Spam!

Des Moines Register

Why "Spam"?

The word "Spam" is a registered trademark of the Hormel Foods Corp. and is the name of that company's canned meat product. The word was applied to e-mail solicitations, Hormel says, when early Internet users realized that unwanted messages could one day drown out other messages.

How much spam is out there?

Brightmail — one of the few outfits currently quantifying spam i measures "a unique spam attack" as a group of similar spam messages, ranging from 10 to tens of millions of individual e-mails. Through what it calls a network of decoy e-mail accounts with a statistical reach of 250 million e-mail boxes, Brightmail has reported a huge increase in spam over the past 16 months:

Where does it come from?

Most spam comes from companies — big and small — that are looking for new ways to reach potential customers.

What does it cost us?

According to Ferris Research, spam cost U.S. businesses $8.9 million in 2002 in loss of worker productivity, consumption of tech resources and use of tech support time.

How to fight spam

Keep your e-mail address private.

When you post in a newsgroup or to a Web site, use an e-mail address or screen name other than the one you normally use.

"Mask" your e-mail address.

Put a word or phrase into your e-mail address to trick automatic e-mail harvesting programs. For example, use "johndoe@nospam. myisp.com" instead of "johndoe @myisp.com."

Avoid "user profile" pages.

Simply refuse to fill out online forms that ask you for personal information.

Never respond to the "remove address" question.

By responding, you're only confirming that your address is valid and that you read their original spam.

Use spam filters.

Many ISPs already use spam-filtering software.

If you need additional protection on your end, there are programs you can buy to help filter out some of the noise. ZDNet.com recommends three that are free to try out before you buy:

• Novasoft's Spamkiller ($29.95)
• Contact Plus' SpamBuster ($29.95)
• Fundi Software's Mail Guard ($20)

Report it.

The Federal Trade Commission says you can forward unwanted or deceptive spam to the government's spam database at uce@ftc.gov. Or, if you've been ripped off by a spammer, call the FTC hotline at (877) FTC-HELP or go to www.ftc.gov.