No doubt about it.
"Spam" (unsolicited commercial email) threatens to paralyze and ultimately destroy the email system as it currently exists on the Internet.
Anyone with an email address can attest to the fact that the avalanche of Spam has only increased in the last year and shows no sign of stopping.
However, the current system many Internet Service Providers (ISP's) use to deal with Spam may just destroy the Internet's email system long before the spammers do.
Now, I won't deny that the weight of the Spam on any ISP's resources can rate very significant.
It's been estimated that between 30-60% of all email now sent is Spam!
This means that 30-60% an ISP's system resources (bandwidth, hardware, system maintenance) go towards delivering messages nobody wants to receive.
Out of self-defense, many ISP's turn to third party services like SpamCop, SPEWS (Spam Prevention Early Warning System), and SpamHaus to help them identify sources of spam and block the messages before their email systems get clogged.
No Trial - No Defense - Guilty!
In theory, it's a great system.
In practice, it creates a situation resembling a witch hunt where the accused gets burned at the stake without a trial, let alone the ability to face their accuser. Here's how the system works.
Let's say a business habitually sends legitimate email to its customers or prospects who asked to receive the email.
As long as nobody complains, life proceeds as normal.
But then let's say one of those people forgets they opted in to the business's email list and reports an email message as spam to one of the services I mentioned above.
Result: the business gets blacklisted by one or more of these services and ISP's in turn automatically block email (legitimate email) sent by the business to its customers and opt-in subscribers.
To make matters even worse, nobody at these anti-spam services bothers to let the business know they've been blacklisted.
When the business finally discovers their status and tries to contact SpamCop, SPEWS or SpamHaus, the real fun begins.
If the business does discover which service(s) blacklisted them, they'll find they can't call anyone on the phone to discuss the problem.
They also discover these services are totally unregulated and there is no higher court of appeals.
Any email responses from these services often contain a smug attitude of assumed guilt that scoffs at your claims of innocence.
Also, don't bother asking for the opportunity to face your accuser in order to prove your innocence because they get to hide behind a cloak of anonymity.
Combining this attitude of assumed guilt with the inability to prove your innocence creates a recipe for disaster for every legitimate business.
Oh, by the way, while writing this article, I received 19 spam email messages through an ISP monitored by all 3 anti-spam services.
Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
In the end, the current system only creates opportunity for abuse that targets legitimate businesses while the real spammers just merrily keep sending their flood of email.
(c) Jim Edwards - All Rights reserved - http://www.thenetreporter.com
Jim Edwards is a syndicated newspaper columnist and the co-author of an amazing new ebook that will teach you how to use free articles to quickly drive thousands of targeted visitors to your website or affiliate links...
Simple "Traffic Machine" brings Thousands of NEW visitors to your website for weeks, even months... without spending a dime on advertising! http://www.thenetreporter.com
Aurora limo prices to midway .. Madison to Airport carIn a word Bayesian spam filters are "intelligent". Bayesian spam... Read More
When you receive an email telling you about a virus,... Read More
5 Ways Spam Is Affecting Your Business And what we... Read More
The temptation among internet marketers to SPAM is greater than... Read More
Am I Just Being Paranoid Or Are The Robots Out... Read More
Junk e-mail or spam has become the scourge of the... Read More
Below is a letter I wrote to the following organizations:S.H.U.... Read More
Spam. You've all heard of the crazy pink meat in... Read More
Are you tired of spam stealing your time, your money,... Read More
Do you get bounced, or rejected emails sent by someone... Read More
You must be one of them experiencing a lot of... Read More
About a month ago I had the privilege of giving... Read More
A friend of mine received a chilling email message from... Read More
What's the big deal? All you read on the internet... Read More
Google is engaged in a war. It is a war... Read More
Spam, as defined in the context of computers, the Internet... Read More
I. BACKGROUNDThe CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (Controlling the Assault of... Read More
Very often SPAMMERS take advantage of catch-all email setup on... Read More
You may have already received a do not spam list... Read More
I'm sure I'm not the only person on the planet... Read More
Before we start getting deep into the meat of this... Read More
Each day we all face the same challenge. Spam. It... Read More
6 August, 2004: Polesoft Inc., home of Professional anti spam... Read More
Email is the quintessential business communication tool, so when it... Read More
Stop intrusive pop-up ads and regain control of your online... Read More
Cadillac Escalade rentals Spring Grove ..In 1998, nearly 10% of all email traffic on the... Read More
It absolutely amazes me how many people over-react to receiving... Read More
You can stop unwanted email spam, you can choose to... Read More
No. I'm not talking here about the outdoor activity enjoyed... Read More
The temptation among internet marketers to SPAM is greater than... Read More
Effectively stopping spam over the long-term requires much more than... Read More
The Vandals are coming! And this time they're after your... Read More
Effectively stopping spam over the long-term requires much more than... Read More
How would you feel if you found a link on... Read More
Spam filters are responsible for deleting a high percentage of... Read More
Did you know that there are software programs that view... Read More
Google is engaged in a war. It is a war... Read More
What do they do? How do they work? Which one... Read More
When you receive an email telling you about a virus,... Read More
Death by spam is now possible with a new device... Read More
Like everybody who will ever read this, I get spam... Read More
With SPAM being such a problem it might seem the... Read More
Marketers usually think of anti-spam tactics as 'how to prevent'... Read More
About a month ago I had the privilege of giving... Read More
With the number of spam filtering solutions increasing each week... Read More
Stop intrusive pop-up ads and regain control of your online... Read More
While the Federal Trade Commission is busy fighting over definitions... Read More
A blacklist, as the name implies, is a list of... Read More
Email is rapidly becoming the standard means of communication among... Read More
This review is taken DIRECTLY from a piece of "junk... Read More
Spam Blocking |