should this barbaric practice be outlawed? Are thousands of viable spams being killed in spam filters, just before being downloaded? The debate continues…

Jon Hanson
www.gooddebt.com
jon[at]gooddebt.com

Jon Hanson, is the author of "Good Debt, Bad Debt: Knowing the Difference Can Save Your Financial Life"

His web site is http://www.gooddebt.com jon [at] gooddebt.com

For a bit of audio comic relief go to: http://gooddebt.com/debtdowns.htm

Available for interviews radio, print, TV, contact Jon through the website http://www.gooddebt.com

Review of Good Debt, Bad Debt: USA Today February 7, 2005 http://www.usatoday.com/money/books/reviews/2005-02-06-debt-usat_x.htm

It absolutely amazes me how many people over-react to receiving e-mail SPAM.

What is this obsession…this preoccupation with SPAM?

Where are our priorities?

When it comes to SPAM, many of us are ready to support the severest anti-SPAM legislation. Yes, we want to lock up all the spammers and throw away the key! Haven’t we learned by now that inviting the government to get involved with anything is a recipe for disaster?

I personally receive a couple hundred e-mails every single day. Approximately half of that is SPAM. Want to know how I deal with the problem? I hit the "delete" button and just like that, no more SPAM!

And since I have high-speed cable access, it literally only takes me a few minutes to make a hundred uninvited SPAM guests disappear. No problem!

I don’t let SPAM annoy me or upset me. And I certainly don’t let it ruin my day.

When you let SPAM annoy or upset you, all you’re doing is letting the spammers win. However, when you use the delete button, you win! You’ve got the power to delete. Why not use it?

What’s so hard about doing that? It’s certainly a lot easier on your emotional well-being than getting upset over the situation.

Simply view SPAM as one of those minor annoyances of every day life–like reality television shows, and learn to treat it as such!

About The Author

Dean Phillips is an Internet marketing expert, writer, publisher and entrepreneur. Questions? Comments? Dean can be reached at mailto: dean@lets-make-money.net

Visit his website at: http://www.lets-make-money.net

You are familiar with the software applications that you run on your computer, but you may not be familiar with the dozens of programs running in the background on your computer. These programs, called "services" handle tasks like event logging, spooling files to the printer, and networking. One of these services, the Messenger Service, can be reconnoitered by spammers.

The original purpose of the Messenger Service was to allow system administrators to send a message to some or all of the users on a network. The message appears in a popup window to alert the users. Messenger Service is not instant-messaging. It does not allow the users to respond.

All Windows versions install Messenger Service and turn it on by default. A program freely available from the Internet allows spammers to control the Messenger Service on hundreds of thousands of computers on the Web. Users receive popup spam windows that are not generated by the website they are visiting.

If your computer is on a network behind a firewall, or you have a firewall application installed on your computer, it can be configured to block access to the Messenger Service. Most firewalls are configured by default to block access to the Messenger Service. If not, configure your firewall to block port 135, the port used by Messenger Service.

Microsoft, in their ignorance of computer security, likes to leave "back doors" to your computer open. But they finally wised up and Windows XP Service Pack 2 turns off the Messenger Service. If you are running Windows XP, your best bet would be to install Service Pack 2 to turn off the Messenger Service and close several other security holes.

If you are running Windows 2000, you can turn off the Messenger Service manually. Select "Run…" in the Start menu and in the "Open:" text box type services.msc, then click on the "OK" button. In the "Services" window that appears, right-click on "Messenger". In the "Properties" dialog box that appears, click on the "Stop" button and then in the "Startup Type" drop-down list select "Disabled". Then click on the "OK" button.

If you are running Windows NT, select "Services" in the "Adminstrative Tools" utility. Then disable the Messenger Service as described above. If you are running Windows 95/98/Me, you can’t disable Messenger Service, you need to remove it. Use the "Add/Remove Programs" utility in Control Panel to view the details of "System Tools". Uncheck the box next to "WinPopUp".

Now, with the Messenger Service on your computer disabled or removed, spammers will have to go back to annoying you the old fashion way - with spam email.

–

Permission is granted for the below article to forward, reprint, distribute, use for ezine, newsletter, website, offer as free bonus or part of a product for sale as long as no changes are made and the byline, copyright, and the resource box below is included.

About The Author

Copyright(C)2004 Bucaro TecHelp. To learn how to maintain your computer and use it more effectively to design a Web site and make money on the Web visit bucarotechelp.com. To subscribe to Bucaro TecHelp Newsletter Send a blank email to subscribe@bucarotechelp.com

Junk e-mail or spam has become the scourge of the modern computer world. It eats bandwidth. Spam is like a disease. It doesn’t care about age, religion, wealth. It doesn’t discriminate. Junk e-mail affects us all.

There are 4 keys to the junk mail question – Who, What, Where and Why.

Who they are

The typical profile of a junk mail sender is as follows. Male, 18 – 30 years of age, single, technically competent and with little regard for their status as a public nuisance. There are female junk mailers out there but, unfortunately, this is predominantly a male preserve.

What they use to send spam

There are many tools available to the spam merchant. The main ones are e-mail extractors, newsgroup harvesters and CD lists.

E-mail extractors are programs which wander around the Internet gathering e-mail addresses from websites and often from web based forums (unprotected forums). A “good” e-mail extractor can gather 15,000 e-mail addresses per hour.

Newsgroup harvesters are programs which search through newsgroups for valid e-mail addresses. Most newsgroups users are aware of this and take measures to counteract these harvesting programs. Despite these measures a newsgroup harvester application can gather 20,000 – 30,000 e-mail addresses in an hour.

CD lists are one of the worst sources. 90 million e-mail addresses available on a single CD for as little as $20. A lot of the addresses on these CDs would be junk (many would no longer exist) but an equally large number of these addresses would be valid. A CD like this is a junk mailers dream.

Where they do it from

Those involved in sending out bulk e-mail are “entrepreneurs” or at least they think so. The vast majority of those involved in the spam business are self-employed and work from home. Sending spam is almost the ideal home based business. You name your hours and the business itself is almost automatic. Maximum gain from minimum effort.

Why they do it in the first place

Their motivation is money. Considerable amounts of cash actually. Each spammer who sends out 1,000,000 junk e-mails is certain of approximately 100 sales. Many of the products they sell are worth $50 - $100 dollars to them in commission. Yes. Shocking isn’t it? The average bulk mailer earns in excess of $100,000 per year! Maximum return for minimum effort. Unless of course you get caught and get jail time.

This article was provided courtesy of Spam-site.com which reviews and tests spam blockers for the business and end user.

In a word Bayesian spam filters are "intelligent". Bayesian spam filters are intelligent in so far as they’re capable of comparing two sets of information and acting on the result. This is in direct contrast to the vast majority of other spam filters who use pre-built rules to decide which e-mail is spam and which is not.

Bayesian spam filters can take one group of legitimate e-mail and another group of spam and compare the values and data of each. The definition of legitimate e-mail that it creates at the end of this comparison session is what it uses going forward to scan your inbox for spam.

FYI Bayesian spam filters are named after Thomas Bayes an 18 century cleric who created something known as Bayes Theorem. In summary Bayes Theorem is as follows: .."in statistical inference to update estimates of the probability that different hypotheses are true, based on observations and a knowledge of how likely those observations are, given each hypothesis." In plain English it looks for obvious repeating patterns to form an "opinion" on something. In spam filter terms that "opinion" becomes a rule which keeps you spam free (or pretty close

The really neat thing about Bayesian filters is that they’re capable of learning. For example if they decided to block an e-mail because the filter perceived it as junk but the user marked it as valid mail the Bayesian filter then knows not to block that type of e-mail in the future. So, in time, this type of spam filter learns enough to block spam far more effectively. AOL have embraced this type of spam filter with the launch of AOL 9.0 and AOL Communicator- if the big dog wants it then it must be worthwhile?

So what Bayesian spam filtering options are available to you? Well quite a few to be honest and you’ll be pleasantly surprised by some of the names involved The first one on the list is AOL with their AOL Communicator product. The spam filtering features in AOL Communicator and AOL 9 are, to be honest, impressive. Think what you will of the provider themselves AOL Communicator is an excellent product and is suitable for use by both PC and Mac OSX users.

Next up we have Eudora. The nice folks at Qualcomm have designed an excellent e-mail client that also has built in Bayesian spam filtering. I’ve used Eudora in the past and it’s a neat little package. Again the benefits here are advanced integrated spam filtering with your e-mail automatically. Mac OSX and OS9 users are in luck with Eudora providing support for both.

If you’d like to know more about spam filters or just spam in general please drop by our site at www.spam-site.com

Need a spam blocker? Check out Spam-Site.com for spam filter reviews and spam related information.

Your message is not being delivered.

If you send emails to your customers, I have some bad news for you. Not all of your emails are making it to your intended recipients. Between ISP spam filters, spam-blocking email servers, spam-killing email software, and email content filtering everywhere in between, the chances are high that your messages just aren’t making it past all of these roadblocks.

Recent studies show that opt-in subscriptions are erroneously spam blocked at rates of 17% (according to Return Path) to 38% (according to Mail.com). So, 17% to 38% of the e-mail you send to people who want it or even pay for it in many cases, does not reach them. Just by choosing the wrong words or phrases, or sending the wrong type of attachment, your email can become a "false positive", and end up filed into some garbage bin where it gets mixed up with various offers to increase the size of some random body part — never again to be seen.

These false positives can occur even if the intended recipient is very interested in receiving your message, even if their life (or livelihood) depends upon receiving that message. Even if automated spam filters don’t destroy your message, as in-boxes fill up with more and more garbage, it’s becoming common for people to simply overlook wanted mail and inadvertently delete it.

It’s only going to get worse.

When the new federal law dubbed "The CAN-SPAM Act of 2003" (Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing) was passed in December, many were startled and confused by the apparent legalization of spam. Now, as long as an emailer complies with the law regarding header falsification, misleading titles, and opt-out procedures, it would seem that marketing through spam has become legitimate!

The CAN-SPAM law only restricts the legality and processes involved in sending Unsolicited Commercial Email (UCE). There is no implied responsibility on behalf of any provider to guarantee delivery of all messages. In fact, ISPs are given the right to filter and block email any way they deem necessary according to their policies. The law doesn’t burden ISPs to discriminate whether the email was permission-based or unsolicited. They can block incoming bulk email simply on the basis of a single complaint.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, the CAN-SPAM Act suggests a bounty of 20% or more of fines collected go to the people who turn in spammers. As more "offenders" are reported, more ISPs are blacklisted, and the more likely your message will end up vaporized long before it hits home.

So now, with more and more marketing efforts involving purchased and shared opt-in lists, more and more companies able to legally spam, and more and more Unsolicited Commercial E-Mail floating around on the internet, there is bound to be a reaction, and that reaction is sure to be quite strong. Following the Red Queen Principle, as spammers continue to find a means to push out spam — ISPs, hosts, and email packages will continue to improve their defenses, as well, blocking more mail than ever before.

Has E-mail Come to an End?

No one could have imagined that things would get this bad. Spammers and virus authors are rapidly crippling email. Even though e-mail was once dubbed the "killer app" of the Internet, some doomsayers are going so far that viruses, spam, and spam filters are joining forces to bring about the death of email. The theory is that, eventually, inboxes will become so full of unwanted garbage emails, and so many desired messages will be deleted along the way, that email will become useless.

Some e-mail publishers are considering giving up on e-mail altogether and finding other ways to deliver their message. While this may sound pretty extreme, the spam wars are an extreme situation. And extreme situations call for drastic measures…

RSS to the Rescue

One such alternative is RSS, which stands for either Really Simple Syndication, or Rich Site Summary, depending upon with whom you’re speaking. A primary reason that RSS is a viable alternative is that since readers select their RSS Feeds, spam is no longer an issue. This is because RSS works a little bit differently than email, using pull, instead of push, technology.

By notifying people interested in your content, as well as web sites that collect and package content announcements (called aggregators), you "feed" them your content. From this process we get the term "RSS feed." By providing an RSS feed, another site may pick up your "news" through your feed and syndicate it. Only the feed publisher can designate what information gets into the feed, and the only information the subscriber pulls down is what the publisher puts there.

If email continues on its self-destruct course, RSS could very well become the new standard, either replacing email subscriptions or, more likely, as an email supplement.

What are RSS Feeds?

An RSS feed is a Web-accessible XML file containing a listing of web pages with related news or information. RSS is basically a stream of raw data: content completely separated from presentation. The XML-based RSS feed contains content information, such as the headline, description, an excerpt, and the URL where the subscriber can find the content in its entirety. Once uploaded to a website, the RSS feed should be validated for completeness and accuracy. Once it is validated, the feed can then be submitted to engines.

A sample feed can be seen at: http://www.EnvisionSoftware.com/Articles/Index.xml

Consuming the Syndicated RSS Feed

Individual subscribers can view RSS feeds in special feed reader software, called a news reader. Additionally, webmasters can syndicate your news feeds to their website using an aggregator. Both aggregators and news readers consume RSS feeds, presenting them in a format for use by humans in pretty much the same way Web browsers work with web pages.

To subscribe to a newsfeed, the subscriber tells their feed reader to periodically poll a certain site’s RSS feed file, pasting the URL for the RSS feed into their feed reader, much like bookmarking a page in your Web browser.

Then, to read the news, the feed reader visits the subscribed feeds, grabs the latest information, and displays a sorted list of the latest headlines from each source. Sometimes the reader will show brief descriptions of the content, but it always links to the full content on the publisher’s site.

Not quite ready for prime time

Even though it’s been around for a decade, RSS technology is still in its infancy. This immaturity presents a few challenges.

The biggest issue today is that mainstream web and e-mail clients do not yet support RSS feeds. Expect to see some movement in this direction as the RSS movement swells.

There are lots of freestanding news readers out there, and they each have their unique shortcomings. Over the next year or two, RSS software should improve significantly and RSS will become a more robust publishing platform.

RSS usage and news aggregator adoption is still very limited. So, RSS will not be a complete solution without greater subscriber participation.

RSS is text-only. Attractive layout and graphics cannot make up for poor quality content in the world of news feeds.

The RSS Business Model

Content publishers need to determine how to make RSS content distribution profitable. Just as there are paid e-mail newsletters, there can be paid RSS news feeds. It’s just another file that resides on a web server, so it can be served from a password protected web site. However, with a paid RSS newsfeed, readership is reduced, as subscribers are limited to using RSS aggregators or news readers which support authentication.

While content publishers may be afraid of RSS, the business model of e-mail publishing doesn’t really change using RSS. Readers still see the same content, with the same design, layout, and ads in an HTML newsletter. The trick is to have content which strikes the reader’s fancy — headlines and descriptions have to be worthy of clicking on, before the readers will see the full content.

What Does The Future Hold for RSS?

RSS has gained quick acceptance in certain circles such as small technology companies, innovative consulting organizations, and self-publishers. Even Microsoft has started publishing RSS feeds without attempting to strong-arm themselves into a dominant position, thus far.

AOL’s upcoming AOL 10 software will support RSS technology. Microsoft will most likely support RSS in Outlook and Outlook Express, similar to its current support for newsgroups. Additionally, web hosting tools like Geocities offer tools to syndicate RSS feeds.

It may take some time, however, for RSS to gain momentum in the IT departments of midsize-to-large companies, which are typically slower to adopt nascent technologies like RSS.

Should you consider RSS for your publication?

While RSS may not be an immediate replacement for the email newsletter, it will become a powerful choice in corporate and personal communication in the very near future. Once the big guys adopt RSS as a content sharing and distribution medium, it will gain greater acceptance. The benefits of RSS will be widespread, and full-featured RSS news readers will be prevalent.

Moving your subscriber base from e-mail newsletters to RSS feeds might be a tall order at this juncture. For now, it’s up to publishers to sell readers on the RSS concept, and explain how it alleviates the pain of spam.

Whether you decide to convert to RSS full force or simply offer RSS as an alternative for your subscribers, it’s important to realize that e-mail is starting to lose its luster, and now is a very good time to include RSS in your publishing repertoire.

About The Author

Daiv Russell is a Software Engineering Strategist with Envision Software, a software project management and development outsourcing company committed to helping information technology organizations solve problems, increase revenues, and reduce costs by guiding software development teams through project management chaos. Envision publishes Luminary, a monthly software project management newsletter.

DRussell@EnvisionSoftware.com

Spam. You’ve all heard of the crazy pink meat in a can, but what’s it got to do with the Internet? Well, it’s also the namesake for a major problem in the World Wide Web-unsolicited junk email. Problem! We’re talking serious pain in the butt both as a waster of time, space, and money. It is estimated that around half of all email received on the Internet is this sneaky illegal attempt at selling fake consumer goods, pornography, and a whole plethora of ‘helpful’ services. It’s taking up half of all email on the Earth, and it’s costing businesses’ billions in wasted time, as well as filling personal email accounts to the limit so important messages aren’t received. It seems everywhere there’s a leap in technology for humanity, there’s also a group of people who want to stretch the realm of criminal activity to another level.

The good news is that as it’s such a prominent problem, the ‘good guys’ have made it a main priority on their ‘To do’ lists. Software has been created to block Spam and is being updated constantly. Recently Bill Gates, richest human on Earth and self-made mogul of software masters’ Microsoft spoke of his aim to eliminate Spam by the year 2006. Obviously a lot of people would be quite appreciative if they could achieve this goal.

Supposedly most of the billions of junk emails originate from about 200 people who are intelligent enough to cover their tracks. They have multiple ways of finding out email addresses and then sending thousands upon thousands of unwanted messages to you and I. It usually costs them next to nil so if even one low-quality product sells they receive a profit. That’s why they do it; just another greed-induced means of getting rich quick without working for it like the rest of us.

Well, there’s a couple main ways of dealing with the Spam dilemma. The main one, and most easy, is to just delete the messages or empty your folder (after moving desired messages to another folder) straight off the server without downloading or ‘looking’ at the messages. This gives the ‘evil’ sender the knowledge that you’re not reading the mail and therefore the traffic you receive goes down dramatically.

Another way to block the Spam is to use software like Magic Mail Monitor (http://mmm3.sourceforge.net/) or Mailwasher (http://www.mailwasher.net/), which work well at destroying the unwanted, pink, tasteless, unworldly email meat by showing you the mail straight from the server without downloading it.

So, show the criminals you’re aware and not ignorant and take the first steps to bringing the Spam Empire down. Protect yourself and eventually the Spam will go where all filth is destined, into the trash.

About The Author

This article is written by Mr.Jesse S.Somer who writes for M6.net.

With the number of spam filtering solutions increasing each week it’s getting tougher for consumers to make informed choices in their purchases.

There are 3 basic types of spam filters:

1. Integrated
2. Standalone
3. Online

We’ll look at each type of spam filter and at the end you should be able to decide what spam filter is right for you.

Integrated spam filters

This type of spam filtering software is the most common. Once installed it sits "on top" of your existing email software and installs a new set of buttons into your email software. In future when you collect email you’ll see options for marking email as Spam, marking the email as Not Spam, Bounce the email back to sender, etc. The description and position of these buttons varies from one product to the next but their purpose remains the same.

Most integrated spam filters automatically place suspected junk email into a separate folder on your PC for you to review or delete later on.

The newer integrated spam filters are also "intelligent". They can basically learn the difference between what is spam and what is not and delete the junk email you don’t want.

The most popular integrated spam filters are:

Integrated spam filters are most popular amongst people who want a one click solution to collecting their personal email and filtering junk email at the same time.

Advantages:

One click solution.

Disadvantages:

Software specific. Some work with Outlook and Outlook Express only.

Standalone spam filters

These are less common than their integarted counterparts but that doesn’t make them any less useful. A standalone spam filter is basically a separate piece of software installed on your PC that you use to check your email for spam.

Standalone filters have the big advantage of being able to preview your email on the mail server before it’s downloaded to your PC. This one single feature has the huge benefit of allowing you to just download the email that you want as opposed to downloading all of your email, including the spam, and then sorting through it.

Using a standalone spam filter is a little more work simply because it’s a separate piece of software that you have to run before you open up your email software. Most standalone filters do allow you to configure them so that your standard email application is opened once you’ve chosen what spam to filter. This suits some people and not others.

The most popular standalone spam filter is:

Mailwasher Pro

Advantages:

Doesn’t rely on specific email applications to work properly.

Disadvantages:

Two step process. Load standalone filter and then your email application.

Online spam filters

There are really two types of online spam filters. One is for business use and one is for home use. A typical example of a business type product is iHate Spam server edition where the software deletes junk email directly from the mail server before the end user even sees it. Large companies employ this type of technology.

Home users will be using Spam Arrest or similar. Spam Arrest offers an inventive solution to spam whereby any email sent to the users account has a challenge request sent back to it which the sender must authenticate. The automatic junk email software used by spammers can’t currently deal with this type of response. Any failure to authenticate the challenge email results in the junk email being left to die in cyberspace. A user is authenticated with Spam Arrest only once for security just to make sure the software doesn’t become a nuisance.

The most popular online spam filter is:

Spam Arrest

Advantages:

Users are guaranteed to only receive the email that they want or requested.

Disadvantages:

Any techncial problems with the Spam Arrest server and you have no defense against spam.

This article was provided courtesy of Spam-site.com which reviews and tests spam filters.

The lifeblood of the spammer is email. They need to be able to send lots of it on an ongoing basis to stay in "business". High profile spammers can send 80 million pieces of junk email every single day. Yes one single person.

ISPs all over the online world have vowed to stop spammers sending such vast amounts of email through their mail servers. Do they really keep their word? All the end user sees is that the spam keeps coming. There must be a loophole there somewhere. There is.

In the soft white underbelly of the internet there exists something known as a pink contract. The term pink contract comes from the color of the famous tinned meat that junk email gets its name from. A pink contract is simply a business agreement between the ISP and the spammer. The spammer agrees to pay the ISP to turn a blind eye to the junk email passing through their mail servers.

Surely this is bad business for the ISP? Well the answer to that is both Yes and No. Yes it’s bad news for the people who receive the junk email and No it’s good news for the ISPs bank balance. A monthly pink contract can pay the ISP amounts from $10,000 upwards. Bearing in mind that the average work-at-home spammer averages $100,000 net per year the above figure is small change fo the bigger junk email vendors (the guys who earn $200,000 - $400,000 per month.)

But….. the CanSpam Act 2003… surely that’s going to make a difference? Of course. Any ISP in the United States can get in serious, serious trouble for signing pink contracts. Problem is that there’s a whole big world wide web out there and the vast majority of pink contracts are signed with overseas ISPs where US authorities have no jurisdiction - China and Russia being perfect examples.

There’s no moral to this story. Spam is a huge problem that’s finally being taken seriously by Governmental bodies. However until they start imposing prison sentences or seizure orders on those individuals and companies in the pink contract business the problem can only continue.

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