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Issue 89 | 22nd July 2003 |
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ABOUT THIS NEWSLETTEReBusinesslive
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Spam FiltersSeptember 2003 is the month that unsolicited email will equal the amount of permission email being sent worldwide according to Brightmail, the anti-spam technologists. 50% of email is now junk and people are spending more and more time dealing with the problem i.e. deleting or finding a filtering solution to meet their needs. The costs for companies to maintain employee email accounts are increasing because filtering and monitoring emails is an expensive business. This is a topic, which has been discussed on our Discussion Forum. Sign up here.Spam is the electronic version of junk mail, and has been around since the dawn of the Internet. Spam filters are a way of filtering emails to remove unsolicited email based on different criteria. Most spam emails are sent as a direct result of an individual registering for online services such as newsletters, weblogs, discussion forums etc (see Usenet below). The email addresses are harvested and sold to spammers. Another method of getting emails is by garnering email addresses off websites. You can get your hands on the software to gather email addresses off the Internet and create lists this way. As a user of the Internet be careful when registering for information, products, services and epayments. Be sure to read the privacy and terms and conditions before giving any information. Also try to avoid publishing your email address on websites. There are many types of filters, which have varying degrees of success. Server side filters scan an email at the ISP before it is sent and is generally not as successful as stand-alone spam filters, which sit on a computer. Stand-alone filters have high success rates depending on the individual product. They are the best option but have some disadvantages. They can cause problems in systems as they add another layer of software, where potential bugs can arise; also spam reporting may require extra bandwidth. Other terms often heard when discussing filtering are: Black-hole or black-list filters, which reject an email message based on its origin. A computer on the Internet that allows forwarding of unsolicited emails can be black-listed. Other types of filters use the subject line or message content to gauge if an email may be spam. Bayesian Filtering uses probability to work out if a mail is junk or real and it has a 99.7% accuracy at spotting spam. Most filters err on the side of caution and will let a small percentage of spam through to you inbox to ensure all relevant mail is received. Since the 1st July the law in Ireland states that all emails must be opt-in and permission based. The Data Protection Commissioner, Mr. Joe Meade has the right to issue an enforcement notice to a company which does not act in accordance with the Data Protection Act 1998 such as in the case of sending unsolicited email. The recent developments in US legislation show preference towards the opt-out method to control spam but this option is seen by most people as ineffective. The American consumers will be left with the freedom to still receive spam while having control of it. But with the amount of spam increasing; it will be harder to control. It will take so much time to scroll through and not only delete but to go into each unsolicited email and figure out how to opt-out which, is no easy task. Jupiter Media Matrix estimates that consumers will receive an average of 1,400 junk e-mailings per person in 2006, compared with about 700 per person this year. The prevailing sentiment is that a combination of technology and legislation to make spamming illegal will be the key to containing the problem of SPAM. During the discussion on the Enterprise Ireland eBusiness site, some of the recommendations included:
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