definition - SPAMMER - the person or persons who initiate the bulk email message

This type of email accounts for a large portion of the emails being sent and received today. SPAM is often considered the electronic version of junk mail. It is sent in order to sell products and/or services, promote a scam, or to distribute a virus or spyware. It costs nothing to send out a few million email messages and to receive even a few responses is reason to consider the effort a success by the spammers.

Information about you - your name, address and buying habits are a commodity that is regularly sold and traded. Some companies sell their mailing lists to third parties, including spammers. Spammers may also obtain an address by harvesting email addresses they find on the internet, by searching newsgroups for those who are posting messages, by searching chat rooms for address, or they may also look in places like recently completed sales on services such as eBay.

Many times a user will not be able to find who is sending a SPAM message. Sometimes a spammer will set up a one-time email account to send a spam email and when finished, will close the account. Another technique used is to forge email headers that make it difficult to trace the origin of a message.

Some SPAM email messages offer the opportunity to 'unsubscribe'. Users are cautioned that this is a trick used by spammers to validate their email address list. Many times spammers obtain email addresses from means that do not provide valid email addresses. By replying with an 'unsubscribe' message, you are validating that the email address is indeed accurate and it then may be sold to other spammers - adding you to yet another list. If you did not have to subscribe to receive the original message, there is little chance that unsubscribing will get rid of the SPAM.

General techniques to use in avoiding being added to SPAM email lists:

• Be very careful to whom you give your email address.
• Do not reply to SPAM email. Doing so will confirm that your address is genuine and eligible to be sold to additional SPAM lists.
• Use Internet safe behaviors - don't sign up for freebies, don't post your email address on web sites, be careful in selecting the websites you visit, don't participate in chain letters.
• If you have a personal web page, do not include a mailto: link, rather force people to manually enter the email address to contact you.
• Check the "no" check box when a company asks if it can share your email address with other companies.
• Whenever you make a contribution, order a product or service, or complete a warranty card, etc. communicate the "please do not distribute or sell my name or address" message.
• Contact your credit card company and ask that they do not sell or distribute your name or personal information.
• Avoid sending your email address to web sites that offer 'free' services such as greeting cards or a "joke a day".
• Remove your email address from commercial people finder services such as Yahoo! and People Search. Email these lookup services and request that your email address be removed.

To find more information about Spam do a search on the word 'spam' on the internet. You will find sites such as http://spam.abuse.net/